Tuesday, 3 January 2017

Mandag den 2. januar 2017 kl 16:30 til tirsdag den 3. januar 2017 kl 16:29

18:00 Lois og jeg spiser aftensmad og ser lidt fjernsyn. De viser ”Pointless”, en underholdende tv-quiz. Programmets vært er den charmerende Alexander Armstrong.


Quizzens første spørgsmål viser sig at være en stor udfordring til nogle af deltagerne. De skal finde på et land, hvis navnet ender med 2 på hinanden følgende konsonanter, som for eksempel Danmark.  Sarah, en ung kvinde prøver at svare. Hun er en studerende, der læser historie på York University. Hendes svar er ”Paris” – et navn der ikke ender med 2 på hinanden følgende konsonanter, og ikke er et land. Du godeste!  Det er disse slags mennesker, der for nogle måneder siden skulle beslutte for eller imod Brexit!!!! Du godeste – ikke underligt, at vi tabte folkeafstemningen!!!!



Er Paris et land? Ender navnet Paris med 2 på hinanden følgende konsonanter?
Det er mennesker som hende, der skulle beslutte for eller imod Brexit !!!!

Er Lapland et land? Ja, hvis du er ikke ret klog, men du husker
de breve du skrev til julemanden, da du var barn!!!!

21:00 Vi forsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en underholdende film, ”Albert Nobbs”, et kostume-drama, der udspiller sig i det 19. århundrede i Dublin. Albert er en tjener, der arbejder på et hotel i Dublin, en stille og roligt menneske, og lidt af en enspænder.
  


Hotellets personale,
herunder den frække tjenestepige Helen (nummer 2 fra venstre),
og tjeneren Albert (nummer 2 fra højre)

Mrs Baker, hotellets pengegriske ejer, beder Albert om, at dele sengen midlertidigt med Hubert , en maler og tapetserer, der bor i hotellet mens han arbejder på et renovationsprojekt. Vi finder hurtigt ud af, at de to ”mænd” har en mørke hemmelighed – de er begge to kvinder. Den amerikanske skuespillerinden Glenn Close spiller Albert og englænderen Janet McTeer spiller Hubert.

Albert opdager også nogle dage efter, at Hubert har en ”kone”, Cathleen, som Hubert er meget forelsket i.

Albert og Hubert deler seng og opdager til deres overraskelse,
at de begge to er kvinder – du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!
Her ser vi Hubert knappe skjorten op – du godeste!
  

Albert (til venstre) opdager senere, at Hubert (til højre)
har en "kone", Cathleen, og de to kvinder er meget forelskede i hinanden
 – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

Lois og jeg begynder at undre os over, om alle de mænd i filmen faktisk er kvinder. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!! Vi sidder i sofaen og venter på, at endnu en skjorte bliver knappet op og noget stort smutte frem – uha! Men det viser sig at der er ingen nye afsløringer - pokkers!

Alberts drøm er at finde sin egne ”kone”, ligesom Hubert har fundet Cathleen, og starte en lille tobakbutik sammen med hende, boende i det slags værelse, som ofte findes på første sal over en butik. Men Albert vælger desværre hotellets sexede tjenestepige, Helen, som kvinden, ”han” gerne vil gifte sig med – stor fejl !!!

Den frække Helen har en kæreste, Joe, hotellets lidenskabelige altmuligmand, og de har sex med jævne mellemrum. Helen er ikke interesseret i en ekcentrisk tøsedreng som Albert.    



Albert vælger hotellets sexede tjenestepige som sin kommende ”kone”,
men Helen interesserer sig desværre mere for at have regelmæssig sex
med hotellets libenskabelige altmuligmand, Joe.

På dette tidspunkt, falder Lois og jeg i søvn på sofaen – zzzzz!!! Vi vågner op 15 minutter før filmens slutning og er meget overraskede over, hvad der er sket.

Kort sagt:
1.      Albert og Cathleen (Huberts ”kone”) døde begge enten af kolera eller af noget andet det er Lois og jeg ikke helt sikkert på!
2.      Helen blev gravid og føder et lille barn – men hendes kæreste, Joe, er flyttet til USA.
3.      Hubert lover at flytte ind med Helen, så de to kvinder kan opdrage Helens barn: hurra! Lykkelig slutning !!!!


lykkelig slutning: Hubert flytter ind med Helen
så de to kvinder kan opdrage Helens ulovlige barn – hurra!

22:30 Vi går i seng i godt humør efter det mislykkes os at forudse filmens lykkelige slutning ha ha ha – zzzzzz!!!!

04:30 Jeg står tidligt op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske ordforrådtest. Bagefter laver jeg to kopper te og tager dem med i soveværelset. Jeg kryber tilbage i sengen og vi drikker teen. Vi står op og spiser morgenmad.

09:00 Jeg kigger lidt på nettet og jeg ser et charmerende foto på Facebook. Alison, vores ældste datter, der bor i København, sammen med Ed, sin mand, og deres 3 børn (Josie, Rosalind og Isaac), har haft gæster nytåret over – familiens gamle venner, Robin og Emma, og deres 2 sønner, Thomas og Olly. 


