18:00 Vi er godt trætte i slutningen af endnu en ”dansk dag”. Du godeste,
vi bliver gamle – ingen tvivl om det! Vi
spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn.
20:00 De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om det britiske
krigsskib, HMS Hood.
HMS Hood blev bygget på floden Clyde i Skotland mellem 1916 og 1920. Skibet
var dengang verdens største krigsskib. Skibet klassificeres som slagkrydser, og
den britiske kongelige flåde brugte en række af disse slags krigsskibe under
den første verdenskrig, og HMS Hood var det seneste,
da man gik i gang med at bygge det i 1916.
Desværre opdagede flåden i 1917, under slaget ved Jylland, at designet af
disse slagkrydsere havde alvorlige fejl og mangler. Under slaget blev 3 andre
britiske slagkrydsere sprængt og sank på grund af skibenes dækkene, der var for
svage til at modstå en direkte fuldtræffer (skibenes dækker var gjort til
lettere for at øge skibets hastighed – uha!). Den svage dække var ikke stærke
nok til at beskytte skibets magasin og sprængstoffer – uha (igen)!
I 1917 var flåden allerede i gang med at bygge den seneste nye slagkrydser,
HMS Hood. Skibets designer prøvede at modificere designet så bedste han kunne,
men forandringer var ikke ret tilfredsstillende – uha!
Efter krigen, sejlede HMS Hood verden rundt og besøgte alle dele af det
britiske imperium, for at prøve at bevise, at Storbritannien stadigvæk var en
supermagt – uha! Skibets ankomst var især populær i Australien, og tusindvis af
mennesker dukkede op for at se skibet i Melbourne og Sydney i 1924.
HMS Hood dokkede i Melbourne og Sydney i 1924
Skibets besætning marcherede gennem Melbournes gader
I 1941 blev HMS Hood sunket af det tyske slagskib
Bismarck, i Danmarksstrædet mellem Grønland og Island. Tabet af HMS Hood var
dengang meget deprimerende for det britiske folk, der havde troet at skibet var
”synkefrit”: hvor har jeg hørt dette ord før??!!!!!
21:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. Vi
har glædet os til at se endnu et afsnit af vores yndlings-sitcom, “Big Bang
Theory”, fordi det hører til den 9. serie, som vi gik glip af, mens vi fra
april til juni var i Australien. Men vi indser midt i programmet, at vi
allerede må have set det i Australien – pokkers!
Men der var gode nyheder efter slutningen af afsnittet. Den seneste (10.)
serie starter om et par uger – hurra!!!!
22:00 Vi går i seng. Vi tænker på vores yngste datter, Sarah, der bor i
Perth, Australien, sammen med sin mand, Francis, og deres 3-årige tvillinger,
Lily og Jessica. Sarah fløj i går tidligt til Sydney på forretningsrejse. Den
er nu kl 8 lokal tid i Sydney, og vi er sikre på, at Sarah er ved at tjekke ud
af sit hotel, og gå ind i firmaets hovedkontor, der ligger ved siden af hendes
hotel, for at begynde sin anden og sidste dag, før hun flyver hjem igen i
aften.
Vi glider over i søvnen – zzzzz!!!!!
04:30 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. Vi
drikker teen og går i bad.
08:30 Vi står op og spiser morgenmad.
10:00 Lois skal af sted. Hun kører til Bishops Cleeve, en lille forstad til
Cheltenham, fordi hun har en tid hos den lokale fysioterapeut. På vej smutter
hun ind i posthuset, for at afsende en pakke til Australien.
Jeg har lidt alenetid, så jeg forbereder mig på U3A ”Making of
English”-gruppens månedlige møde, der finder sted i eftermiddag på
Everyman-teatret, der ligger midt i byen. Lynda, vores gruppeleder, har bedt os
om, at gøre lidt forskning om indflydelsen af det danske sprog på det engelske
i løbet af den angel-saksiske periode og lidt efter. Jeg planlægger at
fortæller dem om en norsk professors afhandling, hvor der står, at det engelske
sprog skal klassificeres som et skandinaviske sprog – du godeste, sikke en skør
verden vi lever i !!!!!
12:30 Lois kommer tilbage igen og vi spiser frokost. Bagefter går jeg i
seng og tager mig en kort lur – zzzzz!!!!
13:45 Lois skal af sted. Hun går hen
til det lokale bibliotek for at hjælpe bibliotekets personale med at organisere
og lede den ugentlige ”Baby Bounce and Rhyme” session for unge mødre og deres
små børn. Aktiviterne består af barnesange for babys og forældre
(og bedsteforældre). Da vores anden datter, Sarah, stadigvæk boede og arbejdede
i England, plejede Lois og jeg at tage Sarahs tvillinger med til sessioner –
lykkelige dage! Men nu er familien flyttet til Australien – hulk hulk!!!!
13:55 Jeg går hen til busstoppestedet ved det lokale bibliotek. Jeg står og
venter på en bus nummer ”N”. Min plan er at stå af ved Marks & Spencers og
går videre til teatret. Den U3A ”Making of English” gruppe skal samles i dag på
anden etage i teatrets bar.
Desværre dukker bussen ikke op
– pokkers! Jeg skynder mig hjem igen og kører i bil i stedet. Jeg ankommer
nøjagtigt kl halv femten. Jeg snupper lige en hurtig kaffe i teatrets bar og
går op til anden etage. Mødet er lige ved at starte – puha!
