17:00 Jeg hopper op på min kondicykel. Jeg har for vane at cykle 6 miles
(10km), men i aften beslutter jeg at cykle lidt mere igen – downside til dette
er at det tager mere tid. Pokkers! Men jeg når at tilbagelægge 9 miles (15 km),
selvom jeg finder, at jeg har lidt ondt i hoften i resten af aftenen – pokkers!!!!
Jeg beslutter at springe over min sædvanlige milde vægtløftning – jeg vil ikke
tage overhånd – du godeste nej!!
Jeg tænder for min smartphone og ser på ”1981s bedste sange” på YouTube,
mens jeg cykler, og det mindes mig meget af 1981 i min lille families
livshistorie.
Jeg ser på 1981s bedste sange, mens jeg cykler
Om sommeren besøgte jeg for første gang USA på forretningsrejse til vores
søsteragentur, sammen med Harvey, min chef. I vores fritid kørte vi til Harpers
Ferry, en lille historisk by i West Virginia, ved sammenløbet af floden Potomac
og floden Shenandoah. Jeg kiggede ind i byens vanillecremebutik, hvor man
solgte verdens bedste vanillecreme, ifølge butikkens ejere. Nam nam!!! Harvey
og jeg besøgte også byen Washingtons nationale luft- og rummuseum, fordi vi
dengang arbejdede på satellitter. Jeg købte en flot drage til Alison og Sarah i
museets butik.
Jeg
kigger ind i byen Harpers Ferrys verdenskendt vanillecremebutik
Alison
(6) og Sarah (4), i baghaven af vores tidligere hus:
Jeg
havde købt en drage i Washington i museets butik
Jeg var meget imponeret af USA og
jeg blev meget slået af, hvor venlige og imødekommende folk derovre var, og
hvor god betjeningen var i restauranter – du godeste! Så derfor efter min
hjemkomst skrev jeg mit navn på den liste af frivillige, der gerne ville
arbejde derovre som en 3-års udstationering, og jeg blev accepteret.
Oktober
1981 i baghaven af vores tidligere hus:
Alison
og Sarah fejrede deres sidste Halloween i England
før
vi flyttede i det følgende år til USA.
Den
meget elskede dukke på græsset blev lavet i hånden af min mor.
18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at lytte til radio
og se lidt fjernsyn. Vi tænder for radioen og høre en interessant program, der
handler om problemer, som kvinder står overfor, når de prøver at sidde i magtpositioner.
Programmets vært er Mary Beard, professor i klassiske sprog ved universitet i
Cambridge, også en feminist.
Mary har præsenteret mange tv-dokumentarfilm, der handler om den antikke
verden, og hun er blevet ofte kritiseret af mandlige internet-trolde i de sociale medier for ikke at gide at bruge
makeup eller gøre sig smuk osv.
Hendes tale i aften er derfor lidt forudsigelig – ingen tvivl om det! Vi
hører en masse kommenterer om magtfulde græske kvinder og figurer i den antikke
verden – Klytaimnestra, Medea osv, som blev nedsablet af de græske forfattere
for at være dybest set onde mennesker. Mary taler meget om den græske
Medusa-myte, og dens symbolisme, der ikke er så sympatisk overfor kvinder – du godeste
Det hele er lidt forudsigeligt – jeg siger ikke, at hun er forkert, bare at
kommentarerne er lidt forudsigelige. Lois og jeg er sikre på, at hun ville
sige, at disse slags kommentarer må blive ved med at høres, indtil feministernes
kampagne er 100% succesfuld – det har vi ikke nogen tvivl om !
Lois og jeg vidste ikke, at Trumps valgkampagnen fremviste billeder af
Hillary Clinton som Medusa, hvilket beviser, at vi ikke endnu lever i en
feministisk paradis – du godeste!
Hillary som Medusa
21:00 Vi slukker for radioen og ser lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant
dokumentarfilm, (første del af 3), kaldet ”Storbritannien i fokus”, der handler
om fotografiets historie - det blev opfundet for 182 år siden i
Lacock-klosteret i grevskabet Wiltshire af Henry Fox Talbot – du godeste!
Programmets vært er den charmerende Eamonn McCabe. Et af de ord, Eamonn
mest ofte bruger i programmet er ”picture” (billede på dansk), så det er lidt
irriterende, at Eamonn udtaler det som ”pitcher” (kande på dansk), og udtaler
ordet ”drawing” (tegnelse på dansk) som om det rimer med ”boring” (kedelig på dansk), men alt det springer jeg over – jeg er sikke
en pedant ha ha ha!!!