De to familier spiser sammen nytåret over.
Fra venstre til højre: Ali, Robin, Josie, Isaac, Rosalind,
Thomas, Olly, Ed og Emma

Robin er halvt dansker, halvt englænder og han har mange slægtninge, der bor i København og omegn.

10:30 Vi skal til af sted. Lois har en aftale hos St Pauls-øreklinikken, hvor hun skal få fortaget en mini-operation for at rydde en blokering i venstre øret. Vi kører over til klinikken og tager trapperne op til tredje etage. Efter mini-operation er slut, føler Lois sig lidt svimmel, så derfor tager jeg hendes arm, da vi går ned ad trappen.

Vi kommer hjem og Lois sætter sig på sofaen. Hun må slappe af idag og ikke røre sig for meget.

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage mig en gigantisk eftermiddagslur – zzzz!!!

15:00 Jeg står op og kigger lidt på nettet. Jeg søger den seneste tegneserie af min yndlings-tegner, danskeren Morten Ingemann. For mit vedkommende er det følgende en interessant spørgsmål at stille, dvs hvilke dyr er verdens dummeste? I de engelsktalende lande er det generelt muldyrene, svinene og aberne, der bliver udvalgt til denne kategori, som man ved godt efter at have hørt den kendte sang, ”Swinging on a star”: for eksempel ”All the monkeys aren’t in the zoo. Every day you meet quite a few” osv.

I modsætning til os er danskerne  mere vidende om fisk – hvilke fisk er verdens dummeste? I Ingemanns tegneserie ser vi en mand, der tager en dukke med i en sexshop og siger til ekspeditøren, at dukken skal byttes. Han brokker sig, at de har solgt ham en ”han-dukke” (ekspeditøren diagnosticerer hurtigt, at kunden simpelthen bare har vendt vrangen ud på noget, og problemet bliver hurtigt løst). Men det er interessant, at ekspeditøren fornærmelse simpelthen er  ”din torsk!”.  Jeg synes, at vi i de engelsktalende lande er ikke helt sikre på, om hvilke fisk er kloge og hvilke er dumme. Interessant, ikke!

15:30 Lynda’s U3A “Making of English” gruppe holder dens næste månedlige møde på fredag, og Lynda vil have medlemmer til at diskutere, hvorfor vi englændere i dag ikke taler fransk, i betragtning af, at England blev erobret  i 1066 af de fransktalende nordmanner.

Et stort spørgsmål. Hvis briterne havde begyndt at tale fransk i det 1100-tallet, for eksempel, ville også alle i dag, der bor i nutidens Nord-Amerika og Australien, tale fransk også – du godeste, en anderledes verden!

Jeg er begyndt at tænke lidt på dette spørgsmål. Hidtil har jeg fundet på to mulige årsager. For det første var det sandt, at englænderne aldrig respekterede nordmannerne. De var bedre, end englænderne til at føre krig, men de var for det meste ukultiverede stoddere – det har jeg ikke noget tvivl om !!!!

For det andet, blev det anglonormanniske imperium i de næste 150 år alt for stort – det bestod af hele England og hoveddelen af Frankrig, og blev uoverskueligt.

Efter 150 år blev de anglonormanniske imperium alt for stort

Myndighederne besluttede at vedtage en ny lov (i 1204): hvis man boede i England, måtte man ikke have ejendomme i Frankrig, og omvendt. Så derfor skulle alle de vigtige mennesker vælge – skal jeg bo i England eller skal jeg bo i Frankrig.  De, der valgte England, gav faktisk et tilsagn om, at England var deres hjemsted, og (før eller senere) at engelsk var deres sprog – hurra!

16:00 Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop te i sofaen.

English translation

18:00 Lois and I eat dinner and watch a little television. They show "Pointless," an entertaining TV quiz. The program's host is the charming Alexander Armstrong.


The quiz's first question turns out to be a big challenge for some of the participants. They need to think of a country whose name ends with two consecutive consonants, such as Denmark. 

Sarah, a young woman tries to answer. She is a student who is reading history at York University. Her answer is "Paris" - a name that does not end with two consecutive consonants, and is not a country. My God! These are the kind of people who some months ago had to decide for or against Brexit !!!! My god - no wonder we lost the referendum !!!!




Is Paris a country? Does the name Paris end with two consecutive consonants?
It is people like her who had to decide for or against Brexit !!!!

Is Lapland a country? Yes, if you are not very clever, but you remember
the letters you wrote to Santa Claus when you were a kid !!!!

21:00 We continue to watch TV. They show an entertaining film, "Albert Nobbs", a costume drama set in 19th century Dublin. Albert is a waiter who works at a hotel in Dublin, a quiet and calm man, and a bit of a loner.


The hotel's staff, including the saucy maid Helen (no. 2 from left)
and the waiter Albert (No.2 from right)

Mrs. Baker, the hotel's money-grubbing owner, asks Albert to share his bed temporarily with Hubert, a painter and decorator who is staying in the hotel while working on a renovation project. We will soon find out that the two "men" have a dark secret - they're both women.

The American actress Glenn Close plays Albert and English actress Janet McTeer plays Hubert.

