Wednesday, 29 March 2017

Tirsdag den 28. marts 2017 kl 16:30 onsdag den 29. marts 2017 kl 16:29

17:45 Vi beslutter, at vi ikke har brug for at spise en normal aftensmad i aften – vi nød tidligere på dagen en dejlig frokost med dessert på et lokalt værtshus, The Royal William i Cranham,  i anledning (2 dage sent) af min fødselsdag. Vi vil nøjes med bare en snack i aften.

18:15 Vi skal ud. Lois ønsker at deltage i et bibelseminar, der finder sted i aften i Brockworth, og hun er ikke tilladt til at køre bil om aftenen på grund af grå stær. Hun har en tid hos en specialist på det lokale hospital, men hun må vente til den 31. maj – stakkels Lois!!!   Hun kørte os begge hjem tidligere på dagen efter vores frokost på værtshuset, men hun sagde dengang til mig, at hun begyndte at tænke, at hun selv ved dagslys har svært ved at se så klart som før, når det kommer til at bemærke biler i det fjerne – uha!

Jeg sætter hende af foran Mari-Ann og Alfs hus. De vil køre hende over til Brockworth. Jeg kører hjem.

På vej hjem kører jeg forbi Sarahs gamle hus i Leckhampton. Sarah, vores yngste datter, flyttede for 16 mdr siden til Australien sammen med Francis, sin mand, og deres (dengang) 2,5 årige tvillinger. Tidligere på dagen smuttede Lois ind hos naboerne (Stephen og Frances) for at forhøre sig, om de ville kunne passe på vores hus, hvis vi beslutter at besøge Sarah igen i efteråret. Efteråret er en bedre tid, end foråret, synes vi, fordi haven ikke bliver til en jungle i vores fravær – uha!

Måske er de næste 2 år den bedste tid til at besøge dem, før tvillingerne starte i skole, men det er vi ikke helt sikre på. Også, vi er godt oppe i årene, og det kan være, at rejsen vil blive for svær for os om nogle års tid – uha!!!!

20:00 Jeg har lidt alenetid, og jeg lytter lidt til radio, en interessant program, hvor en førende neurolog, Prof. Russell Foster, taler om søvnens fordele for kroppen og sindet.



Dette program er meget interessant for mig, fordi jeg har tendens til at lide af mangel på søvn. Det er fængslende at høre om vores naturlige kropsur, der har udviklet sig over 3 millioner år. Endda mikroskopiske bakterier har et kropsur – jeg formoder, at de vågner om morgenen og mindes, at det er tid at stå op og begynde at inficere os, og kl 22 om aftenen beslutter de at tage en velfortjent pause og gå i seng.

Prof.  Russell Foster tale om søvnens fordeler
 for kroppen og sindet

Det mest skræmmende ting, som Prof. Foster siger, er, at det er under søvn, at hjernen behandler og opbevarer vores positive tanker og gode minder. Hvis hjernen ikke har nok tid til at foretage denne vigtige opgaven, kan vi i det lange løb huske kun vores negative tanker og dårlige minder – du godeste! Det ville være tragisk, hvis jeg på mit dødsleje kun kan huske mine dårlige oplevelser, for eksempel dage, hvor mit bredbånd er nede – sikke et mareridt!!!!!

22:00 Lois kommer tilbage og jeg går i seng. Lois trænger til at slappe af og geare ned efter aftenens stimulerende bibelseminar, så hun ser lidt fjernsyn først. Jeg vågner ikke, da hun kl 23 kryber under dynen til mig. Zzzzzzz!!!!!

06:00 Jeg står tidligt op og kigger lidt på nettet.


08:00 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 Jeg afsender via mail de næste 11 sider af vores danske gruppes novelle, ”Forbandet” af Gittemie Eriksen, til gruppens medlemmer, med adskilte ordforrådlister printede i bunden af hver side.

11:00 Jeg går i gang med at forberede mig på Scillas U3A oldnorske gruppes næste møde, der finder sted kl 14 i eftermiddag på byens bibliotek. Jeg blader igennem kapitler 3 og 4 og den korte oldnorske grammatik, som Scilla har givet os noter om.

12:15 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage mig en kort eftermiddagslur – zzzzzz!!!!!

13:30 Jeg står op og kører ind i byen.

14:00 Scillas U3A oldnorske gruppes møde starter på biblioteket. Vi fortsætter med at læse Gunnlaugssaga, der blev nedskrevet i sidste tredjedel af 1200-tallet. Sagaen handler om en kærlighedstrekant mellem to digtere, Gunnlaug og Hrafn, og en smuk islandsk pige,  Helga, en bondemands datter.

Kærlighedstrekanten og det dødlige slagsmål mellem de to kærlighedsrivaler ligger ikke desto mindre stadig i den fjerne fremtid – vi er for tiden lige i begyndelsen af historien.