Fox Talbots motivation var at han beundrede naturen, men var elendig til at
tegne, så han ville ”snyde”, ved at tage et foto. Problemet var, at fotografiet
ikke endnu var blevet opfundet. Du godeste – sikke en skør verden vi lever i
!!!
I betragtning af, hvad tidligere på aftenen Mary Beard fortalte os om
sexisme, er det interessant, at én af de første kvindelige fotografer, Julia
Margaret Cameron, blev meget kritiseret af periodens mandlige eksperter (i 1860’erne).
Cameron brugte med vilje blød fokus, for at skabe noget smukt
Camerons formål var at skabe skønhed, og hun ved vilje brugte blød fokus
for at opnå, hvad hun ønskede sig. Hun plejede at sige, at periodens mandlige
fotografer skruede fokus-knap op, til imaget var skarp, mens hun skruede den
ned, indtil imaget var smukt. Som resultat, blev hun kritiseret for at være
inkompetent – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!
22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzz!!!!
05:00 Jeg står tidligt op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske
ordforrådtest. Jeg surfer lidt på nettet.
07:00 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 går i
bad. Vi står op og spiser morgenmad.
09:00 Jeg hjælper Lois med at arrangere stuen og spisestuen, fordi hun har
inviteret 12 kvinder til frokost i dag hos os. Vi vidste allerede, at
æresgæsten, Maggie, desværre ikke kan kommer, fordi hun er syg. Men vi også
hører nu, at tre andre personer ikke kan komme af én eller anden grund – du
godeste! Stakkels Lois – hun har lagt sådan en stor indsats i at forberede
denne fest!
11:00 Gæsterne ankommer, og jeg bliver forvist til soveværelset. Jeg kommer
ned indgang imellem for at væske op. Under desserten, tager jeg et
souvenirfoto, som Lois kan give Maggie, som kompensation for hendes uundgåelige
fravær – uha!
14:00 Jeg spiser frokost alene i soveværelset. Jeg er stadig forvist! Efter
maden læser jeg nogle sider af min sengetid bog, , ”Indsamlede digte af John Betjeman”, en
julegave fra Lois. Jeg finder et skræmmende digt, som Betjeman har skrevet tilsyneladende
fra sin hospitalseng i mændenes afdeling. Titlen af digtet er ”Five o’clock
shadow” (dvs de daggamle skægstubber, der dukker frem ved 17-tiden).
Det er kl 17, at de gamle mandlige patienter føler sig mest hjælpløse, efterladte
og alene med deres smerter og frygt om fremtiden. Lægerne er ude på golfbanen,
oldfruen slapper af i sit værelse. Patienternes
besøgende er ude i hospitalets parkeringsplads, tilfreds med at have gjort
deres pligt – de glæder sig til at være hjem igen, spise aftensmad og se lidt
fjernsyn.
”Below the windows, loads of loving relations
rev in the car park, changing gear at the
bend,
making for home and a nice big tea and the
telly:
“Well, we’ve done what we can. It can’t be
long till the end”.
Sikke et mareridt! Dette digt kommer til at hjemsøge mig – det ved jeg med
sikkerhed. Det skildrer min værste frygt – yikes!!!!
15:30 Gæsterne skal af sted. Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop te i sofaen.
English translation
17:00 I jump up on my exercise
bike. I have a habit of cycling 6 miles (10km), but tonight I decide to cycle a
bit more again - downside to this is that it takes more time. Damn! But I get
to notch up 9 miles (15 km), although I find that I have a little pain in my
hip for the rest of the evening - damn !!!! I decide to skip my usual mild
weightlifting - I am not going to overdo it - my goodness no !!
I turn on my smartphone and look
at "1981's best songs" on YouTube while cycling, and it reminds me
very much of 1981 in my family's life story.
In the summer I visited the
United States for the first time on a business trip to our sister agency, along
with Harvey, my boss. In our spare time we went to Harpers Ferry, a small
historic town in West Virginia, at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah
Rivers. I looked in at the town's custard shop where they sold the world's best
custard, according to the store's owners. Yum yum !!! Harvey and I also visited
the city of Washington's National Air and Space Museum, because we were at that
time working on satellites. I bought a nice kite for Alison and Sarah in the
museum shop.
I look in at Harpers Ferry's
world famous custard shop
Alison (6) and Sarah (4), in the back garden of
our previous house:
I had bought them a kite in Washington in the Space Museum's shop
I was very impressed by the USA
and I was very struck by how friendly and welcoming people over there were, and
how good the service was in restaurants - my goodness! So after my return, I
wrote my name on the list of volunteers who wanted to work over there on a
3-year posting, and I was accepted.