Albert also discovers some days afterwards that Hubert has a "wife", Cathleen, whom Hubert is very much in love with.

Albert and Hubert share a bed and discover to their surprise,
that both of them are women - my god, what a crazy world we live in !!!!
Here we see Hubert's shirt getting unbuttoned - my god, what a surprise!
  

Albert (left) discovers later that Hubert (right)
has a "wife", Cathleen, and the 2 women are very much in love with each other
- My god, what madness !!!!

Lois and I begin to wonder if all the men in the film are actually women. My god, what a crazy world we live in !!!! We sit on the couch and wait for another shirt to get unbuttoned and for something big to pop out - oh dear! But it turns out that there are no new revelations - damn!

Albert's dream is to find his own "wife", like Hubert found Cathleen, and start a small tobacco shop with her, living in the kind of room often found on the first floor of a shop. But Albert unfortunately chooses the hotel's sexy maid, Helen, as the woman "he" would like to marry - big mistake !!!

The saucy Helen has a boyfriend, Joe, the hotel's passionate handyman, and they have sex on a regular basis. Helen is not interested in an eccentric sissy like Albert.


Albert chooses the hotel's sexy maid as his future "wife"
but Helen is unfortunately more interested in having regular sex
with the hotel's passionate handyman, Joe.

At this point, Lois and I fall sleep on the couch - zzzzz !!! We wake up 15 minutes before the end of the film and are very surprised by what has happened.

In short:
1. Albert, and Cathleen (Huberts "wife") have both died of either cholera or something else - Lois and are not quite sure about that!
2. Helen became pregnant and has given birth to a child - but her boyfriend, Joe, has moved to the United States.
3. Hubert promises to move in with Helen, so the two women can bring up Helen's child: hurrah! Happy ending !!!!

happy ending: Hubert moves in with Helen so the two women can bring up 
Helen's illegitimate child - hurrah!

22:30 We go to bed in a good mood after failing to predict the film's happy ending ha ha ha - zzzzzz !!!!

04:30 I get up early and do one of my routine Danish vocabulary tests. Afterwards, I make two cups of tea and take them into the bedroom. I crawl back into bed and we drink the tea. We get up and eat breakfast.

09:00 I take a little look at the net and I see a charming photo on Facebook. Alison, our oldest daughter who lives in Copenhagen, along with Ed, her husband and their 3 children (Josie, Rosalind and Isaac), have had guests over New Year's - the family's old friends, Robin and Emma, and their two sons, Thomas and Olly.

The two families eating together at New Year.
From left to right: Ali, Robin, Josie, Isaac, Rosalind,
Thomas, Olly, Ed and Emma

Robin is half Danish and half English and he has many relatives who live in and around Copenhagen.

10:30 We have to go out. Lois has an appointment at St Paul's ear-clinic where she is to have mini-surgery to clear a blockage in her left ear. We drive over to the clinic and take the stairs up to the third floor. After the mini-operation is over, Lois feels a little dizzy, so I take her arm, when we go down the stairs.

We get home and Lois sits down on the couch. She must relax today and not move around too much.

12:30 We eat lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap - zzzz !!!

15:00 I get up and take a look at the web. I look for the latest cartoon strip by my favorite cartoonist, the Dane Morten Ingemann. For me an interesting question to ask is, What animal is the world's dumbest? In English-speaking countries, it is generally mules, pigs and apes that are selected for this category, as you will well know after hearing the famous song, "Swinging on a Star": for example, "And all the monkeys aren't in the zoo. Every day you meet quite a few " etc.

Unlike us, the Danes are more knowledgeable about fish - so, which fish are the world's dumbest? In Ingemann’s cartoon we see a man who takes a doll into a sex shop and says to the assistant that he needs to exchange it. He complains that they have sold him a "he-doll" (the assistant diagnoses quickly that the customer simply has turned part of it inside out, and the problem is quickly resolved). But it is interesting that the assistant's insult to the customer is simply "You codfish!!!!". I think that we in the English-speaking countries are not quite sure about which fish are smart and which are stupid. Interesting, isn't it!

15:30 Lynda's U3A "Making of English" group is holding its next monthly meeting on Friday, and Lynda wants members to discuss why we Brits today do not speak French, given that England was conquered in 1066 by the French-speaking Normans.

A big question. If the English had begun to speak French in the 1100s, for example, everybody today living in present-day North America and Australia, would be speaking French too - my god, a different world!

I'm starting to think a little about this question. So far, I have found two possible causes. First, it is true that the English never respected the Normans. They were better than the English at waging war, but they were for the most part a bunch of uncultured bastards - I have no doubts on that score!!!!

Secondly, in the next 150 years the Anglo-Norman empire became too large - it consisted of all of England and the greater part of France, and became unmanageable.

After 150 years, the Anglo-Norman empire became too large

The authorities decided to adopt a new law (in 1204): if you lived in England, you were not allowed to own property in France, and vice versa. So all the important people had to choose - shall I stay in England or shall I live in France. Those who chose England were actually making a commitment that England was their home, and (sooner or later) that English was their language - hurrah!

16:00 Lois and I relax with a cup of tea on the sofa.


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