18:00 Lois og jeg er ganske trætte, hvilket er normalt for os efter en ”dansk” dag, da
vi gjorde huset rent, forberedede os på vores U3A danske gruppes møde, og ledte
så samtalen og oversættelsen osv under selve mødet.
Vi spiser aftensmad og derefter bruger aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De
viser et gammelt afsnit af Top of the Pops fra juli 1982.
Jeg er sikker på, at dette afsnit var det sidste jeg så, før vi flyttede
til USA først i august 1982. Jeg var alene i huset i to uger, for at rydde op
og rykke alle vores personlige ejendele op i loftet, fordi vi skulle overlade
huset til lejere – en læge og hans kone.
Jeg kan huske, at jeg var meget træt hver aften efter en fuld dags arbejde
i huset. Også var jeg hver aften lidt beruset, fordi jeg for nogle måneder
siden havde brygget 20 store flasker ekstra stærk øl, som jeg nu prøvede at
drikke – jeg ville ikke have, at de gik til spilde. Det der var en stor fejl –
jeg burde have hældt dem ud i køkkenvasken, er jeg sikker på!!!
Men det er meget sjovt at se dette afsnit igen i aften. Min personlige
højdepunkt er denne uges ”sang, som jeg fuldstændigt har glemt”: ”The Clapping
Song” fortolket af ”Belle Stars”, der lyder som en gammel traditionel
skolegårdsang for små piger, opdateret for store piger i 1980’erne, men faktisk
var teksten skrevet i 1930’erne og melodien stammer fra 1960’erne – du godeste!
Sikke et vanvid!!!!
”The Clapping Song”, der lyder som en gammel traditionel
skolegårdsang
for små piger, opdateret for store piger i 1980’erne – du godeste!
21:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant
dokumentarfilm, der handler om en gådefuld moderne subkultur, nemlig nutidens ”hipsters”. Programmets vært er
Peter York, der i 1990’erne skrev en bog, der definerede en anderledes
subkultur, som han kaldte ”Sloane Rangers”: de øvre middelklasse unge kvinder,
der i hverdagen boede på Sloane Square og omegnen i London, som i weekenden
boede hos deres stenrige forældre ude på landet.
Jeg har personligt aldrig fuldstændigt forstået ordet ”hipster” og den
subkultur, som ordet henviser til, så jeg glæder mig til at finde ud af, hvad
det drejer om. Ved slutningen af programmet er min nysgerrighed lidt
tilfredsstillet, men begrebet om hipsterne er stadig lidt gådefuldt, synes jeg.
I 1920’erne, 1930’erne og 1940’erne var denne subkultur nemt at forstå,
fordi det henviste til (for det meste) sorte amerikanere, der godt kunne lide
jazz eller spillede jazz.
I 1990’erne fik ordet en ny betydning: en subkultur bestående (for det
meste) af unge mænd i kreative men dårligt betalte, hvid krave jobs, der godt
kunne lide at gro buskede skæg og klæde sig ud som canadiske skovhuggere –
ternede skjorter, jeans, tunge jakker osv. Hipsterne følte en mangel på
maskulinitet i deres jobs, og kompenserede ved at gå i meget mandlig
påklædning. Sikke et vanvid!!!
Det ser ud til, at de kvindelige hipsters havde ikke nogen specielle
egenskaber – de var bare de unge kvinder, der gik i seng med de mandlige
hipsters – du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!
Nu til dags har denne subkultur forandret igen, og der er færre skæg at
kigger på! Nutidens hipster går højt op i grønne ting, såkaldte ”autentiske
ting”, lokale små butikker, artikler lavet i hånden osv. Sikke et vanvid !!!!
22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzz!!!!!
04:00 Jeg står tidligt op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske
ordforrådtester. Bagefter laver jeg to kopper te og bringer dem op på vores
soveværelse. Vi drikker teen og står op. Vi spiser morgenmad.
