17:00 Lois og jeg vælter ud af sengen ved slutningen af vores ekstralang
eftermiddagslur. Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt
fjernsyn. Vi ser nogle programmer færdigt, som vi delvist har set i den seneste
uge: Ray, en biopicfilm om den amerikanske sanger-sangforfatter og
klaverspiller, Ray Charles, også en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om
den nyeste nationalpark, South Downs.
Lois og jeg har et problem med at glemme hvilke dokumentarfilm vi har set,
og hvilke vi ikke har set, fordi mange af dem handler om lignende temaer. Vi
prøver at undgå programmer, der registreres som genudsendelser, men vi mellem
april og juni 2016 var i Australien, så derfor gik vi glip dengang af en masse
dokumentarfilm. Perioden i Australien var vores seneste ”sorte hul”. Der var en
tidligere sorte hul, da vi mellem 1982-5 boede i USA, og for mit vedkommende
også 1970-71, da jeg boede i Japan.
Nu, hvor vi har vores spritnye Plusnet tv-enhed, kan vi optage en tårnhøj
antal programmer, og mere og mere ser vi kun programmets første halvdel – du
godeste! Vi bliver sindsygt forvirrede – det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl om !!!
20:00 Vi lytter lidt til radio, en interessant dokumentar, præsenteret af
Emily Dicks, hvis engelske farfar var skoledreng i Sankt Petersborg, da den
russiske revolution brød ud. Hun besøger byen, huset, hvor hendes farfar boede,
skolen, han gik i osv.
Vi hører også uddrag fra et interview fra 1960’erne, hvor Emilys farfar,
Henry Dicks, diskuterede begivenhederne med Emilys far. Det er fascinerende at
høre stemmen af en englænder, der var vidne til krisen og den værste begivenhed
i verdens historie, der forårsagede problemer i 70 år. Du godeste!
Emily
Dicks i Rusland
Man har tendens til at glemme, at ingen ved starten af året forventede, at
en revolution lige var rundt om hjørnet. Det største problem var kun, at alle
var sultne på grund af manglen på fodevarer. Alle var blevet chokeret af mordet
på Rasputin af russiske aristokrater i december 1916, en forbrydelse, der ikke
var blevet straffet.
Kvinderbevægelsen holdt en demonstration og en strejke en dag sidst i
februar, delvis for kvinders rettigheder, men også for ”mere brød” – du godeste! De overtalte mange mandlige arbejdere også til
at slutte sig til strejken. En stor menneskemængde samlede sig i bymidten,
råbende på brød, brød, men alle kunne mærke en venlig karneval-stemning.
Strejken blev total efter et par dage – ikke nogle busser, og enorme
menneskemængder på gaderne, folk af arbejderklassen også middelklassen.
Politiet stod bare og kiggede på dem.
Søndag den 26. februar blev nogle hærenheder sendt ind i byen efter ordre
fra tsaren. Soldaterne fyrede på menneskemængderne (over hovederne, mistænker
jeg) men modvilligt, og den følgende dag var der et oprør af nogle militære
enheder, hvilket var vendepunktet. Ifølge Emilys farfar, var der en general
stemning af befrielse. Folk ønskede i første omgang om en konstitutionelt
monarki, men lidt senere besluttede tsaren at abdicere.
Men to magtcentrummer udviklede sig desværre, ikke bare den midlertidige
regering oprettet af parlamentet, men også var der byens ”sovjet”, der
umiddelbart blev betragtet som en uhyggelig trussel mod de almindelige borgere,
ifølge Emilys farfar.
Men de to magtcentrummer sameksisterede (lidt uroligt!), indtil april, da
Lenin ankom i byen med tog fra udlandet og slog sig ned i et palads, som en
russiske ballerina engang ejede – hun var flygtet i februar. I september
overtog det bolsjevistiske parti styringen af sovjetten. Deres enkle
budskab - brød og fred, bønderne må eje landet osv, var
meget overbevisende. Du godeste! Der var en stemning af vold i gaderne, og
mange borgerlige og fremmede personer blev angrebet og dræbt. I oktober
startede det bolsjevistiske parti revolutionen mod den midlertidige regering i
tsarens tidligere vinterpalads, et voldsomt (delvis militært) angreb, som
Emilys farfar var vidne til.
