17:30 Vi spiser aftensmad. Vi fejrer fastelavn ved at spise pandekager (med
brunt sukker og citronsaft) til dessert – nam nam!
vi spiser pandekager med brunt sucker og citronsaft
for
at fejre fastelavn – nam nam !
Vi skal af sted. Lois ønsker at deltage i et bibelseminar, der finder sted
i aften i Brockworth, men hun må ikke køre bil for tiden på grund af grå stær.
Hun har ikke hørt noget endnu om den aftale, hospitalet har lovet hende hos en
specialist – du godeste, vores sundhedssystem er en katastrofe – det har jeg
ingen tvivl om!
Jeg kører hende over til Mari-Ann og Alfs hus og sætter hende af. De skal
køre alle sammen over til Brockworth.
19:00 Jeg kører hjem. Jeg har lidt alenetid, og bruger resten af aftenen på
at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm, ”Kyst”, en serie,
der handler om Storbritanniens kyst og kysterne af vores naboer – i aften
fokuserer den på den svenske kyst. Programmets vært er den charmerende Nick
Crane.
Et interessant program og jeg lærer en masse ting, jeg ikke vidste før.
England har i mange århundreder brugt svensk træ for at bygge vores huser, og
det var svensk jern, vi for det meste brugte i begyndelsen af Storbritanniens industrielle
revolution, på grund af dets høje kvalitet. Og vi ser værfterne på Ålandsøerne, hvor de byggede de sidste store
sejleskibe, der transporterede australske korn og hvede til England.
Nick
snakker med den kvinde, der i 1970’erne var ansvarlig for at popgruppen Abbas
hår og makeup. Vi ser den lille ø, Vigsø, hvor gruppen søgte stilhed, så de bedre
kunne koncentrere sig om at skrive sange osv. Vi ser den lille hytte, hvor de
opbevarede deres klaver.
Fotos,
som Abbas makeupartist tog:
hvor
ser de dog unge ud!!!
Skandinaviske komponister kan godt lide at komponere i hytter. I september
1970, da Lois og jeg lige havde blevet kærester og havde besluttet at rejse
alene sammen til Norge, besøgte vi den hytte i Lofthus, hvor Edvard Grieg
komponerede mange af sine mest berømte værker.
tilbageblik til september 1970, da Lois og jeg
besøgte
Griegs komponering-hytte i Loftus i Norge
Jeg hører i løbet af aftenens programmet, at Sverige stadig kommer sig
efter den seneste istid. Isens vægt trykkede alle de nordlige lande ned, og i de
seneste 10.000 år har Sverige rejst sig med næsten 1 cm om året. Det bevæger
sig opad 100 gange hurtigere, end Skotland for eksempel, fordi isen var meget tykkere
i Sverige. Du godeste – sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!! Nick, programmets vært, ser en tidligere
strand, der nu er 280m over havniveau – sikke et vanvid!!!
Programmet viser også fotos af den forfærdelige dag i 1967, da svenskerne
for første gang begyndte at køre i venstre side af vejen. Forandringen trådte i
kraft kl nøjagtig kl 5 om morgenen. Du godeste, jeg håber, at ingen foreslår,
at vi i England følger deres eksempel!
Nick
viser os et foto af det præcise øjeblik (kl 5 om morgenen),
da
svenskerne begyndte at køre bil i højre side af vejen –uha!
Skræmmende!!!!
Programmets bedste scener opfylder én af mine ældste fantasier. Vi ser Nick
sidde ved et bord udendørs på de svenske kyst sammen med en svenske familie. Det
er aften, og familien spiser og drikke udendørs for at sige farvel til den
lange svenske sommer og de lange svenske sommerdage. Hvor dejligt! Bare jeg
kunne være med! (Selvom jeg ville takke nej til krebsen – du godeste!!!!)
En
svenske familie siger farvel til sommeren
Nick snakker med en dejlig svenske kvinde
Bare
jeg kunne være med! Selvom jeg synes, jeg ville
takke
nej til krebsen – sikke et vanvid !!!!!
22:00 Lois kommer tilbage igen. Jeg går i seng – zzzzzz!!!! Men Lois
trænger til at slappe af og geare ned efter aftenens stimulerende bibelseminar. Stakkels Lois !!!!!
Som sædvanligt anbefaler jeg et par tv-programmer, der efter min mening er
egnede til formålet, to gamle sitcoms fra 1980’erne: ”Yes Prime Minister”, der
tager pis på engelske embedsmænd, og ”Allo Allo”, der tager pis på det besatte
Frankrig, den tyske hær, den franske modstandsbevægelse, britiske agenter og
alle klicheerne af den anden verdenskrig i bøger, film, og teaterstykker.
Jeg vågner ikke, da Lois lidt senere kryber ind i sengen til mig.
04:00 Jeg står tidligt op og kigger lidt på nettet.
08:00 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.
