17:00 Jeg får en email fra Alison, vores ældste datter, der bor i
København, sammen med Ed, sin mand, og deres tre børn. Vi foreslår, at vi kan
Skype med hende i morgen kl 21 (dansk tid). Lois og jeg lærte denne uge i vores
danske lærebog, ”Beginners’ Danish”, at det var en dansker og en svensker, der
startede Skype – hurra!
18:30 Vi spiser aftensmad. I morges kiggede vi ind hos Waghornes, den
lokale slagter, og købte 4 lammelevere, fordi vi et par dage siden så et
interessant tv-program, der handlede om hvor meget kød man skal spise.
Programmets vært anbefalede, at vi spiser mere slagteaffald: lever, nyrer osv.
Både Lois og jeg har dårlige minder om vores barndom, da vi blev tvunget at
spise lever i skolen, hvilket hver elev hadede – uha! Men vi besluttede i dag
at give det endnu et skud. Lois serverer to lammelevere hver for os.
Desværre er det lidt af en fiasko. Selv når jeg at spise begge mine levere,
men kun ved at spise en masse løg med hver bid. Lois spiser én af sine 2
levere, men derefter giver hun op. Pokkers!
På tirsdag, skal vi kigge ind hos slagteren igen og hente de vi 4
lammehjerter, som vi i morges bestilte. Men vi er mere optimistisk, når det
kommer til hjerter, fordi vi engang imellem plejede at spise hjerter, da vi var
et ungt par med en mangel på penge – uha!!!
19:00 Vi har begge to ondt i ledene i aften på grund af det havearbejde, vi
dyrkede tidligere på dagen. Vi bruger aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser
en interessant dokumentarfilm, første del af to, der handler om moderne
komponister.
Hverken Lois eller jeg kan lide moderne komponister ret meget, men vi
interesserer os for at finde ud af hvorfor disse komponister syntes, at deres
musik var så fantastisk. Vi mistænker, at mange af disse komponister havde
svært ved at finde på gode melodier, så derfor besluttede de at skabe støj i
stedet for musik.
Schönberg opfandt ”tolvtonemusik”, men det mislykkedes ham at skabe noget
dejlig musik dermed. Stravinskys ”Le sacre du printemps” (forårsofret) er bare
støj. Det minder os om de moderne ”kunstnere”, der dyster med hinanden for det
årlige Turnerpris: de kan ikke male smukke malerier, eller skaber smukke
statuer, så de finder på sindssyge ”installationer” i stedet. Ræk mig lige
opkastningsposen, Alice!
20:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn.
De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om de små skotske
dampskibe, kaldede ”puffers”, der plejede at sejle mellem havne langs Skotlands
vestlige kyst og øer, for at transportere varer til og fra små byer. Mange af
disse havne og byer var svære at nå til, så der man havde stor brug for små
skibe, der kunne give en livline til disse små isolerede byer og landsbyer.
”Puffers” var små dampskibe, der kunne give en livline
til
isolerede byer og landsbyer i det vestlige Skotland
Lois er især interesseret i disse skibe, fordi nogle af hendes
yndlingsnoveller handler om ét af disse skibe. Skibet hed ”Vital Spark” og
forfatteren var Neil Munro (1863-1930). Munros korte historier om Para Handy,
skibets kaptajn, og hans besætning er meget komiske – Lois og jeg ligger ofte i
sengen og næsten dør af grin, når hun læser højt de meste komiske sider af
disse bøger. For øvrigt er vi blevet ganske dygtige til at tale på besætningens
skotske dialekt – du godeste!
Lois med én af hendes yndlings-godnatbøger, ”Para Handy” af Neil Munro
Munro er et andet tilfælde af en forfatter/komponist, der ville gerne
betrægtes som en seriøs forfatter / kunstner / komponist, men desværre er han
husket mest for sine useriøse værker: ligesom Arthur Conan Doyle, Gilbert &
Sullivan og så videre. Listen er endeløs !!!!
Faktisk er der ikke noget højere kald, end at underholde , more og fornøje
mennesker i løbet af deres lange/korte nemme/svære rejse gennem livet – ingen
tvivl om det!
Para Handy-historier startede i 1905 som en regelmæssig kolonne i Munros
lokale avis, Glasgow Evening News, og varede til 1923 (sammenlagt 18 år). Det
blev også til en sort og hvid sitcom i 1960’erne, som Lois og jeg tydeligt
husker.
”Para Handy”-historier startede i en lokal avis i 1905
Historierne blev også til en sitcom i 1960’erne
22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzz!!!!!
05:00 Jeg står tidligt op og laver én af mine
rutinemæssige danske ordforrådtester. Bagefter skynder jeg mig ind i køkkenet
og laver to kopper te. Jeg bringer dem op på vores soveværelse og kryber
tilbage i vores seng. Senere går vi i bad.