October 1981 in the back gareden of our previous
house:
Alison and Sarah celebrated their last
Halloween in England
before we moved to the United States the
following year .
The much loved doll on the grass was made by
hand by my mother.
18:00 We have dinner and spend
the rest of the evening listening to the radio or watching TV. We turn on the
radio and hear an interesting program that deals with problems that women face
when they try to sit in positions of power. The program's host is Mary Beard,
professor of classics at the University of Cambridge, also a feminist.
Mary has presented many
television documentaries about the ancient world, and she has been frequently
criticized by male internet trolls in the social media for not bothering to use
makeup or make herself beautiful and so on.
Her speech tonight is a little
predictable - no doubt about it! We hear a lot of comments about the powerful
Greek women and figures of the ancient world - Clytemnestra, Medea, etc., who were all panned by the Greek authors for being basically evil people. Mary
speaks volumes about the Greek Medusa myth and its symbolism, which is not that
favorable towards women - my goodness!
It's all a bit predictable - I'm
not saying that she is wrong, just that the comments are somewhat predictable.
Lois and I are sure that she would say that these kind of comments should
continue to be heard until the feminist campaign is 100% successful - we have
no doubts about that!
Lois and I did not know that
Trump's election campaign showed pictures of Hillary Clinton as Medusa, which
proves that we do not yet live in a feminist paradise - my goodness!
Hillary as Medusa
21:00 We turn off the radio and
watch a little television. They show an interesting documentary (part 1 of 3),
called "Britain in Focus" which is about the history of
photography - it was invented 182 years ago in Lacock Abbey in the county of
Wiltshire by Henry Fox Talbot - my goodness!
The program's host is the
charming Eamonn McCabe. One of the words Eamonn uses most frequently in the
program is "picture" ("billede" in Danish), so it's a bit
annoying that Eamonn pronounces it as "pitcher" ("kanne" in Danish),
and pronounces the word "drawing" ("tegnelse" in Danish) as if it rhymes with "boring" ("kedelig" in Danish), but I'll let
all that slide - what a pedant I am ha ha ha !!!
Fox Talbot's motivation was that
he admired nature but was lousy at drawing, so he wanted to "cheat"
by taking a photo. The problem was that photography had had not yet been
invented. My goodness - what a crazy world we live in !!!
Given what Mary Beard
told us earlier in the evening about sexism, it is interesting that one of the first
female photographers Julia Margaret Cameron, was much criticized by the male
experts of the period (in the 1860s).
Cameron intentionally used
soft focus to create something beautiful
Cameron's aim was to create
beauty, and she intentionally used soft focus to achieve what she wanted. She
used to say that the male photographers of the period screwed the focus button
up until the image was sharp while she screwed it down until the image was
beautiful. As a result, she was criticized for being incompetent - good grief,
what madness !!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzz !!!!
05:00 I get up early and do one
of my routine Danish vocabulary tests. I surf a little on the web.
07:00 I hurry
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 take a shower. We get up and eat
breakfast.
09:00 I help Lois arrange the
living room and dining room because she has invited 12 women for lunch today at
our place. We already knew that the guest of honor, Maggie, unfortunately
cannot come because she is sick. But we now hear that three other people cannot
come for one reason or another - my goodness! Poor Lois - she has put such a
big effort into the preparations for this party!
11:00 Guests arrive, and I am
banished to the bedroom. I come down occasionally to wash the dishes. During
dessert I take a souvenir photo that Lois can give Maggie, as compensation for
her unavoidable absence - oh dear!
14:00 I eat lunch alone in the
bedroom. I'm still banished! After the meal I read a few pages of my bedtime
book, "Collected Poems of John Betjeman", a Christmas gift from Lois.
I find a scary poem that Betjeman wrote apparently from his hospital bed in the
men's ward. The title of the poem is "Five o'clock shadow" (ie the
day-old stubble that emerges at 5pm).
It is at 5pm that the old male
patients feel most helpless, abandoned and alone with their pain and fears for
the future. The doctors are out on the golf course, matron relaxing in her
room. The patients' visitors are out in the hospital parking lot, satisfied
with having done their duty - they are looking forward to being back home,
having dinner and watching a little television.
"Below the windows, loads of loving
relations
rev in the car park, changing gear at the
bend,
making for home and a nice big tea and the
telly:
"Well, we've done what we can. It can't
be long till the end ".
What a nightmare! This poem is
going to haunt me - I know that for sure. It portrays my worst fears - yikes
!!!!
15:30 The guests have to go. Lois
and I relax with a cup of tea on the sofa.
No comments:
Post a Comment