17:00 Jeg har hidtil tilbragt dagen i min vinterslåbrok, men nu beslutter
jeg at klæde mig på ”til aftenen”. Min næse drypper stadig som en vandhane. Det
er interessant, at i 2015, da Lois og jeg plejede at passe på vores børnebørn
(Sarahs tvillinger) to dage om ugen, købte vi flere pakker Kleenex, fordi vi
konstant skulle tørre deres næser, munde, kinder, hænder. Vi har nu kun 3
pakker tilbage – jeg har én in stuen, én i spisestuen, og én i soveværelset.
Når der ikke længere er nogle pakker tilbage, vil det sandeligt være enden på
en æra i vores liv – det ved jeg med sikkerhed.
18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og derefter bruger vi aftenen på at se lidt
fjernsyn. De viser en underholdende program, der handler om de sjoveste
sketcher af den komiske duo Morecambe og Wise.
Det er meget sjovt at se disse sketcher igen, selvom jeg er klar over, at
det gør Lois lidt trist, fordi de minder hende om tabet af hendes kære far i
november 1992. Dennis var én af duoens største fans. Eric Morecambe døde i 1984
i Tewkesbury, da Lois og jeg boede i USA.
Duoen havde for vane at invitere en stor berømthed til hvert show, og
ligesom ydmyge ham/hende, på en tilfældig og uvidende/ukultiveret måde, men ikke
på en ondsindet måde.
Det sketch, som alle englændere husker var med André Previn, den
internationale dirigent, som duoen ved en fejltagelse kalder ”Mr Preview”. Eric
prøver at være solist i Griegs klaverkoncert, men efter orkestrets indledning,
begynder han at spille en helt anderledes melodi. Da Previn protesterer, griber
Eric fat i Previns reverser.
20:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser Only Connect, en
tv-quiz, hvor deltagere prøver at finde forbindelser mellem 4 tilsyneladende
tilfældige ting eller udtryk. To hold bestående af 3 venner eller kolleger
dyster i hvert afsnit.
Vi beslutter at se to afsnit i træk, fordi vi gik glip af et afsnit den 19.
december, fordi vi var i København. Som altid, giver programmet Lois og mig et
energiboost og styrket selvtillid hvis vi kan løse et spørgsmål, når
programmets 6 deltagere løber tør for idéer, for eksempel:
De
6 deltagere kunne ikke finde frem til,
hvad
forbindelsen var mellem disse 4 udtryk.
Selvfølgelig
er forbindelsen mellem programmets titel (”Only Connect”)
og
de slags bogstaver (store, små osv), som er blevet brugt.
Simpelt!
21:00 Jeg har det stadig ikke ret godt, og jeg beslutter at gå tidligt i
seng. Lois vil sove i Sarahs gamle værelse, så jeg ikke forstyrre hende ved at
hoste meget osv. Det er heldigt, at mine nætter for det meste er rolige.
04:30 Jeg står tidlig op og kigger lidt på nettet. Jeg ser, at Alison,
vores ældste datter, der bor i København sammen med Ed, sin mand, og deres 3
børn, spiste i går aftes på en restaurant i København, hvor Mads Mikkelsen var
én af de andre gæster – du godeste!
Alison
og Ed spiste i går aftes på samme restaurant som
Mads
Mikkelsen, den berømte stjerne – du godeste!
08:30 Vi spiser morgenmad og derefter ringer vi kl 9 til Sarah, vores
datter i Australien. Vi har for vane at ringe hende hver søndag kl 9 enten på
telefon eller på Skype (kl 17 lokal tid), men der er intet svar i dag, hvilket
er lidt skuffende. Hun har været på jule-nytårsorlov i to uger, og hun skal i
morgen på arbejde igen. Det ville have været rart at snakke med hende og med
tvillingerne om deres vejetur langs den syd-vestlige kyst.
10:00 Mine symptomer er lidt roligere i dag, men jeg føler mig meget træt
og lidt svimmel, måske fordi min krop har kæmpet mod sygdommen på nogen usynlig
måde. Jeg kryber tilbage i sengen og falder
umiddelbart i søvn. Jeg vågner op 90 minutter efter – du godeste!
Lois er ikke syg,
men hun er også meget træt, og hun har besluttet ikke at gå i kirke i dag. Men
hun kan bare logge ind på sin kirkes Tewkesbury Lightstand-hjemmeside og høre
dagens to gudstjenester direkte live kl 11:30 og kl 13:30.
12:00 Jeg står op
og vi spiser frokost.
14:30 Jeg går i
seng igen, men det lykkes mig ikke at falde i søvn. Jeg ønsker ikke at have
svært med at sove i aften.
15:30 Jeg står op, og kigger lidt på nettet. Lynda har sendt en email til
sin U3A ”The Making of English” gruppes medlemmer, hvor hun taler lidt om
gruppes næste månedlige møde, der finder sted den 3. februar.
Det næste værk vi skal diskutere er ”Havelok danske”, som blev skrevet på
middelengelsk mellem 1280 og 1290. Jeg er glad for at se, at Lynda har
besluttet at adoptere den måde, som jeg brugte for at styre mødet på den 1.
december, da Lynda var på ferie i grevskabet Pembroke.