09:00 Vi står op og spiser morgenmad. Vi prøver kl
10 at ringe til Sarah, vores yngste datter, der bor i Perth, Australien, sammen
med Francis, sin mand, og deres 3-årige tvillinger, Lily og Jessica. Desværre
er der ikke nogen svar, så jeg bare forlader en besked. I går sagde Sarah, at
hun glædte sig til at snakke med os på søndag kl 10, så vi kan spørge hende om
hendes forretningsrejse til Sydney (i torsdags og fredags). Noget har åbenbart
gået galt – uha!!!
10:45 Lois skal af sted. Der er to gudstjenester,
der finder sted i dag i Tewkesbury, som hun gerne vil deltage i.
Jeg har lidt alenetid, så derfor går jeg ud og
luger lidt i grøntsaghaven. Den trænger til at luges – ingen tvivl om det. Det blev
en sand jungle, mens vi var i Australien fra april til juni.
12:00 Jeg spiser frokost på terrassen. Sarah
ringer til os. Hun siger, at hun kl 10 (engelsk tid) ikke kunne være i kontakt med
os, fordi familien var taget på udflugt til Two Rocks, en lille stad 10
minutter væk med bil. En familie, de kender (mor, far, 3-årig dreng, og 2-årig
pige), overvejer at købe et hus derover.
Jeg spurgte om Sarahs forretningsrejse til Sydney
(i torsdags og fredags). Hun siger, at det formentligt ikke var det værd at
rejse sådan en lang afstand for at tilbringe sådan en kort tid på firmaets
hovedkontor, men nu mindst kender hun lidt bedre sine kollegaer derover.
Hendes rejse til Sydney lufthavn efter arbejdet i
fredags var meget stressfuld – lidt af et mareridt - og hun ville have mistet
sit fly, hvis det ikke var blevet forsinket – uha! Sydneys hovedbanegård er
svært at finde – dens indgang ligger inde i et indkøbscenter! Der er kun 2
billetmaskiner, og den ene var ude af funktion – der var en gigantisk kø, hun
skulle vente 30 minutter!!! Australien er i mange aspekter mere avanceret end
Storbritannien, mem i andre aspekter er det bagud for sin tid – det veder jeg
med sikkerhed!!!!
Hendes kontrakt hos Hungry Jacks / Burger King
slutter om et par måneder, så derfor er hun begyndt at ansøge om andre
stillinger. Hun har 2 job-samtaler på tirsdag. Den første involverer et
regnskabsfirma, men i den anden stilling (der er bedre betalt!) ville hun blive
regnskabschef for en landskabsarkitekt. Hun planlægger også at registrere med
endnu to vikarbureauer.
Francis er omsider færdig med at skrive sit cv, så
er han nu klar til at ansøge om et deltidsjob.
14:00 Jeg går i seng og jeg tager mig en gigantisk
eftermiddagslur – zzzzzz!!!!!
15:00 Jeg står op og gå ud i haven for at luge
lidt mere. Hidadtil har jeg ikke ondt i ledene i dag, som jeg havde i går.
Måske bliver jeg mere rask!
15:30 Lois kommer hjem igen og vi slapper af med
en kop te på terrassen.
English translation
17:00 I get an email from Alison,
our oldest daughter who lives in Copenhagen, along with Ed, her husband and
their three children. We suggest that we can Skype with her tomorrow at 9pm
(Danish time). Lois and I learned this week in our Danish textbook,
"Beginners' Danish" that it was a Dane and a Swede who started Skype -
hurrah!
18:30 We eat dinner. This morning
we looked in at Waghornes, the local butcher and bought 4 lamb livers because a
few days ago we saw an interesting television program that focused on how much
meat to eat. The program's host recommended that we eat more meat offal: liver,
kidneys etc.
Both Lois and I have bad memories
of our childhood, when we were forced to eat liver in school, which every
student hated - oh dear! However, today we decided to give it another shot.
Lois serves us two lamb livers each.
Unfortunately it is a bit of a
failure. I myself manage to eat both of my livers, but only by eating a lot of
onions with every bite. Lois eats one of her 2 livers, but then she gives up. Damn!
On Tuesday, we are to look in at
the butcher again and pick up the 4 lamb hearts that we ordered this morning.
But we are more optimistic when it comes to hearts because we sometimes used to
eat hearts, when we were a young couple with a shortage of money - oh dear !!!
19:00 We both have sore joints this evening because of the gardening we did earlier in the day. We spend the
evening watching a little television. They show an interesting documentary, the
first part of two, that is about modern composers.