09:00 Jeg går i gang med at blade igennem digtet Ormulum igen, som Orm, en
munk, skrev sidst i det 12. århundrede.
Lyndas U3A ”Making of English” gruppe holder dens månedlige møde i eftermiddag
kl 14:30, og vi skal diskutere dette digt.
Jeg har ondt af Orm, fordi han arbejdede meget hårdt på dette meget lange
digt, og han bad sin bror, Walter, om at redigere det og rette fejlene osv, men
så vidt vi ved, gjorde Walter det ikke (han var måske lidt doven), og det er
muligt, at digtet aldrig blev udgivet.
Det er også en skam, at den person (uidentificeret – måske Walter igen???),
der var ansvarlig for at binde manuskriptet sammen, gjorde ikke et godt stykke arbejde og mange
sider faldt ud af bundtet århundrede igennem, og kun 20% eksisterer endnu. Du
godeste, sikke en skandale! Jeg mistænker Walter igen – det har jeg ikke nogen
tvivl om !!!!
12:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng og tager mig en kort
eftermiddagslur – zzzzzz!!!!
13:30 Jeg står op. Vi skal af sted. Lois skal til det lokale bibliotek i
eftermiddag 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!!!
Jeg skal ind i byen. Jeg kører over til den store parkeringsplads på Eveshamvej og går videre
til Everyman-teatret. Vores gruppe samles på anden etage i teatrets bar. Vi er
8 i alt: Lynda (gruppens leder), Joe, Margaret, Anthony og hans kone, Barbara,
Joy, Vera og mig.
Det er meget sjovt at
diskutere digtets ord, grammatik osv. Orm, den munk der skrev digtet, boede i
grevskabet Lincoln, dvs området, hvor de fleste danske indvandrere flyttede
til, så hans sprog viser mange danske indflydelser. Grevskabet Lincoln ligger i
Englands østlige region og det var denne regions dialekt, som blev til Englands
standardssprog, som vi bruger i dag hele verden over.
Næste måneders møde skal finde
sted den 2. december. Lynda vil være på ferie, så derfor har hun bedt mig om at
lede mødet i sit fravær – uha! Jeg foreslår til gruppen, at vi kigger lidt på
et digt, der blev skrevet i det modsatte del af landet – dvs Sydvestengland.
Digtet hedder ”Uglen og Nattergalen” – hurra! Den sydvestlige dialekt var meget
mindre påvirket af den danske sprog, så derfor vil det være meget interessant
at sammenligne dette digt med Orms ”Ormulum”.
16:00 Mødet slutter og jeg
kører hjem. Lois er hjemme igen efter sin session på biblioteket. Vi slapper af
med en kop te på sofaen – hurra!
English translation
18:00 Lois and I are quite tired,
which is normal for us after a "Danish" day when we cleaned the
house, prepared for our U3A Danish group meetings, and led the conversation and
translation etc. during the meeting.
We eat dinner and then spend the
evening watching TV. They show an old episode of Top of the Pops from July
1982.
I am sure that this episode was
the last I saw before we moved to the US in August 1982. I was alone in the house
for two weeks to clean up and move all our personal belongings up into the loft
because we had leave the house to tenants - a doctor and his wife.
I remember that I was very tired
every evening after a full day's work in the house. Also, I was a little drunk
every night because a few months earlier I had brewed 20 large bottles of extra
strong beer, which I now tried to drink - I did not want them to go to waste.
It was a big mistake - I should have poured them out down kitchen sink, I'm
sure !!!
But it is a lot of fun to watch
this episode again tonight. My personal highlight is this week's "song
that I have completely forgotten": "The Clapping Song"
interpreted by "Belle Stars", which sounds like an old traditional
schoolyard song for little girls, updated for big girls in the 1980s, but in
fact the lyrics were written in the 1930s and the melody stems from the 1960s -
my goodness! What madness !!!!
