Monday November 4 2019

06:00 Last day of our short stay with Ali and Ed, our daughter and son-in-law, and their 3 children in Haslemere, Surrey. Lois and I are still in bed when we hear Ali slam the front door and take Ed to the train station so he can hop on the train to London - he has a temporary job in the city centre while in search of his dream job.

07:30 I go downstairs and make two cups of tea. I bring them up to the bedroom and we stay in bed a little longer while we drink up. Afterwards, we come down the stairs in our dressing-gowns so we can say goodbye to the kids: they are starting school again today after a week of autumn half-term break.

09:30 We say goodbye to Ali and drive home. Lois drives the first 40 miles or so, and then I drive the rest of the journey - Lois doesn't like to drive on the motorway. We make a stop at Dobbies Garden Centre just outside the town of Cirencester, to grab a quick cup of coffee and a piece of cake, and look for a gift for Stephen and Francis, our neighbours who looked after our house in our absence - Lois chooses a potted plant of one type or another.

we grab a quick cup of coffee in Dobbies garden centre

12:00 We get home, have lunch and go to bed. We ramp the electric blanket up to "medium" and spend the afternoon under the duvet. We get up at 4 pm. It was very nice, and a little nostalgic, to take care of Ali and Ed's lovely children for a few days, but also a little worrying at times to take on this extra responsibility, and it is comforting to suddenly be just 2 old crows again, who can do whatever we feel like ha ha ha!

18:00 We have dinner, the last of the 5 ready meals we bought a couple of weeks ago in CookShop - and bought specifically for this kind of occasion when we can't be bothered to cook and suchlike - ha! The dish turns out to be a little more spicy than we're used to, with 2 chilli symbols on the label, which we hadn't noticed when we bought it: yikes scary !!!! But we cool off with a bowl of chocolate ice cream and canned pineapple - yum yum!

20:00 We spend the rest of the evening watching some television. It's nice to be able to snuggle up again on a traditional sofa, turn on the gas fire and close the door to keep out the cold, etc, for the first time in a few days ha ha ha!

We see last Friday's "Gogglebox", which I recorded on our YouView device while we were staying in Haslemere. Gogglebox is a fun programme where the participants comment on some of the week's TV shows from their couches and armchairs.

In this episode, programme participants respond with their typical cynicism to the announcement of a parliamentary election, due December 12.

21:00 We see two TV quizzes, Only Connect and University Challenge, but we find that our brains have become a bit worn out due to today's long drive from Haslemere.

In the University Challenge, the preliminary rounds are over and only the best student teams remain in the competition. But Lois and I can each answer one question tonight that all 8 participants are clueless about, which is nice.

My little triumph is to remember the word azimuth.

And Lois has a little historical triumph:

We have to settle for just those two points tonight – my god, we're getting old !!!!

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz !!!!

Danish translation: mandag den 4. november 2019

06:00 Sidste dag af vores korte ophold hos Ali og Ed, vores datter og vores svigersøn, og deres 3 børn i Haslemere, Surrey. Lois og jeg ligger stadid i sengen da vi hører Ali smække hoveddøren og tage Ed til banegården, så han kan hoppe på toget til London – han har et midlertidligt job i bymidten, mens han går på jagt efter sit drømmejob.

07:30 Jeg smutter nedenunder og laver to kopper te. Jeg bringer dem op på soveværelset og vi bliver liggende i sengen lidt længere mens vi drikker ud. Bagefter kommer vi ned ad trappen i vores slåbrokker, så vi kan sige farvel til børnene: de starter i skolen igen i dag efter en uges efterårsferie.

09:30 Vi siger farvel til Ali og kører hjem. Lois kører de første 40 miles eller deromkring, og derefter kører jeg resten af rejsen – Lois kan ikke lide at køre på motorvejen. Vi gør holdt hos Dobbies-havecentret, der ligger lidt udenfor byen Cirencester, for at snuppe en hurtig kop kaffe og et stykke kage, og leder efter en gave til Stephen og Francis, vores naboer, der passede på vores hus i vores fravær – Lois vælger en potplante af én eller anden type.

