Tirsdag 09/08/2016 kl 1630 til onsdag 10/08/2016 kl 1629

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bagefter bruger aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om Burghley House.

 Burghley House er et slot fra 1500-tallet ved Stamford i Lincolnshire i England, og det er et af de fineste eksempler på engelsk 1500-talsarkitektur.

Slottet blev bygget for Sir William Cecil, senere baron Burghley, som var dronning Elizabeth 1. af Englands primære rådgiver under det meste af hendes styre.

Jeg må indrømme, at jeg sjælden ser på dette slags program, men vi beslutter at se det af to grunde. For det første, er værten Phil Spencer, der ser sig om i slottet ikke som en historiker, men ligesom en ukultiveret ejendomsmægler – du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !

Phil Spencer – han ser sig om i slottet ligesom en ukultiveret ejendomsmægler!

For det andet er dette program interessant, fordi Lois og jeg besøgte slottet for første gang i marts 2016, da vi holdt ferie i Rutland-området for at fejre min 70. fødselsdag – hurra!

Lois og jeg besøger Burghley House for at fejre min 70. fødselsdag – hurra!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzz!!!!!

05:00 Jeg står tidligt op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske ordforrådtester.

08:00 Jeg skynder mig inde i køkkenet og laver to kopper te. Jeg bringer dem op på vores soveværelse. Vi ligger inde i sengen og drikker teen. Vi er lige et hurtigt smut under bruseren, og bagefter spiser morgenmad.

10:00 Vi går i gang med at skrive hver et par paragraffer på dansk om vores ferie i Australien. Lois skal skrive om de to uger i Melbourne og Adelaide, og jeg skal skrive om de følgende 8 uger i Perth. Vores U3A danske gruppes næste møde finder sted hos os i morgen kl 14:30, og jeg har bedt gruppens medlemmer om at skrive noget om hvad de har lavet i de sidste 4 måneder. Gruppen har ikke holdt nogen møde siden april, fordi Lois og jeg var på ferie.

Lois skriver som følger: Da vi besøgte Australien, boede vi først hos min kusine Sylvia, i Melbourne.  Hun er enke men hun har fire børn.  Vi tog en lang køretur langs “Great Ocean Road” og der var så flotte udsigter!  Ogsa gik vi en rundtur i en gammel tropisk regnskov og bagefter så vi vilde koalaer.

Derefter fløj vi til min kusine Stephen og hans kone i Adelaide.  De tog os på krydstogt (cruise) langs floden Murray og vi så pelikaner og søløver.  I en nationalpark holdt jeg en koala (der var meget tung) og fodrede kænguruer... Vi kunne godt lide Adelaide, der var en smuk by.

Jeg skriver som følger: Efter Melbourne og Adelaide tilbragte vi 2 måneder i Perth, hvor vores yngre datter Sarah bor med sin mand, Francis, og deres 3-årige tvillinger. Det var meget sjovt at se dem alle igen og opleve deres nye liv.

De mennesker, vi mødte i byen, var alle meget venlige, og vi talte også med mange, der var født i Storbritannien men i 1950’erne og 1960’erne flyttede til Australien .  Perth er en modern by med en masse  skyskrabere, og der er en smuk havn ved mundingen af floden Swan, der er meget bred. Perth har en meget godt offentlig transport system og vi tog bussen eller toget næsten hver dag for at besøge byens seværdigheder.

Vi holder meget af historie, og derfor elskede vi især Fremantle, en anden havneby, der ligger ikke ret langt fra Perth. Fremantle har opbevaret flere af dens historiske bygninger: banegården og bymidten minder meget om viktoriansk arkitektur i England.

12:00 Vi spiser frokost og derefter går jeg i seng og tager mig en kort lur – zzzzzz!!!!

13:30 Jeg skal af sted. Vores veninde Scillas U3A urnordiske gruppe holder dens næste møde i dag kl.14 på Everyman-teatret. Jeg går hen til busstoppestedet ved det lokale biblioteket og hoppe på en bus nummer ”N”.

14:00 Jeg snupper en kop kaffe på teatrets café og går op til første etage. Gruppens møde starter. Vi er kun 3 i dag, inklusive Scilla, fordi mange medlemmer er væk fra Cheltenham i denne uge. Kun Lyn og jeg dukker op. Lyn har en grad i engelsk, og hun tog også en bifag i angel-saksisk.

