08:00 Lois and I wake up and before long we're starting to discuss murders in Denmark, not real ones haha, but the ones we're expecting to read about in the enthralling Danish murder-mystery that we're reading together as a couple. I expect you're tempted to do the same thing some mornings, aren't you, if you're in the mood?
And as murder-mystery novels go, what a cracker this one is, with a lot of lessons, particularly for older women, that's for sure!
Women, are you over 50? And has some young man maybe suddenly, within minutes of meeting you, taken a fancy to you and started giving you lots of sex all over the place - and perhaps you don't mind that it's giving you backache, and you don't mind that you can't see his face clearly in bed because he doesn't give you time to put your reading glasses on; and perhaps you don't mind if he turns over in bed and takes the duvet with him, because you know your menopausal hot flushes will keep you warm?
Am I right? Or am I right? Are you "that older woman"? Is this spiel beginning to ring any bells with you?
Aha - I thought so!!!!
a typical "older woman - younger man" couple
Well, if that "older woman" is indeed you, then PLEASE PLEASE don't be tempted to makes all sorts of crazy future plans for the two of you - like giving up your steady job so that you and he can buy a hotel together in the south of France, and then get a lot of artists to tart it up, in the style of the Luise-Arte Kunsthotel in Berlin - you know the one with artworks decorating all the windows, including the famous "jumbo-size banana room"
the Luise-Arte Kunsthotel in Berlin
And especially, if you're that "older woman", PLEASE PLEASE make sure that you don't give the young man power of attorney over all your bank accounts!
Well, that's exactly the mistake made by the Danish woman in this murder-novel - you wouldn't BELIEVE that anybody could be that trusting or gullible, would you, in this day and age. Go on, admit it!
The novel's called "Judaskysset" (the Judas kiss), and it's the novel that the members of our little local group of old codgers in Cheltenham and Malvern are reading at the moment. These are the old codgers who happen to be members of our local U3A Intermediate Danish group, the group which Lois and I are nominally "in charge of" haha! As if anybody could tame a bunch of old codgers like this lot, once they get their hands on something racy, particularly a story that, for the women in the group, maybe is fulfilling their wildest fantasies - my goodness, no chance of that haha!
"Judaskysset" (The Judas Kiss), a murder mystery
written by Danish writer Anna Grue, the novel
that the members of our local U3A Danish group are reading
Well,, in the story, the inevitable has now happened. The young man has told the woman that he'd like to fly down to Nice to look at the little hotel they've got in mind, and, if he's happy with it, he'll sign the papers there and then, so they can buy it and tart it up. But then shortly afterwards the woman notices that all her bank accounts have been emptied - including the money from her recent million-kroner win on the Danish lottery, and that the young man has vanished without trace.
So take a warning from all this, ye older women - keep your money to yourself till you've been married to your young lover for at least 5 minutes, or longer, maybe, if you want to be sure of keeping it to provide a bit of comfort for the rest of your old age.
And remember - it's a crazy world we're all living in !!!!!
12:00 I'm just upstairs doing my pre-lunch exercises. I've done my 15 minutes on the mini-pedaller and I'm just starting on the "hip flexion supine", following the pictures in the instructions and illustrations that my young physio, Wayne, has sent me.
the "hip flexion supine" exercise, as illustrated
in the instructions that young Wayne, my physio, has sent me
Just as I'm getting down to it, my phone gives a little beep. It comes with some exciting news from our daughter Sarah, who's recently moved back to the UK with husband Francis and their 10-year-old twins, after 7 years in Australia.
Do you remember how I helped the family move into a rental home in Alcester, back in June, helping them transport some of their stuff from the campsite where they'd been living temporarily in a tent for a few weeks?
flashback to June: the tent that the family were living in
initially, after their return from 7 years in Australia
flashback to June: me sitting in my fully-laden Honda Jazz,
parked in front of the little rental home in Alcester
that our daughter Sarah and her family were just moving into
the little rental home in Alcester: Sarah can just be seen,
standing in the open doorway
The family has been living in this rental home in Alcester for 5 months, but now Sarah says they've just this weekend put an offer in to buy a house in Evesham, the town where she works as an accountant - and the offer's been accepted by the vendors. "Don't get excited too early!", though, Sarah cautions, because they haven't had the results of the survey yet. So it's a case of fingers crossed for the next couple of weeks, that's for sure.
17:30 Lois and I have had our afternoon nap, and there's a casserole cooking in the kitchen, the one we postponed from yesterday due to lack of time, so Lois and I settle down on the couch to watch today's Drama TV Channel's re-run of an episode from the 1990's sitcom "The Upper Hand", based on the US series "Who's The Boss?".
You must remember this one - you know, the one in which the ad agency gets Caroline's ageing mum, Laura (played by Honor Blackman), to help them relaunch their magazine for female old codgers, "Mature Woman".
When Laura gets home, she describes how the ad agency boss got wildly excited about the new cover that she had designed for the magazine.
And yes, you've guessed it. The "new cover" of "Mature Woman" magazine features none else but grandma Laura herself, in a revealing pose. My goodness!
Laura puts her cover on display in the living-room, and it isn't long before it's starting to distract male housekeeper Charlie while he's trying to do his work.
And the picture doesn't please Laura's young grandson Tom, either, and it's not long before he too is complaining about it to his grandma - oh yes!
Oh dear, it isn't easy being an old codger is it! If only young people understood the half of what we go through haha!!!
But it's all the most tremendous fun, isn't it! [We'll be the judge of that! - Ed]
20:00 After dinner, Lois and I settle down on the couch again to watch one of our favourite TV quizzes, "Only Connect", which tests lateral thinking.
Can you spot the connection between these 4 seemingly unrelated "things"?
Well, Lois and I are kind of halfway to getting the answer, when the Antiphons team beats us to it with their own half-right answer.
It turns out that, yes, these are all the basic meanings of the words for "Shrove (Tuesday)" in 4 different languages.
"Shrove" in old English meant "made penance" - it's the past tense of "to shrive" (to make penance). And the French for Shrove Tuesday is of course "mardi gras" (fat Tuesday), and the German is Fastnachtsdienstag (i.e. the night before fasting starts).
The weirdest one is the Icelandic one - no surprise there! The Icelandic expression is "sprengidagur" (Explosion Day), thought to derive from eating so much that you're in danger of exploding. The previous day, the Monday, is called "Bun Day" (Bolludagur) in Iceland, so-called because - yes, you've guessed - they eat buns on the Monday. And on the Tuesday they eat salted meat, often horse, with lentil soup or bean soup. And the idea is that you may end up exploding.
Presenter Victoria Coren-Mitchell then hints that there may be further hidden depths to what the Icelanders do before they start giving things up for Lent.
Those crazy Icelanders, eh? My goodness! And Lois and I make a note to delve further into the subject, perhaps early tomorrow morning on our smartphones, if we're in the mood. But we'll see !
Tremendous fun !!!!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzz!!!!!
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