vi snupper en hurtig kop kaffe i Dobbies-havecentret

12:00 Vi kommer hjem, spiser frokost og går i seng. Vi skruer varmetæppet op til ”medium” og tilbringer eftermiddagen under dynen. Vi står op kl 16. Det var meget rart, og lidt nostalgisk, at passe på Ali og Eds dejlige børn i et par dage, men også lidt bekymrende indimellem at påtage dette ekstra ansvar, og det er trøstende pludselig at være blot 2 gamle krager igen, der kan gøre dét, vi har lyst til ha ha ha!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad, den sidste af de 5 færdigretter, vi for et par uger siden købte i CookShop – og købte specifikt til denne slags lejlighed, når vi ikke kan gide at lave mad og den slags – ha!  Retten viser sig, at være lidt mere krydret, end vi er vant til, med 2 chili-symbolder på etikkettet: yikes skræmmende!!!! Men vi køler os af efter med en skål chokoladeis og dåseananas - yum yum!

20:00 Vi bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. Det er rart at kunne putte os ind til hinanden på en traditionel sofa igen, tænde gaskaminen og lukke døren for at holde kulden ud osv, for første gang i et par dage ha ha ha!

Vi ser sidste fredags ”Gogglebox”, som jeg optog på vores YouView-enhed, mens vi opholdt os i Haslemere hos vores datter Ali og hendes familie. Gogglebox er et morsomt program, hvor deltagernes kommenterer nogle af ugens tv-programmer fra deres sofaer og lænestole.

I dette afsnit reagerer programmets deltagere med deres typiske kynisme til meddelelsen af et parlamentarisk valg, der skal finde sted den 12. december.

21:00 Vi ser to tv-quizzer, Only Connect og University Challenge, men vi finder, at vores hjerner er blevet lidt opslidt på grund af dagens lange kørsel fra Haslemere.

I University Challenge er de foreløbige omgange slut, og kun de bedste studerende-hold forbliver i konkurrencen. Men Lois og jeg kan hver besvare ét spørgsmål, som alle de 8 deltagerne er blanke omkring, hvilket er rart.

Min lille triumf er at huske ordet azimut.

Og dette er Lois’ lille historiske triumf:

Vi er nødt til at nøjes med de der i nat – du godeste, vi bliver gamle!!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzz!!!!

Sunday November 3 2019

06:00 Busy busy busy again! Lois and I, the two old crows, have to get up early today so we can make sure that Josie, our 13-year-old granddaughter, shows up on time (at 7:30) at the local swimming pool to take part in today's school swim event . I drive her and Rosalind (11) over to the swimming pool and drop Josie off in front of the entrance. Meanwhile, Lois looks after Isaac (9) and makes breakfast for him.

We talk a bit on whatsapp with Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia, and with one of Sarah's two 6-year-old twins, Jessie. Lily, the other twin, is a little cold today.

09:30 I drive over to the swimming pool again to pick up Josie: the first part of the competition is over, but unfortunately there is another part this afternoon.

10:30 Rosalind has to play in a school football match this morning, but fortunately one of the other players' mother can pick her up. The match ends at 11:15 am, but our daughter Ali and our son-in-law Ed have promised to pick Rosalind up themselves after the match and bring her home. Ali and Ed have spent the night in Oxford after attending Ed's sister Alison's 50th birthday party at a restaurant in the city centre.

Rosalind in her football shirt. She scored the goal,

that saved her team from defeat. You go girl !!!!

11:45 Ali, Ed and Rosalind arrive, and Lois rushes into the kitchen to make lunch for 7. It's a bit of a relief, to say the least, for Lois and me that Ali and Ed have come home and can resume responsibility for the children - we find it all a little worrying at times, to put it mildly. We're getting old, no doubt about that !!!! And we are so lucky that Ali and Ed's three "little ones" are all so charming and well-behaved, I have to say.

(left to right) Josie, Ali and Isaac

Ali and Ed are now back, thank goodness and they can now resume

responsibility for the kids, which is nice!

12:15 We have lunch and afterwards I go upstairs and take a gigantic afternoon nap. Mine and Lois's responsibilities regarding childcare are now over - and I can enjoy my nap, which is nice.

I go upstairs and take a gigantic afternoon nap

surrounded by posters of Isaac’s footballing heroes – scary !!!!!

Ed drives Josie over to the swimming pool at 3 pm so she can attend the second part of the school swim competition.

Meanwhile, Lois, Ali, Rosalind and Isaac take a walk around the neighbourhood with Sika, the family's Danish dog. The family moved back to England in the summer of 2018, after Ed was laid off from his job in Copenhagen after 6 years’ residence in Denmark. Since then, he has taken a number of temporary jobs while on the hunt for his dream job.

