18:00 Lois og jeg spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se
lidt fjernsyn og lytter lidt til radio. De viser University Challenge, en
tv-quiz mellem (i aften) to Oxford-kollegier (Balliol og Corpus Christi).
Quizzen er ét af de få tv-programmer, der ikke er egnede til meget dumme
mennesker ha ha ha.
Vi har bemærket at de spørgsmål, der handler om Danmark, bliver sværere og
sværere hver uge. I aften hører vi spørgsmål om det danske imperium, som
danskerne selv ville have svært ved at besvare rigtigt, synes vi. Du godeste!
I 1620 etablerede Danmark en handelskoloni i Tranquebar ved den bengalske
bugt – i hvilken i nutidens indiske delstater? (det rigtige svar: Tamil Nadu).
Hvilken afrikanske præsidents administrative kontorer har til huse i Fort
Christiansborg, der blev bygget af Danmark i 1659 og solgt til Storbritannien i
1850? (det rigtige svar: Ghana).
Lois og jeg synes, at quizzens spørgsmål nu til dags tager lidt overhånd.
Men der er en alternativ forklaring, nemlig at Lois og jeg nu er nødt til at
ansøge om medlemskab af den store gruppe af dumme mennesker, som dette program
ikke er egnet til – det har vi godt af ha ha ha.
21:00 Vi lytter lidt til radio, et interessant program, der handler om
munke i middelalderen, som vi ofte betragter som overtroiske og uvidende om
videnskab, fysik i særdeleshed. Programmets vært er den charmerende Seb Falk,
en lektor på Cambridge universitet.
det ødelagte Tynemouth-munkekloster i det
nordvestlige England -
John af Westwick, én af landets førende forskere
arbejdede her i 1300-tallet
Seb taler om Tynemouth-munkeklosteret i det nordvestlige England, nu
ødelagt selvfølgelig. Vi tænker ofte på munkene i de slags klostrer som
overtroiske mænd, der brugte hele dagen på at overholde kedelige ritualer, men
faktisk indeholdt disse institutioner mange opfindsomme og brillante forskere,
som for eksempel Richard af Wallingford, der opfandt den astronomiske klokke.
Disse munke var nogle af periodens førende fysikere – ingen tvivl om det.
Mange mennesker i dag tror, at folk i middelalderen troede, at jorden var
flad. Seb minder os om, at den obligatoriske fysiklærebog, som alle periodens
universiteter brugte, indeholdt 3 beviser for, at jorden var en kugle. Og den
berømte engelske digter, Geoffrey Chaucer, skrev selv på middelengelsk en
lærebog, der handler om den bedste måde at bruge et astrolabium på.
Chaucer skildrede også en astronom, Nicholas, i sine Canterbury-fortællinger
(møllerens fortælling, for at være præcis). Nicholas gik rundt på markerne for
at kigge op på stjernene, og dermed forudse dagens nyheder, men han faldt ned i
en gødningsgrube, som han ikke havde set
– du godeste! Det var uheldigt!
Astronomen var distraheret ved at kigge på stjernene. I en komedie fra
1980’erne, ”Not the Nine o’clock news”, var Rowan Atkinson et øjeblik distraheret
af et filmkamera, mens han gik ned ad gaden og han gik ind i et træ – en meget
elsket scene. Denne slags humor er simpel men tidløs, synes jeg.
Det er lidt af en skam, at folk i middelalderen (inklusiv munkene) også
troede, at stjernenes og planeternes bevægelser påvirkede vores aktiviteter og
vores sundhed, men intet er perfekt – det
ved jeg med sikkerhed!!! Men Seb skildrer et behagelig image af periodens læger
– de ”seje” læger havde for vane at gå med en værktøjsbælte, hvor de opbevarede
deres almanak og deres astrolabium, ligesom nutidens "seje" læger har
et stetoskop hængende om halsen – du godeste, der er ikke noget nyt under
solen. Sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!!
Min læge er en dejlig ung kvinde, men jeg har aldrig været modig nok, til
at kalde hende, ”Doctor Babe”, som i den berømte scene fra Charlie
Sheehan-Miles’s verdenskendte bog, ”The Last Hour”. Jeg er sådan en
slapsvans!!!!
Min læge går nu og da med et stetoskop hængende om halsen, men jeg har
aldrig set hende med en almanak eller astrolabium i hånden.