Neither Lois nor I like modern
composers very much, but we are interested in finding out why these composers
thought that their music was so great. We suspect that many of these composers
had difficulty thinking up good tunes, so they decided to create noise instead
of music.
Schoenberg invented
"twelve-tone music", but he failed to create any nice music with it.
Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" is just noise. It
reminds us of the modern "artists" who compete with each other for
the annual Turner Prize: they cannot paint beautiful paintings, or create
beautiful statues, so they think of crazy "installations" instead. Pass
the sickbag, Alice!
20:00 We continue to watch TV.
They show an interesting
documentary about the small Scottish steamships, called "puffers"
that used to sail between ports along Scotland's west coast and islands, to
transport goods to and from small towns. Many of these ports and towns were
hard to reach, so people had great use for small ships that could provide a
lifeline for these small isolated towns and villages.
"Puffers" were small steamships
that could provide a lifeline
to isolated towns and villages in the west
of Scotland
Lois is especially interested in
these vessels because some of her favorite short stories are about one of these
ships. The ship was called "Vital Spark" and the author was Neil
Munro (1863-1930). Munro's short stories about Para Handy, the ship's captain,
and his crew are very comical - Lois and I often lie in bed and almost die
laughing when she reads aloud the most comic pages of these books.
Incidentally, we have become quite adept at talking in the crew's Scottish
dialect - my god!
Lois with one of her favorite goodnight books,
"Para Handy" by Neil Munro
Munro is another case of a writer
/ composer who wanted to be considered as a serious writer / artist / composer,
but unfortunately he is remembered most for his frivolous works: like Arthur
Conan Doyle, Gilbert & Sullivan and so on. The list is endless !!!!
In fact, there is no higher
calling than to entertain, amuse and delight people during their long / short easy/difficult
journey through life - no doubt about it!
Para Handy stories started in
1905 as a regular column in Munro's local newspaper, the Glasgow Evening News,
and lasted till 1923 (total of 18 years). It was also a black and white sitcom
in the 1960s, which Lois and I clearly remember.
"Para Handy"-stories started in
a local newspaper in 1905
the stories also became a sitcom in the
1960s
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzz !!!!!
05:00 I get up early and do one
of my routine Danish vocabulary tests. Afterwards I hurry into the kitchen and
make two cups of tea. I bring them up to our bedroom and crawl back into our
bed. Later we take a shower.
09:00 We get up and eat
breakfast. We try at 10am to call Sarah, our youngest daughter, who lives in
Perth, Australia, along with Francis, her husband and their 3-year-old twins,
Lily and Jessica. Unfortunately there is no answer, so I just leave a message.
Yesterday, Sarah said that she was looking forward to talking to us on Sunday
at 10am, so that we can ask her about her business trip to Sydney (Thursday and
Friday). Something has obviously gone wrong - oh dear !!!
10:45 Lois has to be off. There
are two services taking place today in Tewkesbury, which she would like to
attend.
I have a little time alone, so I
go out and weed a bit in the vegetable garden. It badly needs to be weeded - no
doubt about it. It became a true jungle while we were in Australia from April
to June.
12:00 I eat lunch on the terrace.
Sarah rings us. She says she could not be in contact with us at 10am (UK time)
because the family had taken a trip to Two Rocks, a small town 10 minutes away
by car. A family that they know (mother, father, 3-year-old boy and 2 year old
girl), are considering buying a house over there.
I asked about Sarah's business
trip to Sydney (Thursday and Friday). She says it probably was not worth it to
travel such a long distance to spend such a short time at the company
headquarters, but now at least she knows her colleagues over there a little
better.
Her trip to Sydney airport after
work on Friday was very stressful – a bit of a nightmare - and she would have
missed her plane if it had not been delayed - oh dear! Sydney Central Station
is hard to find - its entrance is located inside a shopping mall! There are
only two ticket machines, and one was out of order - there was a huge queue,
she had to wait 30 minutes !!! Australia is in many aspects more advanced than
the UK, but in other aspects it is behind the times - I know that for sure !!!!
Her contract with Hungry Jack's /
Burger King ends in a couple of months, so she has started to apply for other
positions. She has two job interviews on Tuesday. The first involves an
accounting firm, but at the second position (which is better paid!) she would
become chief accountant for a landscape architect. She also plans to register
with another two temporary employment agencies.
Francis has finally finished
writing his cv, so he is now ready to apply for a part-time job.
14:00 I go to bed and I take a gigantic
afternoon nap - zzzzzz !!!!!
15:00 I get up and go out into
the garden to weed a little more. So far I have not got pain in the joints like
I had yesterday. Perhaps I am becoming be more healthy!
15:30 Lois comes home again and
we relax with a cup of tea on the terrace.
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