10:00 Jeg går i gang med at læse et uddrag fra ”Kong Horn”, en
middelengelsk chevaleresk romantik, der går tilbage til midten af det trettende
århundrede. Lyndas U3A ”Making of
English” gruppe skal diskutere uddraget på gruppens næste møde (den 3. marts).
Lynda har bedt os alle om at læse og kommentere linjerne 497-760 : det er
angiveligt her at digtets handling begynder at varme op for alvor – du godeste,
vi hopper hen til digtets frækkeste scener med et tryk på en knap! Gruppens
medlemmer (Joe, Joy, Vera, Anthony, Barb, Margaret, mig og Lynda selv) har alle
fået tildelt linjer at koncentrere os om.
Digtets plot er meget kompliceret, men den indeholder nogle af de
middelalderlige publikummets yndlingstemaer, for eksempel prinsen (Horn i dette
digt), der flygter efter hans far bliver myrdet af fjender, og som senere
kommer tilbage igen for at hævne sin fars død. Også prinsessen (Rymenhild i dette digt), der i
årevis venter på, at hendes fraværende elsker kommer tilbage, og som bliver
reddet af sin elsker, lige før hun bliver tvunget til at gifte sig med nogen
forfærdelig og uegnet. Dette er middelalderens version af nutidens
Hollywood-drømmefabrik – du godeste!
Horn
Det er interessant at ”fjenderne” i historien er saracener, og det synes
lidt underligt, at saracener, der stammede fra Mellemøsten skulle sejle omkring
Storbritannien og Irlands kyster, lande her og der, og dyrke lejlighedsvise voldtægt
og plyndring. Eksperterne tror, at fjenderne i digtets oprindelige versioner
(som er blevet tabt) faktisk var vikinger, og på ét eller andet tidspunkt
besluttede nogen at ”opdatere” historien ved at erstatte vikingerne med
saracener – som var periodens største fjender, så digtet ville synes "mere
moderne" - sikke et vanvid!!!!
Lynda har bedt mig personligt om at læse og kommentere linjerne 693-724,
der indeholder en spændende episode. Horn, digtets helt, har udvekslet løfter
med Rymenhild, kong Aylmars smukke datter, og er gået i seng med hende (det var
dengang ikke nødvendigt at gifte sig i en kirke – bare at udveksle løfter).
Horn og Rymenhild ligger under dynen, da kongen bryder ind i soveværelset og
beordre Horn at forlade landet: kongen tror ved en fejltagelse, at Horn har til
hensigt at dræbe ham – du godeste! Sikke en redelighed!!!
Rymenhild
Jeg bemærker i denne scene i Rymenhilds soveværelse et par middelengelske
ord, som man ikke længere bruger på engelsk, men som stadig eksisterer på dansk
i grove træk i samme form: ”barm”, der betyder ”breasts”, og ”flitte/flytte”,
der betyder ”to move”. Hvor mærkeligt!
11:30 Bob, vores nabo, ringer på døren. Han giver os en æggebakke, der
indeholder 6 æg, hans høns har lagt – nam nam!
12:00 Lois og jeg går en kort tur i nabolaget. Vores rute: Dybegade, Højgade, Bankgade, og
tilbage igen via Møllegade og Borgergade.
13:00 Vi spiser frokost. Bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage mig en
gigantisk eftermiddagslur.
15:30 Jeg står op. Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop te i sofaen.
English translation
17:30 We eat dinner. We celebrate
Shrove Tuesday by eating pancakes (with brown sugar and lemon juice) for
dessert - yum yum!
we eat pancakes with brown sugar
and lemon juice
to celebrate Shrove Tuesday – yum yum !
We have to go out. Lois wants to
take part in a Bible seminar taking place tonight in Brockworth, but she
mustn't drive a car at the moment because of cataracts. She has not heard
anything yet about the appointment the hospital has promised her with a specialist
- my god, our health system is a disaster - I have no doubts about that!
I drive her over to Mari-Ann and
Alf's house and drop her off. They are all going to drive together over to
Brockworth.
19:00 I drive home. I have a
little alone time, and spend the rest of the evening watching TV. They show an
interesting documentary, "Coast", a series about Britain's coast and
the coasts of our neighbors - tonight it focuses on the Swedish coast. The
program's host is the charming Nick Crane,
An interesting program and I
learn a lot of things I did not know before. England has for many centuries
been using Swedish wood to build our houses, and it was Swedish iron, we mostly
used at the beginning of the UK's Industrial Revolution, because of its high
quality. And we see the shipyards on the Åland islands, where they built the
last great sailing ships that transported Australian grain and wheat to
England.
Nick talks to the woman who was
responsible for the pop group Abba's hair and makeup in the 1970s. We see the
small island, Vigsø, where the group sought peace and tranquility so that they
could concentrate better on writing songs and so on. We see the little cabin where they kept their piano.
The photos Abba’s makeup artist took:
how young they look !!!
