18:00 Lois og jeg spiser aftensmad og derefter skal vi af sted. Lois er
blevet inviteret til en buffet på det lokale bibliotek. Hun arbejder
lejlighedsvis som frivillig assistent, og biblioteket har arrangeret denne
buffet for at sige tak til alle dets frivillige assistenter. Jeg kører hende
over til biblioteket og sætter hende af.
20:15 Lois ringer til mig for at sige, at buffetten er forbi. Jeg kører
igen over til biblioteket og afhente hende.
Derefter bruger vi aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant
dokumentarfilm ”Digging for Britain” (2. del af 3), en serie, der giver en
oversigt af hvad landets arkæologer har afdækket i 2016. Dette andet afsnit
handler om udgravninger i Skotland og det nordlige England. Programmets vært er
den charmerende Alice Roberts.
Lois og jeg kan godt lide denne serie, nu i dens 5. sæson, fordi vi ser så
mange dokumentarfilm om arkæologi, nogle af dem genudsendelser, og det er
derfor nemt at blive forvirret over hvad der er nyt, hvad der ikke er nyt, hvad
der er vigtigt osv. Og teorier ændrer sig konstant for hver eneste dag, og den
almindelige person får ikke altid nys om disse ændringer. Stakkels almindelige
personer!!!! Men denne serie gør os til at føle, at vi endelig forstå den
nuværende viden – hurra!
Det er især meget interessant at høre om udgravninger i nærheden af
Burnswark, en lille landsby i det sydlige Skotland. Den romerske hær erobrede
nutidens England uden meget besvær, men den aldrig erobrede Skotland på trods
af to determinerede felttog. Men ingen har op til nu fundet beviser for et
slag, og eksperterne troede, at kelterne fulgte igen deres velkendte strategi
af at gemme sig, når den romerske hær rykkede sig nærmere. De plejede at kommer
ud af deres gemmesteder, efter hæren var gået videre. De begyndte så at grine
fjollet. Jeg formoder, at de hulkede af grin – i gamle dage var der ikke ret
meget at grine af, så sådanne begivenheder dengang var ”komedieguld” – det har
jeg ikke nogen tvivl om !!!
Kelterne byggede et fæstningsvæk omkring en lille landsby,
der
lå på toppen af en bakke i det sydlige Skotland,
men man kan se tegn på bakkens
nordlige og sydlige sider,
at den romerske hær var der også – ingen tvivl om
det!!!!
Nu for første gang har vi beviser for en belejring. Kelterne havde bygget
et stærkt fæstningsværk omkring en landsby, der lå på toppen af en bakke i det
sydlige Skotland i nærheden af Burnswalk. På bakkens sydlige side og det
nordlige side er der tegn på to romerske militære lejre. Man troede før i tiden
at disse lejre var militære træninglejre, men i 2016 fandt arkæologer tusindvis
af sten (små og store), som den romerske hær slyngede mod det keltiske fæstningsværk
ved hjælp af slangebøsser og større maskiner . Du godeste, dette må have tørret
smilene af kelternes ansigter – det ved jeg med sikkerhed!!!!
Eksperterne synes at være helt sikre på, at vi her har beviserne for et
voldsomt slag mellem den romerske hær og de keltiske indbyggere. Men i betragtning
af, at vi ved, kelterne havde en god humoristisk sans, kan vi virkelig fuldstændigt
udelukke muligheden for, at kelterne på dette tidspunkt ikke var hjemme, og at
romerne var i gang med at belejre en tom landsby? Måske havde kelterne efterladt
figurer svarende til nutidens stormagasinmannequiner, der ”bevogtede” fæstningsværket.
Måske blev romerne snydt igen? Tiden vil vise – Lois og jeg har besluttet os for
at se 2017-oversigten, for at se, om vores teori er blevet bekræftet.
Programmets charmerende vært, Alice Roberts, taler på en forvrænget version
af den dialekt, man hører i byen Bristol, og hun udtaler for eksempel på en
underlig måde den engelske diftong ”ow”, som i ordet ”browse”, hvilket lidt
skurrer i ørerne på mig. Hun ville udtale ordet ”browse” på samme måde, som jeg
personligt ville udtale de to engelske ord ”bray ooze”. Ingen er perfekte
(bortset fra mig ha ha ha!!!!)
22:00 Jeg mindes pludseligt, at jeg har glemt at fylde vores
haveaffaldspand op med haveaffald, og skraldebil kommer i morgen tidligt.
Pokkers, jeg vil have travlt før morgenmad – pokkers (igen)!
Vi går i seng – zzzzzzz!!!!!
04:00 Jeg står tidligt op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske
ordforrådtester.
07:30 Jeg skynder mig ind i køkkenet og jeg laver to kopper te. Jeg bringer
dem op på vores soveværelse og kryber tilbage i vores seng.
Vi ligger og slapper lidt af under dynerne, da jeg pludselig hører
skraldebilen udenfor – den er kommet
super-tidligt. Pokkers! Jeg har ikke haft chancen endnu for at rykke vores
haveaffaldspand ud til fortovet. De lokale skraldemænd er sådan nogle sjufter –
det ved jeg med sikkerhed! De kommer altid tidligere end normalt, hvis de ser,
at min haveaffaldspand ikke er blevet rykket ud til fortovet foran huset –
pokkers (igen)!
Vi drikker teen og står op. Vi spiser morgenmad.