"The Clapping Song", which
sounds like an old traditional
schoolyard song for little girls, updated
for big girls in the 1980s - my god!
21:00 We continue to watch TV.
They show an interesting documentary about a mysterious modern subculture,
namely today's "hipsters". The program's host is Peter York who in
the 1990s wrote a book that defined a different subculture, which he called
"Sloane Rangers": the upper middle class young women who in the week
lived in Sloane Square and the surrounding area in London, and who at the weekend
stayed with their wealthy parents in the country.
I personally have never
completely understood the word "hipster" and the subculture which the
word refers to, so I am looking forward to finding out what it is all about. At
the end of the program my curiosity is somewhat satisfied, but the concept of
the hipster crowd is still somewhat puzzling, I think.
In the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s
this subculture was easy to understand because it referred to (mostly) black
Americans who liked jazz or played jazz.
In the 1990s the word got a new
meaning: a subculture made up (mostly) of young men in creative but low-paying,
white collar jobs, who liked to grow bushy beards and dress up as Canadian
loggers - checked shirts, jeans, heavy jackets and so on. The hipster crowd
felt a lack of masculinity in their jobs, and compensated by going about in a
very male attire. What madness !!!
It seems that the female hipsters
did not have any special properties - they were just young women who went to
bed with the male hipsters - my goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!!
Nowadays, this subculture has
changed again, and there are fewer beards to look at! Today's hipster is into
green things, so-called "authentic things", local small shops,
articles made by hand and so on. What
madness !!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz !!!!!
04:00 I get up early and do one
of my routine Danish vocabulary tests. Afterwards, I make two cups of tea and
bring them up to our bedroom. We drink the tea and get up. We eat breakfast.
09:00 I begin to leaf through the
poem Ormulum again, which Orm, a monk, wrote in the late 12th century. Lynda's
U3A "Making of English" group is holding its monthly meeting this
afternoon at 2.30pm, and we are to discuss this poem.
I feel sorry for Orm because he
worked very hard on this very long poem, and he asked his brother, Walter, to
edit it and correct the mistakes, etc., but as far as we know, Walter did not do
it (he was perhaps a little lazy ) and it is possible that the poem was never
published.
It is also a pity that the person
(unidentified - perhaps Walter again ???) who was responsible for tying the
manuscript together, did not do a good job and many pages fell out of the
bundle over the centuries, and only 20% still exist. My god, what a scandal! I
suspect Walter again - no doubt about it !!!!
12:00 We eat lunch and afterwards
I go to bed and take a short nap - zzzzzz !!!!
13:30 I get up. We have to get
going. Lois is going to the local library this afternoon 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
to the sessions - happy days! But now the family has moved to Australia - sob
sob !!!
I go into town. I drive over to
the large parking lot on Eveshamvej and proceed to the Everyman Theatre. Our
group is gathering on the second floor of the theater's bar. We are 8 in total:
Lynda (group leader), Joe, Margaret, Anthony and his wife, Barbara, Joy, Vera
and me.
It is a lot of fun to discuss the
poem's words, grammar and so on. Orm, the monk who wrote the poem, lived in the
county of Lincoln, that is the area where most Danish immigrants moved to, so
his language shows many Danish influences. The county of Lincoln is located in
England's eastern region and it was this region's dialect which became
England's standard language, which we use today throughout the world.
Next month's meeting is to take
place on 2 December. Lynda will be on vacation, so she has asked me to chair
the meeting in her absence - oh dear! I suggest to the group that we take a
little look at a poem that was written in the opposite part of the country - ie
South West England. The poem is called "The Owl and the Nightingale"
- hurrah! The southwestern dialect was much less affected by the Danish
language, so it will be very interesting to compare this poem with Orm's
"Ormulum".
16:00 The meeting ends and I
drive home. Lois is back home after her session at the library. We relax with a
cup of tea on the sofa - hurrah!
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