Scandinavian composers like
composing in cabins. In September 1970, when Lois and I had just become an item and had decided to travel alone together to Norway, we visited the cottage in
Lofthus where Edvard Grieg composed many of his most famous works.
flashback to September
1970 when Lois and I
visited Grieg's composing-cabin at Lofthus in
Norway
I hear during tonight’s program that Sweden is still recovering from
the last ice age. The weight of the ice pressed all the northern countries
down, and in the past 10,000 years, Sweden has been rising back up by nearly 1 cm per
year. It is traveling upwards 100 times faster than Scotland for example, since
the ice was much thicker in Sweden. My god - what a crazy world we live in !!!!
Nick, the program's host, looks at a former beach that is now 280m above sea
level - what madness !!!
The program also shows photos of
that terrible day in 1967, when the Swedes began to drive on the right hand side of
the road for the first time. The change took effect at exactly at 5 o'clock in
the morning. My God, I hope no one suggests that we in England follow their
example!
Nick shows us a photo of the exact moment
(at 5 am)
when the Swedes began to drive on the right hand side of the road - oh dear!
Scary !!!!
The program's best scenes fulfill
one of my oldest fantasies. We see Nick sitting at a table outdoors on the
Swedish coast together with a Swedish family. It is evening, and the family are
eating and drinking outdoors to say goodbye to the long Swedish summer and the
long Swedish summer days. How nice! I wish I could join them! (Although I would
say no thanks to the crayfish - my god !!!!)
A Swedish family says goodbye to summer
Nick talks to a lovely Swedish
woman
I wish I could be there! Though I think I
would
say no thanks to the crayfish - what madness
!!!!!
22:00 Lois comes back again. I go
to bed - zzzzzz !!!! But Lois needs to relax and unwind after the evening's
stimulating Bible seminar. Poor Lois !!!!
As usual, I recommend a few
television programs that I think are suitable for the purpose, two old sitcoms
from the 1980s: "Yes Prime Minister" that takes the piss out of
British civil servants, and "Allo Allo" that takes the piss out of
occupied France, the German army, the French resistance, British agents and all
the cliches of the second World War in books, films and plays.
I do not wake up, when Lois later
creeps into bed with me.
04:00 I get up early and take a
look at the web.
08:00 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.
10:00 I begin to read an excerpt
from "King Horn," a Middle English chivalric romance, dating back to
the middle of the thirteenth century. Lynda's U3A "Making of English"
group are to discuss the excerpt at the group's next meeting (March 3).
Lynda has asked us all to read
and comment on lines 497-760: it is supposedly here that the poem's action
begins to hot up in earnest - my god, we are jumping to the poem's sauciest
scenes at the touch of a button! The group members (Joe, Joy, Vera, Anthony,
Barb, Margaret, me and Lynda herself) have all been assigned lines to
concentrate on.
The poem's plot is very
complicated, but it contains some of the medieval audience's favorite themes,
such as the prince (Horn in this poem) who flees after his father is murdered
by enemies, and who later come back to avenge his father's death. Also the
princess (Rymenhild in this poem), who waits for years for her absent lover to come back and who is saved by her lover just before she is forced to marry
someone awful and unsuitable. This is a medieval version of today's Hollywood
dream factory - my god!
Horn
It is interesting that the
"enemies" in the story are Saracens, and it seems a little odd that
the Saracens, who originated in the Middle East would be sailing around the
coasts of Britain and Ireland, landing here and there and going in for periodic
rape and pillage. The experts think that the enemies in the poem's original
versions (which have been lost) were actually Vikings, and at one point
somebody decided to "update" the story by replacing the Vikings with
the Saracens - who had become the period's greatest enemies, so that the poem
would seem " more modern "- what madness !!!!
Lynda has asked me personally to
read and comment on lines 693-724, which contain an exciting episode. Horn,
the poem's hero, has exchanged vows with Rymenhild, King Aylmars beautiful
daughter, and has gone to bed with her (it was not necessary in those times to
marry in a church - just to exchange vows). Horn and Rymenhild are under
the covers when the King breaks into the bedroom and orders Horn to leave the
country: the king mistakenly believes that Horn intends to kill him - my god!
Such goings-on !!!
Rymenhild
I notice in this scene in Rymenhild's
bedroom a couple of Middle English words that are no longer used in English,
but which still exist in Danish in roughly the same form: "barm",
meaning "breasts" and "flitte / flytte" which means
"to move". How strange!
11:30 Bob, our neighbor rings the
doorbell. He gives us an egg carton containing six eggs that his hens have laid
- yum yum!
12:00 Lois and I go for a short
walk in the neighborhood. Our itinerary: Dybegade, Højgade, Bankgade, and back
again via Møllegade and Borgergade. On the way we collect Lois's cholesterol
tablets at the local pharmacy.
13:00 We eat lunch. Afterwards I
go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap.
15:30 I get up. Lois and I relax
with a cup of tea on the sofa.
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