Cole Porter skrev sin kendte sang, ”Well, Did Ya Evah” i 1939. Sangen
inkluderede linjen ”Have you heard that Mimsie Starr, just got pinched in the
Astor Bar [en god sted til at afhente bøsser tilsyneladende]. Well did yah evah
osv osv”. For nogle år siden skrev jeg et brev til Debbie Harry og foreslog, at
hun inkluderer linjen ”Have you heard that Doctor Babe, just fell down on her
astrolabe?”, i sin nye version af sangen, som hun sang sammen med Iggy Pop. Jeg
tænkte, at min nye linje var meget egnet til formålet, i betragtning af, at det
står i teksten, at ”har du hørt, det er i stjernene, næste juli kolliderer vi
med Mars”.
Debbie Harry kunne tilsyneladende ikke lide
mit
forslag, på en ny linje i sangen – pokkers!
Men jeg fik desværre intet svar på mit forslag. Nu til dags er det vigtigere,
hvem du kender, end hvad du ved – det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl om !!!!
22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzz!!!!
04:45 Jeg står tidligt op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske
ordforrådtest.
07:30 Jeg dasker 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. Vi
spiser morgenmad.
10:00 Vi går ud i baghaven og luger lidt. Jeg dækker med sorte affaldsække
de områder jeg har gjort ukrudtsfri og jeg tynger sækkene ned med små sten. Jeg fylder haveaffaldspanden med klippede grene og ukrudt fordi
skraldebilen og genbrugsbilen kommer i morgen tidligt forbi.
12:30 Vi spiser frokost og
bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage mig en kort eftermiddagslur.
14:15 Jeg står op og hopper op på min kondicykel. Jeg tilbagelægger endnu 9
miles (15km). Jeg tænder for min smartphone og ser på årets 1973s Billboard Hot
100 Singler på YouTube, mens jeg cykler.
Gårsdagens år var 1974, så jeg stiller året tilbage ét år. Nu er jeg nået
til 1973 i min nedtælling og nu er jeg i frit fald ned denne lange kaninhul
tilbage til mine rødder. Mens jeg hører sangene, prøver jeg at mindes 1973
årets rolle i Lois's og min livshistorie, for at udskyde demens ha ha ha.
I marts 1973 måtte vi forlade vores første lejlighed som ægtepar og flytte
ind i en anden, fordi lejlighedens ejer ville sælge. Det samme skete igen i
december, og vi flyttede til vores tredje bolig, et historisk 300-årigt
rækkehus i Dybegade. Vi holdt en weekendferie i Wales, og en uges ferie i
grevskabet Northumberland ved floden Tweed i nærheden af grænsen mellem England
og Skotland.
tilbageblik til 1973: Lois på en bakke i Wales.
Vi
havde været gift i ca 10 mdr. Hvor ung ser hun ud!
Mig og Lois i en smuk landsby i Cotswolds-området (1973)
15:15 Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop te i sofaen.
15:45 Vi går en kort tur i nabolaget.
Vores rute: Borgergade, Søgade og tilbage igen.
På vej hjem går vi
forbi en lokal pub, Royal Oak, hvor de er begyndt at publicere deres årlige
whiskeysmagnings aften, der finder sted den 7. april.
English translation
18:00 Lois and I eat dinner and
spend the rest of the evening watching TV and listening to some radio.
University Challenge is airing, a TV quiz between (tonight) two Oxford colleges
(Balliol and Corpus Christi). The quiz is one of the few television programs
that are not suitable for very stupid people ha ha ha.
We have noticed that the
questions about Denmark are becoming more and more difficult every week.
Tonight we hear questions about the Danish empire, which the Danes themselves
would find hard to answer properly, we think. My Goodness!
In 1620, Denmark established a
trading colony at Tranquebar on the Bengal bay - in which modern Indian state?
(The correct answer: Tamil Nadu).
What African president's
administrative offices are housed in Osu Castle, built by Denmark in 1659 and
sold to Britain in 1850? (The correct answer: Ghana).
Lois and I think the quiz
questions nowadays are getting a bit over the top. But there is an alternative
explanation, namely that Lois and I now have to apply to join the large group
of stupid people that this program is not suitable for - and serve us right ha
ha ha.
21:00 We listen a little to the
radio, an interesting program about monks in the Middle Ages, whom we often
regard as superstitious and ignorant of science, physics in particular. The
program's host is the charming Seb Falk, an associate professor at Cambridge
University.
the ruined Tynemouth priory in northwest England -
John of Westwick, one of the country's leading scientists
worked here in the 1300s
Seb talks about Tynemouth Priory
in northwestern England, now ruined, of course. We often think of the monks in
these kinds of monasteries as superstitious men who spent the whole day
observing tedious rituals, but actually these institutions contained many
inventive and brilliant scientists, such as Richard of Wallingford, who
invented the astronomical clock. These monks were some of the period's leading
physicists - no doubt about it.