Emilys farfar kaldte dette tidspunkt en triste slutning af håb om
udviklingen af det liberale demokrati med almindelig valgret. Folk syntes i
begyndelsen, at den bolsjevistiske regering ikke ville være langvarig, men
faktisk var det lige starten af en kampagne af terror mod byens almindelige
indbyggere, også voldsomme husundersøgelser og plyndring osv. Henry Dicks var
vidne til voldsomme husundersøgelse, inklusive plyndring, i huset af den
russiske familie, han boede med.
Emilys farfar nåede at forlade landet. Et specielt tog var arrangeret af
den britiske ambassade for at transportere Henry og de fleste briter fra
byens såkaldte Finland-banegård væk til
Finland. Men den russiske borgerlige krige havde desværre spredt til Finland,
og det var der, han var vidne til de mest voldsomme scener – du
godeste, bare Henrys held!
Sankt
Petersborgs såkaldte “Finland Banegård”
Da de britiske flygtninge endelig ankom til Sverige, så landet ud som en
paradis, velstående og velordnet. Gudskelov for Sverige!!!
Det er interessant at spekulere om, hvor det primære ansvar
ligger for Lenins succesfuld karriere som skurk. Mange var skyldige på én eller
anden måde. En tsar, der var for autokratisk – selvom han allerede havde
abdiceret, før oktober 1917. Tyskerne, der sendte Lenin tilbage til Rusland
præcis for at fremskynde en revolution, der ville fjerne Rusland fra den første verdenskrig.
Hvor overfladisk!!!
Jeg beskylder selve Lenin –
kald mig gammeldags hvis du vil ha ha ha. En karismatiske mand, der imidlertid
ikke var intelligent nok til at se at kommunismen ville være en katastrofe for
Rusland og hele verden, og ville spilde en masse menneskers tid ved at tvinge
dem til at modstå den!!!! Kom ikke tilbage, Lenin – du er ikke tilgivet ha ha
ha!!!
22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzz!!!!!!
04:00 Jeg står tidligt op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske
ordforrådtest.
Jeg kigger lidt på nettet, og jeg ser, at Sarah, vores datter i Australien,
har sendt mig et charmerende foto af Jessica, sin 3-årige datter, der har
tegnet et billede af sin mor på en tavle. Forhåbentligt kan vi skype med Sarah,
Francis og tvillingerne senere på dagen.
Jessica - én af vores 2 børnebørn i Australien
07:45 Jeg skynder mig ind i køkkenet og laver to kopper te. Jeg tager dem
med op i soveværelset og hopper op i sengen til Lois. Vi drikker teen og står
op.
09:00 Vi taler lidt på Skype med Sarah, Francis, Lily og Jessica i Perth i
Australien. Det er meget sjovt at snakke med dem om deres liv derovre.
Tvillingerne viser os deres seneste kunstværker og de nye balletkjoler, de igår
tog på for at deltage i deres nye balletklasse.
Tvillingerne snakker entusiastisk, om hvad de gerne vil gøre sammen med
Lois og mig den næste gang, vi flyver derover, hvilket er lidt pinligt –
familien vil have os til at besøge dem senere på året, men jeg er bange for, vi
ikke har råd til at besøge dem hvert år! Også, de ny direkte flyveture starter
ikke indtil foråret 2018 – uha!
Lily Sarah og Jessica
en træt Lily, og Sarah
Lily og Jessica
Sarah tager sin bærebare ud i haven i et par minutter, så vi kan høre lyde
fra Adeles koncert – den populære engelske sangerinde synger i dag i én eller
anden enorme arena midt i Perth.
11:00 Jeg går ud i baghaven og luger lidt i grøntsaghaven – for anden gang
i år. Der er kun meget små ukrudt der for tiden, men jeg må lægge et stort
indsats i år i at forhindre haven i at blive til en jungle igen – uha!
12:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter skal Lois ud. Hun ønsker at deltage i
en gudstjeneste i eftermiddag i Tewkesbury. Hun kører med Maggie, sin veninde.