After Ed and Josie come back from the swimming pool at the end of the school swim event, Ed locks himself away in his study with his computer to start applying for yet another new job. Nowadays, the interview process and the selection process are all done via the computer - he has to video his answers to the questions and send them to the company via email.

And it is software that decides which candidates to eliminate in the earlier stages of the process – my god, what a crazy world we live in !!! And the software, for example, can even analyse his facial expressions and tones of voice while he is answering the questions, and use the results as part of the decision to reject him as a candidate or move him to the next stage. What madness !!!! And very exhausting and agonising from the candidate's point of view, no doubt about that !!!!

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching some television. It's a lot of fun to watch a few TV shows with Ali, Ed and the kids, although Lois and I always feel a little cold in the family's house at night - Ed lights the fire, but it's one of those modern types of fire that can be seen behind a glass screen, but you can't feel anything warm coming from it. The living room is completely open plan type, and there are no partitions to protect us from the cold - damn!

And the sofas and armchairs are the modern ones - very deep, so you can only half-lie and half-sit, and it is impossible to get comfortable - yikes! Lois and I just do not understand the modern ways of doing things - I have no doubt about that!!!!

But it is us who are in the wrong: all young people's houses are the same, for some reason we cannot fathom.

And in any case, our 2 daughters, and their families, are all our joy, so we hardly notice the trivial difficulties that result from our great old age ha ha ha! It's so wonderful to be in their company.

22:00 Lois and I go to bed, both of us with bed-socks on – my god, what madness !!!! Zzzzzzz !!!!

Danish translation: søndag den 3. november 2019

06:00 Travlt travlt travlt igen! Lois og jeg, de to gamle krager, skal stå tidligt op i dag, så vi kan sikre, at Josie, vores 13-årige barnebarn, dukker op til tiden (kl 7:30) på den lokale svømmepøl for at deltage i dagens skolesvømmestævne. Jeg kører hende og Rosalind (11) over til svømmepølen og sætter hende af foran indgangen. I mellemtiden passer Lois på Isaac (9) og laver morgenmad til ham.

Vi taler lidt på whatsapp med Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien, og med én af Sarahs to 6-årige tvillinger, Jessie. Lily, den anden tvillinge, er lidt forkølet i dag.

09:30 Jeg kører over til svømmepølen igen for at afhente Josie: den første del af stævnen er slut, men desværre er der en anden del i eftermiddag.

10:30 Rosalind skal spille i en skolefodboldkamp i formiddag, men heldigvis kan én af de andre spilleres mor henter hende. Kampen slutter kl 11:15, men vores datter Ali og vores svigersøn Ed har lovet at afhente Rosalind efter kampen og køre hende hjem. Ali og Ed har overnattet i Oxford efter at have deltaget i Eds søster Alisons 50. fødselsdagfest på en restaurant midt i byen.

Rosalind i sin fodboldskjorte. Hun scorede det mål,

der reddede sit hold fra nedrag. Kom så, Rosalind!!!!

11:45 Ali, Ed og Rosalind ankommer, og Lois skynder sig ind i køkkenet for at lave frokost til 7. Det er lidt af en lettelse, for at sige mildt, for Lois og mig, at Ali og Ed er kommet hjem og kan genoptage ansvaret for børnene – vi finder det hele lidt bekymrende indimellem, for at sige mildt. Vi bliver gamle, ingen tvivl om det!!!! Men vi er så heldige i, at de alle er så artige og charmerende, det må jeg nok sige.

(fra venstre til højre: Josie, Ali og Isaac)

Ali og Ed er tilbage, gudskelov, og de kan nu genoptage

ansvaret for børnene, hvilket er rart!

12:15 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Min og Lois’s ansvar, hvad angår børnepasning, er nu slut – og jeg kan nyde min lur, hvilket er rart. Ed kører Josie over til svømmepølen kl 15, så hun kan deltage i den anden del af skolesvømmestævnen.

jeg går i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur, omgivet

af plakater af vores barnebarn Isaacs fodbold-helte: skræmmende!!!!

I mellemtiden går Lois, Ali, Rosalind og Isaac en tur rundt omkring i nabolaget sammen med Sika, familiens danske hund. Familien flyttede tilbage til England i sommeren 2018, efter Ed blev afskediget fra sit job i København efter 6 års ophold i Danmark. Siden da, har han taget en række midlertidlige jobs, mens han går på jagt efter sit drømmejob.

