Friends, don't you just hate it, when you're asked to take your shoes off before entering a friend's house? Especially if your socks are in less than premium condition, like so often the case with Yours Truly - I like to get maximum value out of my socks, to put it mildly!!!!
But there are other concerns than socks, according to this morning's local Onion News for East Hampshire - see this shock report on page 94 !!!!
And later the story gets "picked up" by some of the "nationals", and is even the lead story on tonight's BBC News, which is heartening! Perhaps now, at last, something will be done, and not before time (!), about Grant's "no shoes" rule, which is a "national" disgrace by the sound of it - no pun intended!!!!
And what's the reason for the "shoes" fixation during our online session today, Colin?", I hear you cry!
And if your Intermediate Danish is a little rusty, not to worry! I've translated the sentence for you here (all rights reserved!):
If only all parents had had our "laid back" and encouraging attitude, when their kids were growing up! Not all do, sadly, and who do you think was a prime example of this?
It's all doubly ironic tonight, because, as you know, Lois and I, "for our sins" (!), run the local U3A "Intermediate Danish for Old Codgers" group, as you do (!), and, during our fortnightly online meeting this afternoon, the subject of shoes unexpectedly dominates proceedings, which is a surprise!
(left) Lois and me trying to control another rowdy online meeting of our local
"Intermediate Danish for Old Codgers" group, and (right) the Danish murder mystery that
our group is currently reading, "Judaskysset" (the Judas Kiss), by Anna Grue (centre)
Well, to mine and Lois's frustration, the predominantly female members of our little group spend a lot of time arguing, rather too furiously, we think, about this at-first-sight innocent sentence from the Danish murder mystery that we're currently reading together!
English: "her choice of clothes, the awkward black pumps.. she dressed like a 60-year-old, her hair had lots of grey streaks, and her eyelids were already beginning to droop. Was she really only 33?"
Sounds harmless as a sentence, doesn't it, but our members are soon arguing that to wear "awkward black pumps" isn't a sign that a woman is 60 - quite the opposite, in fact, and would probably signal that she's a teenager! And it's only later that we discover that "pumps" in Denmark aren't what we call "pumps" in Britain, when I take a minute to "google" the word while all the shouting is going on (!).
To my surprise, I discover that the word "pumps" means footwear of a totally different kind (1) in Britain and (2) in the US, and obviously in Denmark too.
"Pumps" in Britain, also known as "plimsolls" and "daps" (depending on region) are what kids wear for gym lessons here, but "pumps" in the US (and also Denmark) are sophisticated shoes with heels - who knew !!!!!
Confused? You will be!
And it's a distinction that, to our shame, Lois and I were completely unaware of, despite having lived in the States ourselves for 3 years, back in the early 1980's.
The British and Americans - "two nations divided by a common language" is what somebody once said - I think Oscar Wilde or George Bernard Shaw or someone similar (!). And it's unfortunate that our online meeting today gets "hijacked" further by discussions about sneakers/trainers, slides and sliders (???), whatever they are etc etc.
What madness, isn't it!
When Lois and I lived in the States, our own kids tended to wear either what Americans call "sneakers" (i.e. trainers), or what I call "Clark's sandals", a lot of the time, at least. I don't what Americans call Clarks sandals - but your ideas welcome - postcards only, as usual !!!!!
flashback to the early 1980's: (top left) us on vacation in the Blue Ridge Mountains
of Virginia; (top right) our kids Alison and Sarah standing by our street's communal postboxes
and (bottom) little Sarah's class photograph, wearing her British "Clarks sandals"
- what madness wasn't it !!!!
And as far as our little Intermediate Danish for Old Codgers group, with another online meeting totally hijacked again with yet another irrelevant discussion (!), it's no wonder that we're taking so long to read our Danish murder mystery novel!
What a crazy world we live in !!!!!
And no matter what our kids, Alison and Sarah, were wearing in the States, or, after 1985, when we came home to Britain, Lois and I certainly took pains to encourage them both to "find their own style", both in shoes and in life generally, and I think the results of that are obvious, now that Alison and Sarah have reached the ages of, respectively 50 and 48, would you believe, and have given us 5 lovely grandchildren, which is nice!
flashback to July 2025: Lois and me with our two daughters,
two sons-in-law and five grandchildren - awwwww!!!!
all wearing a wide variety of footwear (!)
Step forward Mrs Elizabeth Lowry, mother of famous Lancashire painter LS Lowry, him of the "matchstick men" fame, no less, as we hear tonight in a fascinating drama-documentary about the much-loved artist, which is nice!
Lowry became famous in the 1950's for his "matchstick men" paintings of typical industrial towns in Lancashire, paintings of men pouring out of factories at going-home time, or going to football matches, or paintings of working-class families having fun at funfairs or at the seaside: exuberant pictures of "the old north of England", a world that has now largely disappeared, which is a pity!
some typical LS Lowry paintings: (left) men pouring out of the factory gates
and (right) having fun with their families at the seaside
You'd have thought that Lowry's mum would have been pleased to have such a talented painter of a son growing up in her house, but apparently not, according to tonight's programme (!).
Oh dear!!!!!!
Poor Lowry !!!!!!!
Will this do?
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz!!!!!