Jeg udtænkte i december faktisk et helt anderledes måde at styre mødet på,
end Lyndas. Jeg bad de medlemmer, der kunne være med til mødet, om at tage ca.
25 linjer og læse dem højt med en autentisk middelengelsk accent, ”oversætte”
dem til moderne engelsk, og kommentere
interessepunkter: for eksempel – interessante ord, ordenes oprindelse,
grammatik, poetiske opfindelser osv.
Jeg besluttede, at det var en bedre måde at styre mødet på, end Lyndas
måde, hvor gruppens diskussion ofte er ganske abstrakt, og springer konstant
fra det ene aspekt til et andet (og tilbage igen) – uha!
16:00 Lois og jeg
slapper af med en kop te i sofaen.
English translation
17:00 So far I have spent the day
in my winter dressing-gown, but now I decide to get dressed "for the
evening." My nose is still dripping like a tap. It is interesting that in
2015, when Lois and I used to take care of our grandchildren (Sarah's twins)
two days a week, we bought several packs of Kleenex, because we constantly had
to wipe their noses, mouths, cheeks, hands. We now have only 3 packs left- I
have one in the living room, one in the dining room and one in the bedroom.
When there are no longer any packs left, it will indeed be the end of an era in
our lives - I know that for sure.
18:00 We have dinner and then we
spend the evening watching TV. They show an entertaining program that is about
the funniest sketches of the comedy duo Morecambe and Wise.
It is very funny to see these
sketches again, although I realize that it makes Lois a little sad because they
remind her of the loss of her dear father in November 1992. Dennis was one of
the duo's biggest fans. Eric Morecambe died in 1984 in Tewkesbury, when Lois
and I were living in the United States.
The duo had the habit of inviting
a big celebrity to every show, and sort of humiliate him / her in a random and
uninformed / uneducated way, but not in a malicious way.
The sketch which all English
people remember was with André Previn, the international conductor, whom the
duo mistakenly call "Mr Preview". Eric tries to be the soloist in
Grieg's piano concerto, but after the orchestra's opening, he begins to play a
completely different tune. When Previn protests, Eric grabs Previn’s lapels.
20:00 We continue to watch TV.
They show Only Connect, a TV quiz where participants try to find links between
four seemingly random things or expressions. Two teams consisting of 3 friends
or colleagues compete in each episode.
We decide to see two episodes in
a row because we missed an episode on December 19, because we were in
Copenhagen. As always, the program gives Lois and me an energy boost and
enhanced self-confidence if we can resolve a question where the program's 6
participants have run out of ideas, for example:
The 6 participants could not identify,
what the connection was between these four
expressions.
Of course, the connection is between the
program title ( "Only Connect")
and the kind of letters (upper case, lower
case, etc.) that have been used.
Simples!
21:00 I'm still not feeling very
good, and I decide to go to bed early. Lois will sleep in Sarah's old room, so
I do not disturb her by coughing a lot and so on. It is fortunate that my
nights are mostly quiet.
04:30 I get up early and take a
look at the web. I see that Alison, our oldest daughter who lives in Copenhagen
along with Ed, her husband and their 3 children ate last night at a restaurant
in Copenhagen, where Mads Mikkelsen was one of the other guests - my god!
Alison and Ed ate last night at the same
restaurant as
Mads Mikkelsen, the famous star - my god!
08:30 We eat breakfast and then
at 9 am we call Sarah, our daughter in Australia. We have the habit of calling
her every Sunday at 9am either on the phone or on Skype (5pm local time), but
there is no answer today, which is a bit disappointing. She has been on
Christmas-New Year leave for two weeks and she will have to go to work again
tomorrow. It would have been nice to talk to her and the twins about their road
trip along the south-western coast.
10:00 My symptoms are a little
calmer today, but I feel very tired and a little dizzy, maybe because my body
has been struggling against the illness in some invisible way. I creep back
into bed and immediately fall asleep. I wake up 90 minutes later - my god!
Lois is not sick, but she is also
very tired, and she has decided not to go to church today. But she can simply
log into her church's Tewkesbury LightStand-website and hear today's two
services live at 11:30am and at 1:30pm.
12:00 I get up and we eat lunch.
14:30 I go back to bed, but I
manage not to fall asleep. I do not want to have trouble sleeping tonight.
15:30 I get up and take a look at
the web. Lynda has sent an email to her U3A "The Making of English"
group's members, in which she speaks little about the group's next monthly
meeting, which will take place on 3 February.
The next piece we will be
discussing is "Havelok the Dane", which was written in Middle English
between 1280 and 1290. I am glad to see that Lynda has decided to adopt the
method that I used to run the meeting on December 1 when Lynda was on vacation
in the county of Pembroke.
In December I actually conceived
a completely different way to run the meeting than Lynda's method. I asked the
members who could be present at the meeting to take about 25 lines each and
read them aloud with an authentic Middle English accent, "translate"
them into modern English, and comment on any interest points: for example -
interesting words, origin of words, grammar, poetic inventions etc.
I decided it was a better way to
run the meeting than Lynda's way in which the group discussion is often quite
abstract and moves constantly from one aspect to another (and back again) - oh
dear!
16:00 Lois and I relax with a cup
of tea on the sofa.
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