Efter Ed og Josie kommer tilbage fra svømmepølen efter endt skolesvømmestævnen lukker Ed sig ind i sin studerekammer med sin computer, for at gå i gang med at ansøge om endnu ét nyt job. Nutildags er interviewprocessen og valgprocessen alt foretaget via computeren – han skal optage sine svar til spørgsmålene og sende dem til firmaet via email.

Og det er software, der beslutter hvilke kandidater til at eliminere i de tidligere stadie af processen – du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i!!! Og softwaren kan for eksempel analysere hans ansigtsudtryk og tonefalde, mens han besvarer spørgsmålende, og bruge resultaterne, som en del af beslutningen om, om at afvise en kandidat eller lade ham komme videre til det næste stadie. Sikke et vanvid!!!! Og meget udmattende og sindsoprivende fra kandidatens synspunkt, ingen tvivl om det!!!! 

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. Det er meget sjovt at se et par tv-programmer med Ali, Ed og børnene, selvom Lois og jeg føler os altid lidt kolde om aftenen i familiens hus – Ed tænder ilden, men det er én af de der moderne typer af ild, der kan ses bag en glasskærm, men man kan ikke føle noget varmt fra den. Stuen er helt kontorlandskabtype, og der er ingen skillevægge til at beskytte os fra kulden – pokkers!

Og sofaer og lænestole er de der moderne typer – meget dybe, så man kun kan halv-ligger, halvsidder, og det er umuligt at blive komfortable – yikes! Lois og jeg forstår ikke de moderne måder – det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl om !!!!

Men det er os, der er forkerte: alle unge menneskers huse er det samme, af en eller anden grund.

Og vores 2 døtre, og deres familier, er hele vores glæde, så vi næsten ikke bemærker de triviale vanskeligheder, der resulterer fra vores store alderdom ha ha ha! Det er så vidunderligt at være i deres selskab.

22:00 Lois og jeg går i seng, begge to med sengsokker på – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!! Zzzzzzz!!!!

Saturday November 2 2019

08:00 Ed, our son-in-law and 2 of the family's 3 children - Rosalind (11) and Isaac (9) - sit down in the living room to watch the finals of the Tokyo Rugby World Cup between England and South Africa. Meanwhile, Lois and Alison, our daughter, go for a walk around the neighbourhood - unfortunately, it starts raining heavily during the walk.

England unfortunately lose the match by 12-32, which is a little disappointing for Ed and the kids, also for Francis, our other son-in-law, who, we know, is watching the match in a bar in Perth, Australia.

11:30 Ed takes Isaac to Dylan’s Ice Cream Bar so he can have  a couple of ice cream with the other members of his football team (to celebrate the fact that the team has not lost a single game so far this season), and afterwards Ed and Ali have to leave. They have to drive over to Oxford to take part in Ed's sister Alison's 50th birthday party and afterwards spend the night in a city centre hotel, next to the 950-year-old Oxford Castle.

View from Ali and Ed's hotel room: Oxford Castle with moat

12:30 Lois rushes into the kitchen to make lunch for us and the 3 kids. Afterwards we head over to the Haslemere garden centre to look at the tropical fish, Christmas ornaments, etc. and have a little snack at the garden centre's café.

We head over to the local garden centre to have a look at

Christmas ornaments and the tropical fish, and grab a little snack

at the garden centre café

16:00 We come home and relax for an hour. Then we have to go to the local swimming pool so Isaac can take part in his weekly swimming lesson. We sit in the public gallery and watch the session. Busy busy busy! We come home again.

18:00 Lois rushes into the kitchen and makes dinner, and we spend the rest of the evening watching some television. The children are tucked up in bed by 8:30 pm and Lois and me by 10 pm. Phew!!!!! Zzzzzzzzzzzz !!!!!!!

Danish translation: lørdag den 2. november 2019

08:00 Ed, vores svigersøn og 2 af familiens 3 børn – Rosalind (11) og Isaac (9) – sætter sig til rette i stuen for at se finalen af rugby-verdensmesterskabet i Tokyo mellem England og Syd-Afrika. I mellemtiden går Lois og Alison, vores datter, et tur rundt omkring i nabolaget – desvære begynder det at regne kraftigt under gåturen.