Njåls saga

Vi læser og oversætter til engelsk 6 sider af Njáls saga, der beskriver begivenheder, der fandt sted mellem 960 og 1020, inklusive flere blodige fejder, som oprindeligt blev provokeret af Gunnar Håmundarsons kone. Gunnar Håmundarsons kone, Hallgerth Höskuldsdóttir, var generelt set på som en "kælling". Disse fejder varede over mange generationer, og dermed blev mange mennesker dræbt  - du godeste! Sikke en skør verden man levede i dengang!!!

16:30 Jeg kommer hjem og Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop te på sofaen.

English translation

Tuesday, 09/08/2016 at 1630 till Wednesday, 10.08.2016 at 1629

hol

18:00 We have dinner and afterwards spend the evening watching TV. They show an interesting documentary about Burghley House.

 Burghley House is a castle from the 1500s at Stamford in Lincolnshire in England, and it is one of the finest examples of English 16th-century architecture.

The castle was built for Sir William Cecil, later Baron Burghley, who was Queen Elizabeth 1st of England's main adviser during most of her reign.

I must admit that I rarely look at this kind of program, but we decided to see it for two reasons. Firstly, the host is Phil Spencer, who looks around the palace not as a historian but like an uncultured realtor - my goodness, what a crazy world we live in!

Phil Spencer - he looks around the castle like an uncultured realtor!

Secondly, this program is interesting because Lois and I visited the castle for the first time in March 2016 when we holidayed in the Rutland area to celebrate my 70th birthday - hooray!

Lois and I visit Burghley House to celebrate my 70th birthday - hooray!

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

05:00 I get up early and do one of my routine Danish vocabulary tests.

08:00 I hurry into the kitchen and make two cups of tea. I bring them up to our bedroom. We lie in bed and drink tea. We pop quickly under the shower and then eat breakfast.

10:00 We each begin to write a few paragraphs in Danish about our holiday in Australia. Lois is going to write about the two weeks in Melbourne and Adelaide, and I will write about the following 8 weeks in Perth. Our U3A Danish group's next meeting takes place at our house tomorrow at 14:30, and I have asked the group members to write something about what they have done in the last 4 months. The group has not held any meetings since April because Lois and I were on vacation.

Lois writes as follows: When we visited Australia, we stayed first with my cousin Sylvia, in Melbourne. She is a widow but she has four children. We took a long drive along the "Great Ocean Road" and there were such nice views! Also we went on a tour of an ancient tropical rainforest and afterwards we saw wild koalas.

Then we flew to my cousin Stephen and his wife in Adelaide. They took us on a cruise along the Murray River and we saw pelicans and sea lions. In a national park, I held a koala (which was very heavy) and fed kangaroos.

We liked Adelaide, which was a beautiful city.

I write as follows: After Melbourne and Adelaide, we spent 2 months in Perth where our younger daughter Sarah lives with her husband, Francis, and their 3-year-old twins. It was great fun to see them all again and experience their new life.

The people we met in the town were all very friendly and we also talked with many who were born in Britain but in the 1950s and 1960s moved to Australia. Perth is a modern city with a lot of skyscrapers, and there is a beautiful harbor at the mouth of the Swan River, which is very broad. Perth has a very good public transport system and we took the bus or train almost every day to visit the city's attractions.

We like history and therefore we loved especially Fremantle, another port city not far from Perth. Fremantle has retained more of its historic buildings: the railway station and the city center is very similar to Victorian architecture in England.

12:00 We eat lunch and then I go to bed and take a short nap - zzzzzz !!!!

13:30 I have to be off. Our friend Scilla's U3A Old Norse group is holding its next meeting today at 2pm at the Everyman Theatre. I go to the bus stop by the local library and hop on a bus number "N".

14:00 I grab a cup of coffee at the theater café and go up to the first floor. The group meeting starts. We are only 3 today, including Scilla, because many members are away from Cheltenham this week. Only Lyn and I show up. Lyn has a degree in English, and she also took a minor in Anglo-Saxon.

Najåls saga

We read and translate into English 6 pages of Njáls saga, which describes events that took place between 960 and 1020, including several bloody feuds, originally provoked by Gunnar Hámundarsons wife. Gunnar Håmundarsons wife, Hallgerðr Höskuldsdóttir, was generally viewed as a "bitch". These feuds lasted over many generations, and thus many people were killed - my goodness! What a crazy world people lived in then !!!

16:30 I come home, and Lois and I relax with a cup of tea on the sofa.