Vi er 6 i alt: Lynda (gruppens
leder), Joe, Joy, Anthony og hans kone, Barbara. Diskussionen går meget godt og
tiden flyver virkelig af sted. Vi har det meget sjovt. Den er snart kl 16 og
mødet slutter. Vi beslutter at vi på novembers møde skal tale om nogle af de
første tekster på middelengelsk, som for eksempel ”Ormulum”, der blev skrevet i
det 12. århundrede i Lincoln grevskabet, hvor der boede mange indbyggere af
dansk oprindelse. Digtet indeholder masser af danske ord – hurra!
English translation
18:00 We are pretty tired at the
end of yet another "Danish today." My God, we are growing old - no
doubt about it! We eat dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching TV.
20:00 They show an interesting
documentary about the British warship HMS Hood.
HMS Hood was built on the River
Clyde in Scotland between 1916 and 1920. The ship was then the world's largest
warship. The ship is classified as a battle cruiser, and the British Royal Navy
used a number of these kinds of warships during the First World War and the HMS
Hood was the last, when they started building it in 1916.
Unfortunately the navy discovered
in 1917, during the Battle of Jutland, that the design of these battle cruisers
had serious deficiencies. During the battle three other British battle cruisers
exploded and sank because of the ships' decks that were too weak to withstand a
direct hit (the ships' decks had been made lighter for increasing vessel speed -
oh dear!). The weak deck was not strong enough to protect the vessel magazine
and explosives - oh dear (again)!
In 1917 the fleet had already
started to build the latest new battle cruiser HMS Hood. The ship's designer
tried to modify the design as best he could, but the change was not very
satisfactory - oh deaar!
After the war, HMS Hood sailed
around the world and visited all parts of the British Empire, to try to prove
that Britain was still a superpower - oh dear! The ship's arrival was
especially popular in Australia, and thousands of people showed up to see the
ship in Melbourne and Sydney in 1924.
HMS Hood docked in Melbourne and Sydney
in 1924
the ship's crew marched through
Melbourne's streets.
In 1941 HMS Hood got sunk by the
German battleship Bismarck in the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland.
The loss of HMS Hood was then very depressing for the British people, who had
believed that the ship was "unsinkable": where have I heard that word
before ?? !!!!!
21:00 We continue to watch TV. We
have been looking forward to seeing another episode of our favorite sitcom,
"Big Bang Theory", because it belongs to the 9th series that we
missed out on while we were in Australia from April to June. But we realize in
the middle of the program, we must have already seen this one in Australia -
damn!
But there was good news after the
end of the episode. The latest (10th) series begins in a couple of weeks -
hoorah !!!!
22:00 We go to bed. We think of
our youngest daughter, Sarah, who lives in Perth, Australia, with her husband,
Francis, and their 3-year-old twins, Lily and Jessica. Sarah flew early
yesterday to Sydney on business. It is now at 8 am local time in Sydney, and we
are sure that Sarah is about to check out of her hotel, and go into the company
headquarters, located next to her hotel, to begin her second and final day
before she flies back home in the evening.
We drift off to sleep - zzzzz
!!!!!
04:30 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. We drink tea and take a shower.
08:30 We get up and eat
breakfast.
10:00 Lois has to go out. She is
driving to Bishops Cleeve, a small suburb of Cheltenham, because she has an
appointment with the local physiotherapist. On the way she pops into the post
office to send a parcel to Australia.
I have a little time alone, so I
prepare for the U3A "Making of English" group's monthly meeting,
which is taking place this afternoon at the Everyman Theatre, located in the
middle of the town. Lynda, our group leader, has asked us to do a little
research on the influence of the Danish language on the English one during the
Anglo-Saxon period and a bit after. I plan to tell them about a Norwegian
professor's thesis, where it says that the English language should be
classified as a Scandinavian language - my goodness, what a crazy world we live
in !!!!!
12:30 Lois comes back again and
we eat lunch. Afterwards I go to bed and take a short nap - zzzzz !!!!
13:45 Lois has to be off. She
goes along to the local library to help library staff organize and lead the
weekly "Baby Bounce and Rhyme" session for young mothers and their
young children. The activities consist of children's songs for babies and
parents (and grandparents). When our second daughter, Sarah, still lived and
worked in England, Lois and I used to take Sarah's twins along to the sessions
- happy days! But now the family has moved to Australia - sob sob !!!!
13:55 I go along to the bus stop
by the local library. I stand waiting for a bus number "N". My plan
is to get off at Marks & Spencers and walk on to the theater. The U3A
"Making of English" group will gather today on the second floor of
the theater's bar.
Unfortunately the bus does not turn
up - damn! I hurry back home and go by car instead. I arrive at exactly 2.30pm. I'm grab a quick coffee in the theater bar and go up to the second
floor. The meeting is just about to start - phew!
We are 6 in total: Lynda (group
leader), Joe, Joy, Anthony and his wife, Barbara. The discussion goes very well
and time really flies. We have a lot of fun. It is soon 4pm and the meeting
ends. We decide that at the November meeting we will talk about some of the
first texts in Middle English, such as "Ormulum", that was written in
the 12th century in Lincoln County, where there lived many residents of Danish
origin. The poem contains lots of Danish words - hurrah!
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