England taber desværre kampen med 12-32, hvilket er lidt skuffende for Ed og børnene, også for Francis, vores anden svigersøn, der, vi ved,  kigger på kampen på en bar i Perth, Australien.

11:30 Ed tager Isaac til Dylans-isbaren så han kan spise et par is sammen med de andre medlemmer af sin fodboldkamp (de fejrer dét, at holdet ikke har tabt en enkel kamp hidtil i sæsonen), og bagefter skal Ed og Ali af sted. De skal køre over til Oxford for at deltage i Eds søster Alisons 50. fødselsdagsfest og bagefter overnatte i et hotel i bymidten, ved siden af det gamle 950-årige Oxford-slot.

Udsigten fra Ali og Eds hotelværelse: Oxford-slottet med voldgrav

12:30 Lois skynder sig ind i køkkenet for at lave frokost til os og de 3 børn. Bagefter kører vi over til Haslemere-havecentret for at kigge på de tropiske fisk, juleornamenter osv, og snuppe en lille snak på havecentrets café.

Vi kører over til det lokale havecentret for at kigge på

juleornamenter og de tropiske fisk, og snupper en lille snak

på havecentrets café

16:00 Vi kommer hjem, og vi slapper af i en time. Derefter skal vi til den lokale svømmepøl, så Isaac kan deltage i sin ugentlige svømmeundervisning. Vi sidder i det offentlige galleri og kigger på sessionen. Travlt travlt travlt ! Vi kommer hjem igen.

Lois skynder sig ind i køkkenet og laver aftensmad, og vi bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. Børnene er hengemt i sengen ved 20:30-tiden og Lois og jeg ved 22-tiden. Zzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!

Friday November 1 2019

09:00 We drive over to Haslemere, Surrey, to spend a few days with our daughter Ali and her family. Ali has asked us to babysit the 3 children while Ali and Ed spend the night in Oxford and attend Ed's sister Alison's 50th birthday party.

We take a different route from the normal one and drive via Basingstoke. On the way, we see the AWE (Atomic Weapons Establishment) complex near the village of Aldermaston, a stark reminder of the Cold War - Aldermaston was the focus of frequent peace demonstrations in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

The AWE complex just outside the village of Aldermaston, Hampshire

12:30 We arrive at Ali's house, after a 1-hour stop at Membury Services. It is very nice to see Ali and two of her 3 children: Josie (13) and Rosalind (11).

Isaac (9) is doing football training today with the other members of his school football team and Ed is at work in central London.

Josie in a leftover Halloween mask -

I will try to persuade her to take it off

at some point in the next 3 days ha ha!

After lunch, I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap while Ali, Josie, Rosalind and Lois walk over to Isaac's football club to pick him up.

17:30 We have dinner and afterwards spend the rest of the evening watching a bit of television. Ed comes back from work at 9:30 pm. A long working day to put it mildly - he sits down at his desk at 8 am and finishes work at 8 pm - a 12-hour working day - my god, what madness! His company owns hundreds of petrol stations in Africa:-  what a crazy world we live in !!!!

It’s just a temporary job while Ed searches for his dream job. The family came back from Denmark in the summer of 2018 after 6 years in Copenhagen.

22:00 Lois and I go to bed in Isaac's room. Isaac sleeps on a mattress on the floor of Rosalind's room during our stay - the poor thing !!!!

Danish translation: fredag den 1. november 2019

09:00 Vi kører over til Haslemere, Surrey, for at tilbringe et par dage hos vores datter Ali og hendes familie. Ali har bedt os om, at babysitte de 3 børn, mens Ali og Ed overnatter i Oxford og deltage i Eds søster Alisons 50. fødsesdagsfest.

Vi tager en anderledes rute, end den normale, og kører via Basingstoke. På vej ser vi AWE-komplekset (Atomic Weapons Establishment) i nærheden af landsbyen Aldermaston, en bister minde om den kolde krig – Aldermaston var fokussen af hyppige fredsdemonstrationer i 1950’erne og 1960’erne. 

AWE-komplekset lidt udenfor landsbyen Aldermaston, Hampshire

12:30 Vi ankommer til Alis hus, efter et 1-times stop i Membury-rastepladsen. Det er meget rart at se Ali og to af hendes  3 børn: Josie (13) og Rosalind (11).

Isaac (9) gør fodboldtræning i dag med de andre medlemmer af sit skolefodboldhold, og Ed er på arbejde i midten af London.