Jeg har lidt alenetid, og sætter mig ved computeren. Jeg fortsætter med at
udarbejde ordforrådlister til de næste 12 sider af den danske kriminovelle,
vores danske grupper er begyndt at læse (pp 18-29), og jeg printer
ordforrådlister i bunden af siden, de henviser til. Bagefter udarbejder jeg en
ordforrådlist over de ca.50 nye ord, jeg vil have gruppens medlemmer til at
lære udenad før gruppens næste møde (den 9. marts), når jeg vil giver dem en
”sjov” test – jeg er så krævende ha ha ha!!!!
På den 17. side bliver novellens ligtal til 4 – hurra! Farvel Jakob
Mattesen! Du er morderens seneste offer – det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl om !!!!
15:00 Jeg går i seng for at tage mig en kort lur. Vores eftermiddagslur var
så lange i går (4 timer- du godeste!!!!), at jeg kvier mig ved at sove så længe
i dag. Pokkers! Zzzzzzzzz!!!!!
15:30 Lois kommer tilbage og jeg vælter ud af sengen. Vi slapper af med en
kop te i sofaen.
English translation
17:00 Lois and I tumble out of
bed at the end of our extra long afternoon nap. We eat dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching TV. We see
some programs to the end that we have seen part of in the past week: Ray, a
biopic about the American singer-song writer and piano player, Ray Charles,
also an interesting documentary about the newest national park, South Downs.
Lois and I have a problem with
forgetting what documentaries we have seen and what we have not seen, because
many of them are about similar themes. We try to avoid programs that are
registered as reruns, but between April and June 2016 we were in Australia, so
at that time we missed a lot of documentaries. The period in Australia was our
latest "black hole". There was an earlier black hole, when we lived
in the United States between 1982-5, and in my case also 1970-71, when I lived
in Japan.
Now that we have our brand new
Plusnet TV unit, we can record a staggering number of programs, and more and
more we see only a program's first half - my god! We are becoming insanely
confused - I have no doubts about that !!!
20:00 We listen a little to the
radio, an interesting documentary presented by Emily Dicks, whose English
grandfather was a schoolboy in St Petersburg when the Russian Revolution
broke out. Emily visits the city, and the house where her grandfather lived, the
school he went to, etc.
We also hear excerpts from an
interview from the 1960s, when Emily's grandfather, Henry Dicks, discussed the
events with Emily's father. It is fascinating to hear the voice of an
Englishman who witnessed the crisis and what was the worst event in the history of the
world, one that caused problems for 70 years. My God!
One tends to forget that no one
at the beginning of the year expected that a revolution was just around the
corner. The biggest problem was just that everyone was hungry for lack of food.
Everybody had been shocked by the murder of Rasputin by Russian aristocrats in
December 1916, a crime that had not been punished.
The Women's Movement held a
demonstration and a strike one day in late February 1917, partly for women's rights,
but also for "more bread" - my god! They persuaded many male
workers also to join the strike. A large crowd gathered in the city center,
shouting for bread, bread, but everybody could sense a friendly carnival
atmosphere. The strike was total after a few days - no buses, and huge crowds
on the streets, people from the working class also the middle class. The police
just stood and looked at them.
On Sunday, February 26, some army
units were sent into the city by order of the tsar. The soldiers fired on the
crowds (over their heads, I suspect) but reluctantly, and the following day
there was a rebellion by some military units, which was the turning point.
According to Emily's grandfather, there was a general mood of liberation.
People wanted a constitutional monarchy in the first place, but later the tsar
decided to abdicate.
But two centers of power
developed unfortunately, not just the provisional government created by the
parliament, but also the city's "soviet", which was immediately seen
as a sinister threat to ordinary citizens, according to Emily's grandfather.
These two centers of power coexisted (a little uneasily!) until April, when Lenin arrived in town by train
from abroad and settled down in a palace a Russian ballerina had once owned -
she fled in February. In September the Bolshevik party took over control of the
soviet. Their simple message - bread and peace, peasants must own the land,
etc., was very persuasive. My God! There was an atmosphere of violence in the
streets, and many bourgeois people and foreigners were attacked and killed. In October
the Bolshevik party started the revolution against the provisional government
in the Tsar's former Winter Palace, a violent (partial military) attack that
Emily's grandfather witnessed.