Many people today think that
people in the Middle Ages believed the earth was flat. Seb reminds us that the
mandatory physics textbook that all the period's universities used contained 3
pieces of evidence that the Earth was a sphere. And the famous English poet
Geoffrey Chaucer himself wrote a textbook in Middle English about
the best way to use an astrolabe.
Chaucer also depicted an
astronomer, Nicholas, in his Canterbury Tales (The Miller's Tale, to be
precise). Nicholas was walking around the fields in order to look up at the
stars, and thus predict the day's news, but he fell into a fertilizer-pit, which
he had not seen - my goodness! That was bad luck!
The astronomer was distracted by
looking at the stars. In a comedy from the 1980s, "Not the Nine o'clock
News", Rowan Atkinson was momentarily distracted by a movie camera as he
was walking down the street and he walked into a tree - a much loved scene.
This kind of humor is simple but timeless, I think.
It's a bit of a shame that people
in the Middle Ages (including the monks) also believed that the movements of
the stars and planets affect our activities and our health, but nothing is
perfect - I know that for sure !!!
But Seb portrays an agreable
image of the period's doctors - the "cool" doctors had the habit of
going around with a tool belt, in which they kept their almanac and their
astrolabe, just like today's "cool" doctors have a stethoscope
hanging around their necks - my goodness, there is nothing new under the sun.
What a crazy world we live in !!!!!
My doctor is a lovely young
woman, but I've never been brave enough to call her "Doctor Babe",
like in the famous scene from Charlie Sheehan-Miles's world famous book,
"The Last Hour". I'm such a wimp !!!!
My doctor goes around sometimes
with a stethoscope hanging around her neck, but I have never seen her with an
almanac or astrolabe in her hand.
Cole Porter wrote his famous song
"Well, Did Ya Evah" in 1939. The song included the line "Have
you heard that Mimsie Starr / just got pinched in the Astor Bar [a good place to
pick up gays apparently]. / Well did yah evah etc etc ".
Some years
ago I wrote a letter to Debbie Harry and suggested she include the line
"Have you heard that Doctor Babe, just fell down on her astrolabe?",
in her new version of the song, which she sang with Iggy Pop. I thought that my
new line was very fit for purpose, given that it says in the text that
"Have you heard, it's in the stars, next July we collide with Mars".
Debbie Harry did not seem to
like my suggestion
for a new line in the song - damn!
But I unfortunately got no
response to my suggestion. Nowadays it is more important who you know than what
you know - that is something I have no doubts at all about !!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz !!!!
04:45 I get up early and do one
of my routine Danish vocabulary tests.
07:30 I shuffle into the kitchen
and make two cups of tea. I take them up to the bedroom and jump into bed with
Lois. We drink the tea and get up. We eat breakfast.
10:00 We go out in the backyard
and do a bit of weeding. I cover with black trash bags the areas I have made
weed-free and I weigh the bags down with small stones. I fill the garden waste
bin with cut branches and with weeds because the garbage truck and the
recycling truck are coming our way early tomorrow .
12:30 We eat lunch and afterwards
I go to bed and take a short afternoon nap.
14:15 I get up and jump on my
exercise bike. I clock up another 9 miles (15km). I turn on my smartphone and
look at 1973's Billboard Hot 100 Singles on YouTube while cycling.
Yesterday's year was 1974, so I now put the year back by one more year. I have come to 1973 in my countdown and now I'm
in free fall down this long rabbit hole back to my roots. While I hear the
songs, I try to remember the part played by 1973 in Lois's and my life story,
in order to postpone dementia ha ha ha.
In March 1973 we had to leave our
first apartment as a married couple and move into another because the apartment
owner wanted to sell up. The same thing happened again in December, and we
moved to our third home, a historic 300-year-old row-house in Deep Street. We
had a weekend holiday in Wales, and a week's holiday in the county of
Northumberland on the river Tweed near the border between England and Scotland.
Loismidwales: flashback to 1973: Lois on a hill
in Wales.
We had been married for about 10 months. How
young she looks!
Me and Lois in a
beautiful village in the Cotswolds (1973)
15:15 Lois and I relax with a cup
of tea on the sofa.
15:45 We go for a short walk in
the neighborhood. Our route: Borgergade, Søgade and back again.
On the way home we walk past a
local pub, the Royal Oak, where they have begun to publicise their annual
whiskey tasting evening, which takes place on 7 April.
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