Josie i en tiloversbleven Halloween-maske –

jeg vil prøve at overtale hende at tage den af

på ét eller andet tidspunkt i løbet af de næste 3 dage

Efter frokost går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur, mens Ali, Josie, Rosalind og Lois går til fods over til Isaacs fodboldklub for at afhente ham.

17:30 Vi spiser aftensmad og bagefter bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. Ed kommer tilbage fra arbejde kl 21:30. En lang arbejdsdag for at sige mildt – han sætter sig på sit skrivebord kl 8 og afslutter arbejdet kl 20 – en 12-times arbejdsdag – du godeste, sikke et vanvid! Hans selskab  ejer hundredvis af tankstationer i Afrika: sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

Det er bare et midlertidligt job, mens Ed er på jagt efter sit drømmejob. Familien flyttede tilbage til England i sommeren 2018 efter 6 års ophold i København.

22:00 Lois og jeg går i seng i Isaacs værelse. Isaac sover på en madras på gulvet i Rosalinds værelse under vores ophold – staklen!!!!

Thursday October 31 2019

07:30 Lois and I roll out of bed - busy busy busy! I need to post two urgent letters - both of them actually birthday cards - in the local mailbox, and on the way, I swing the car past the gas station: the tank is almost empty - yikes! And we have a long journey tomorrow.

Also, Martin (or is it Mark?) from QBD Windows and the door company has promised to swing by early today to repair our windows and we don't want to get caught by him in bed or in the shower cubicle.

Flashback to last week: I stick a piece of duct tape over the wndow's 

protective strip to anchor it - yikes, do-it-yourself is not

one of my most obvious talents to put it mildly !!! 

08:30 Mark / Martin arrives and starts repairing and strengthening our windows. We start collecting our things and packing them in our medium-size  suitcase - we plan to spend a few days with our daughter Ali and her family. She has asked us to babysit their 3 children while they spend 2 days in Oxford: Ed's sister Alison turns 50 this weekend and she has invited Ali and Ed to her birthday party.

12:30 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. I get up at 3 pm and we hop into the shower.

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening listening to the radio and watching some television. We hear an interesting radio programme about Britain's most spooky places: a programme designed specifically for Halloween. The programme's host is the charming Simon Hollis.

We hear about the Chanctonbury hill in the county of West Sussex, a particularly eerie place, with a prehistoric fortification, the Chanctonbury Ring, on top. It appears, according to local pagan sources, that women who spend a night under the trees in the Chanctonbury Ring find that their fertility has increased significantly, which is nice, and much less trouble, than IVF treatment, for example. My god, what a crazy world we live in !!!!!

Chanctonbury hill: women sleeping under the trees have an increased chance

of getting pregnant, according to sources close to the Devil.

20:00 I see a photo of our oldest grandson, Josie (13). Ali's children are very excited tonight - and looking forward to going on a trick-or-treat tour around the neighbourhood. Ali posted a creepy photo of Josie on Instagram. Scary but elegant!!!

Josie, our 13-year-old granddaughter in Haslemere, Surrey

Also there are a couple of photos taken earlier in the day (Perth time) of our 6 year old twin grandchildren, Lily and Jessie, in Australia.

Lily and Jessie, our 6-year-old twin grandchildren in Perth, Australia,

with some of their young friends

Yikes !!!!

21:00 We realise that we have not been visited by any trick-or-treaters again. The last visit was approx. 10 years ago, we think. It's the location of the house, we suspect, on a busy main road and outside the large residential neighbourhoods.

We devour the contents of one of the candy bags I bought yesterday. Maybe it's lucky that we didn't get a visit. According to Steve, my American brother-in-law, and Matt, the famous cartoonist, young trick-or-treaters have begun threatening to explain the Labour Party's Brexit policy if they don't get any treats – oh dear, that’s going a bit too far, we think!

We turn on the television. They’re showing an old episode of the Top of the Pops from September 8, 1988, which is nostalgic. Phil Collins had just shot to the top of the charts with "Groovy Kind of Love".

It was also the week our younger daughter Sarah became a student at the local high school, at 11 years old. Her sister Alison had already been a student there for two years. For Sarah, it was the start of a whole new phase in her life.

Flashback to the summer of 1988 when Sarah was on the threshold of

a big new phase in his life,

and when we four were still the centre of the universe - happy days !!!!