Emily's grandfather called this
time a sad end of hopes for the development of liberal democracy with universal
suffrage. People thought at the beginning that the Bolshevik government would
not be long-lasting, but actually it was just the beginning of a campaign of
terror against the city's general population, with violent house searches and
looting etc. Henry Dicks witnessed the violent searching of the house,
including looting, of the Russian family, he lived with.
Emily's grandfather managed to
leave the country. A special train was arranged by the British Embassy to carry
Henry and most Britons from the city's so-called Finland Station away to
Finland. But the Russian civil wars had unfortunately spread to Finland, and it
was there that he witnessed the most violent scenes of all - my goodness, just Henry's
luck!
St Petersburg’s so-called “Finland Station”
When the British refugees finally
arrived in Sweden, the country seemed like a paradise, prosperous and orderly. Thank
God for Sweden !!!
It is interesting to speculate
about where the primary responsibility lies for Lenin's successful career as a
villain. Many were guilty in one way or another. A tsar who was too autocratic
- even though he had already abdicated before October 1917. The Germans, who
sent Lenin back to Russia just to accelerate a revolution that would remove
Russia from the First World War. How shallow !!!
I blame Lenin himself - call me
old-fashioned if you will. A charismatic man, who however was not intelligent
enough to see that communism would be a disaster for Russia and the world, and
would waste a lot of people's time by forcing them to resist it !!!! Do not
come back, Lenin - you are not forgiven ha ha ha!!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz
!!!!!!
04:00 I get up early and do one
of my routine Danish vocabulary tests.
I take a little look at the web
and I see that Sarah, our daughter in Australia, has sent me a charming photo
of Jessica, her 3-year-old daughter, who has drawn a picture of her mother on a
blackboard. Hopefully we can skype with Sarah, Francis and the twins later today.
Jessica - one of our twin granddaughters in Australia
07:45 I hurry into the kitchen
and make two cups of tea. I take them up to the bedroom and hop into bed with
Lois. We drink the tea and get up.
9:00 We speak a little on Skype
with Sarah, Francis, Lily and Jessica in Perth Australia. It is a lot of fun to
talk to them about their lives over there. The twins show us their latest
artwork and the new ballet dresses they put on yesterday to take part in their
new ballet class.
The twins are enthusiastic about
what they want to do with Lois and me the next time we fly over there, which is
a little embarrassing - the family want us to visit them later this year, but
I'm afraid we cannot afford to visit them every year! Also, the new direct
flights do not start until spring 2018 - oh dear!
Lily Sarah and Jessica
a tired Lily, and Sarah
Lily and Jessica
Sarah takes her laptop out into
the garden for a few minutes so we can hear the sounds of Adele's concert - the
popular British singer is singing today in some huge arena in the
middle of Perth.
11:00 I go out in the backyard
and weed a bit in the vegetable garden - for the second time this year. There
are only very small weeds currently, but I must put a big effort in this year
to prevent the garden from turning into a jungle again - oh dear!
12:00 We eat lunch and afterwards
Lois has to go out. She wants to attend a church service this afternoon in
Tewkesbury. She is riding with
Maggie, her friend.
I have a little alone time, and
sit down at the computer. I continue to draw up vocabulary lists for the next
12 pages of the Danish crime novel our Danish groups are starting to read (pp
18-29), and I print vocabulary lists at the bottom of the page they refer to.
Afterwards I prepare a vocabulary list of about 50 new words that I want group
members to memorize before the group's next meeting (March 9), when I will give
them a "fun" test - I'm so demanding ha ha ha !!!!
On the 17th page the novel's
body-count becomes 4 - hurrah! Goodbye Jacob Mattesen! You are the killer's
latest victim - I have no doubts about that !!!!
15:00 I go to bed and take a
short nap. Our afternoon nap was so long yesterday (4 hours my god !!!!) that I
shrink from sleeping so long today. Damn! Zzzzzzzzz !!!!!
15:30 Lois comes back
and I tumble out of bed. We relax with a cup of tea on the sofa.
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