11:00 Vi skal af sted. Vi kører over til Bishops Cleeve, en lille landsby,
der ligger 3 miles fra Cheltenham. Lois skal sætte en check ind på sin kirkes
konto, så vi smutter ind i Lloyds Bank. Bagefter kigger vi ind i
Cooperative-minisupermarkedet for at købe et par ting. Vi kører hjem og slapper
af med en kop kaffe i sofaen.
13:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng og tager mig en
gigantisk eftermiddagslur – zzzz!!! Vi er begge to udmattede efter Brians og
Ruths besøg. Vi må finde en måde at genoplade vores batterier på inden vores
næste store rejse (til Danmark) – det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl om. Ellers
kommer vi til at have meget store problemer, synes jeg. Du godeste!
16:00 Jeg står op og vi slapper af med en kop te i sofaen.
English translation
18:00 Lois and I eat dinner and
then we have to leave. Lois has been invited to a buffet at the local library.
She occasionally works as a volunteer assistant, and the library has arranged
this buffet to thank all its volunteers assistants. I drive her over to the
library and drop her off.
20:15 Lois calls me to say that
the buffet is over. I drive back over to the library and pick her up.
After that, we spend the evening
watching a little television. They show an interesting documentary
"Digging for Britain" (Part 2 of 3), a series that provides an
overview of what the country's archaeologists have unearthed in 2016. This
second episode deals with excavations in Scotland and northern England. The
program's host is the charming Alice Roberts.
Lois and I like this series, now
in its fifth season, because we see so many documentaries on archeology, some
of them reruns, and it's easy to get confused about what is new, what is not
new, what is important and so on. and theories are constantly changing every
single day, and the ordinary person does not always get wind of these changes.
Poor ordinary people !!!! But this series makes us feel that we finally understand
the current knowledge - hurrah!
It is especially very interesting
to hear about excavations near Burnswark, a small village in southern Scotland.
The Roman army conquered today's England without much difficulty, but never
conquered Scotland despite two determined campaigns. But no one has up to now
found evidence for a battle, and experts believed that the Celts followed their
familiar strategy of hiding whenever the Roman army moved closer. They used to come
out of their hiding places, after the army had moved on. They then began to
laugh themselves silly. I suspect that they sobbed with laughter - in the old
days there was not much to laugh about, so such events back then were
"comedy gold" - I have no doubts about that !!!
The Celts built a fortification around a
small village lying
on top of a hill in southern Scotland, but
one can see on the hill's
northern and southern sides that
the Roman
army was there too - no doubt about it !!!!
Now for the first time, we have
evidence for a siege. The Celts had built a strong fortification around a
village that lay on top of a hill in southern Scotland near Burnswark. On the
hill's south side and north side there are signs of two Roman military camps.
It was believed in the past that these camps were military training camps, but
in 2016 archaeologists found thousands of stones (small and large), which the
Roman army hurled against the Celtic fortifications using slingshots and larger
machines. My God, this must have wiped the smiles off the Celts’ faces - I know
that for sure !!!!
The experts seem to be absolutely
sure that we have here the evidence of a fierce battle between the Roman army
and the Celtic inhabitants. But given that we know that the Celts had a good
sense of humor, can we really completely exclude the possibility that the Celts
were not at home at the time, and that the Romans had started to besiege an
empty village? Perhaps the Celts left behind figures similar to today's
department store mannequins, who were "guarding" the fortress.
Perhaps the Romans were deceived yet again? Time will tell - Lois and I have
decided to see the 2017 summary, to see if our theory has been confirmed.
The program's charming host,
Alice Roberts, talks in a distorted version of the dialect one hears in the
city of Bristol, and for example she pronounces the English diphthong
"ow", as in the word "browse", in a weird way, which grates
on my ears a bit. She would pronounce the word "browse" in the same
way that I personally would pronounce the English words "bray ooze".
Nobody’s perfect (apart from me ha ha ha !!!!)
22:00 I remember suddenly that I
have forgotten to fill our garden waste bin with garden waste and the garbage
truck is coming early tomorrow morning. Damn, I'll be busy before breakfast -
damn (again)!
We go to bed - zzzzzzz !!!!!
04:00 I get up early and do one
of my routine Danish vocabulary tests.
07:30 I hurry into the kitchen
and I make two cups of tea. I bring them up to our bedroom and crawl back into
our bed.
We are lying there relaxing a little under the covers when suddenly I hear
the garbage truck outside - it has come super-early. Damn! I have not had the
chance yet to move our garden waste bin out to the sidewalk. The local garbage
collectors are such bastards - I know that for sure! They always come earlier
than usual, if they see that my garden waste bin has not been moved out to the
sidewalk in front of the house - damn (again)!
We drink the tea and get up. We
eat breakfast.
11:00 We have to go. We drive
over to Bishops Cleeve, a small village located 3 miles from Cheltenham. Lois
has to put a check into her church's account, so we pop into Lloyds Bank.
Afterwards, we nip into the Cooperative mini supermarket to buy a few things.
We drive home and relax with a cup of coffee on the sofa.
13:00 We eat lunch and afterwards
I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap - zzzz !!! We're both exhausted
after Brian and Ruth's visit. We must find a way to recharge our batteries
before our next big trip (to Denmark) - I have no doubts about that. Otherwise
we are going to have very big problems, I think. My God!
16:00 I get up and we relax with
a cup of tea on the sofa.
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