22:00 We go to bed, but we are strangely restless. We both wake up at midnight and I read 20 pages of my bedtime book before finally drifting off to sleep - zzzzzzzz !!!

Danish translation: torsdag den 31. oktober 2019

07:30 Lois og jeg vælter ud af sengen – travlt travlt travlt! Jeg skal lægge to presserende brev – begge to faktisk fødselsdagskort – i den lokale postkasse, og på vej svinder jeg bilen ind forbi tankstationen: tanken er næsten tom – yikes!

Også har Martin/Mark fra QBD-vinduer og dørefirmaet lovet at komme tidligt i dag for at reparere vores vinduer, og vi har ikke lyst til at blive fanget af ham i sengen eller i brusekabinen.

tilbageblik til sidste uge: jeg stikker et stykke gaffer-tape over strimlen

for at forankre den – yikes, gør-det-selv er ikke

én af mine mest iøjenfaldende talenter for at sige mildt!!! 

08:30 Mark/Martin ankommer og går i gang med at reparere og forstærke vores vinduer. Vi begynder at samle vores ting og pakker dem i vores mellemstore kuffert – vi planlægger at tilbringe et par dage hos vores datter Ali og hendes familie. Hun har bedt os om at babysitte deres 3 børn, mens de tilbringer 2 dage i Oxford: Eds søster Alison fylder 50 i weekenden og hun har inviteret Ali og Ed til hendes fødselsdagsfest.

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15 og vi hopper op i brusekabinen.  

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at lytte til radio og se lidt fjernsyn. Vi hører et interessant radioprogram, der handler om Storbritanniens mest uhyggelige steder: et program designet specielt for Halloween. Programmets vært er den charmerende Simon Hollis.

Vi hører om Chanctonbury-bakken i grevskabet West Sussex, en specielt uhyggelige sted, med en forhistorisk fastningsværk, Chanctonbury Ring, på toppen . Det viser sig ifølge lokale hedenske kilder, at kvinder, der tilbringer en nat under træerne i Chanctonbury Ring, finder at deres frugtbarhed er øget betydeligt, hvilket er rart, og meget mindre ballade, end IVF-behandling, for eksempel. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!!

Chanctonbury-bakken: kvinder der sover under træerne

har en øget chance for at bliver gravid, lader det til.

20:00 Jeg ser et foto af vores ældste barnebarn, Josie (13). Alis børn er meget begejstrede i aften – og glæder sig til at gå en slik-eller-ballade-tur rundt omkring i nabolaget. Ali har lagt et uhyggelige billede af Josie op på Instagram. Skræmmende!!!

Josie, vores 13-årige barnebarn i Haslemere, Surrey

Også et par fotoer taget tidligere på dagen (Perth-tid) af vores 6-årige tvillingebørnebørn, Lily og Jessie i Australien. Skræmmende (igen) !!!!!

Lily og Jessie, vores 6-årige tvillingebørnebørn i Perth, Australien

Yikes!!!!

21:00 Vi opdager, vi ikke har fået besøg af nogle slik-eller-ballade grupper igen. Det sidste besøg var ca. 10 år siden, tror vi. Det er husets beliggenhed, mistænker vi, på en travlt hovedvej og udenfor de store villakvarterer.

Vi sætter til livs indholdet af én af de slikposer, jeg købte i går. Måske er det heldigt, at vi ikke fik noget besøg. Ifølge Steve, min amerikanske svigerbor, og Matt, den berømte tegneserietegner, er unge slik-eller-ballade grupper begyndt at true med at forklare arbejdepartiets Brexit-politik, hvis de ikke får slik – du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

Vi tænder for fjernsynet. De viser et gamle afsnit af Top of the Pops fra den 8. september 1988, hvilket er nostalgisk. Phil Collins havde lige skudt til tops på hitlisterne med ”Groovy Kind of Love”.

Det var også den uge, vores yngre datter Sarah blev elev på det lokale gymnasium, på 11 år. Vores søster Alison havde allerede været en elev der i to år. For Sarah var det starten på en hel ny fase i hendes liv.

Tilbageblik til sommeren 1988, da Sarah var på tærsklen til

en stor ny fase i sit liv,

og da vi fire var centret af universet – lykkelige dage!!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng, men vi er mærkeligt rasteløse. Vi vågner begge to ved midnatstiden, og jeg læser 20 sider af min sengetidbog, før vi endelig glider over i søvnen – zzzzzzzz!!!