Vi læser i den 3. kapitel om Helgas fødsel – og hun bliver snart berømt for sin smukhed, endda på 6 år. Hun er stadig lidt mere, end et barn på 12 år, og allerede den smukkeste pige i hele Island, da Gunnlaug, hendes 12-årige kommende kæreste, går i gang med at spille skak med hende med jævne mellemrum, mens han midlertidigt bor hos Helgas far, Thorsteinn. Helga havde dejligt lyst hår, og hendes hår var så stor, at det dækkede hele hendes kroppen – du godeste!

Gunnlaug swarm of Helga and he wants to be engaged to her, so the couple can go to bed together. Thorsteinn, Helga's father is apparently not very fresh on the engagement, and it is not clear whether the engagement in this case is legal or not. It seems to be that no one is quite sure of it. We'll see !!!!

16:00 Mødet slutter og jeg kører hjem. Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop te i sofaen.

English translation

17:45 We decide that we do not need to eat a normal dinner this evening - we enjoyed a nice lunch with dessert earlier in the day at a local pub, The Royal William i Cranham, on the occasion (two days late) of my birthday. We will settle for just a snack tonight.

18:15 We have to go out. Lois wants to participate in a Bible seminar taking place tonight in Brockworth and she is not allowed to drive at night because of cataracts. She has an appointment with a specialist at the local hospital, but she has to wait until 31 May - poor Lois !!! She drove us both home earlier in the day after our lunch at the tavern, but she said to me then that she was beginning to think that even in daylight she is finding it hard to see as clearly as before when it comes to noticing cars the distance - oh dear!

I drop her off in front of Mari-Ann and Alf's house. They will drive her over to Brockworth. I drive home.

On the way home I drive past Sarah's old house in Leckhampton. 16 months ago Sarah, our youngest daughter, moved to Australia with Francis, her husband and their (then) 2 and a half year old twins. Earlier in the day Lois popped in at the neighbors (Stephen and Frances) to inquire whether they would be able to take care of our house if we decide to visit Sarah again in the fall. Autumn is a better time than spring, we think, because the garden does not turn into a jungle in our absence - oh dear!

Perhaps the next 2 years are the best time to visit them before the twins start school, but we are not quite sure. Also, we are getting well on in years, and it may be that the journey will become too difficult for us in a few years' time - oh dear!!!!

20:00 I have a little alone time, and I listen a little to the radio, an interesting program in which a leading neurologist Professor Russell Foster, talks about sleep's benefits for body and mind.  


This program is very interesting for me because I tend to suffer from lack of sleep. It is fascinating to hear about our natural body clock, which has evolved over 3 million years. Even microscopic bacteria have a body clock - I suspect that they wake up in the morning and remember that it is time to get up and begin to infect us, and at 10pm in the evening they decide to take a break and go to bed.

Prof. Russell Foster talks about sleep benefits 
for the body and the mind

The scariest thing that Prof. Foster says, is that it is during sleep that the brain processes and stores our positive thoughts and good memories. If the brain does not have enough time to undertake this important task, we will in the long run be able to remember only our negative thoughts and bad memories - my goodness! It would be tragic if I'm on my deathbed and can only remember my bad experiences, for instance days when my broadband is down - what a nightmare !!!!!

22:00 Lois comes back and I go to bed. Lois need to relax and unwind after the evening's stimulating Bible seminar, so she looks at a little television first. I do not wake up when she crawls under the covers with me at 11pm. Zzzzzzz !!!!!

06:00 I get up early and take a look on the web.


08:00 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 I send off by email the next 11 pages of our Danish group's short story, "Cursed" by Gittemie Eriksen, to the group's members, with separate vocabulary lists printed on the bottom of each page.

11:00 I begin to prepare for Scilla's U3A Old Norse group's next meeting, which will take place at 2pm this afternoon at the town's library. I flip through chapters 3 and 4 and the short Old Norse grammar that Scilla has given us notes on.

12:15 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a short nap - zzzzzz !!!!!

13:30 I get up and drive into town.

14:00 Scilla's U3A Old Norse group meeting starts at the library. We continue to read Gunnlaugs saga, written in the last third of the 1200s. The saga is about a love triangle between two poets, Gunnlaug and Hrafn, and a beautiful Icelandic girl, Helga, a peasant's daughter.

The love triangle and the deadly brawl between the two love rivals are nevertheless still in the distant future - we are presently just at the beginning of the story.

We read in the third chapter about Helga's birth - and she soon becomes famous for her beauty, even at 6 years old. She is still little more than a child of 12 years old and already the prettiest girl in the whole of Iceland, when Gunnlaug, her 12-year-old future boyfriend, begin to play chess with her regularly while he was living temporarily with Helga's father, Thorsteinn. Helga had very blonde hair, and her hair was so big that it covered her whole body - my goodness!

Gunnlaug fancies Helga and he wants to be engaged to her, so the couple can go to bed together. Thorsteinn, Helga's father is apparently not very keen on the engagement, and it is not clear whether the engagement in this case is legal or not. It seems to be that no one is quite sure of it. We'll see !!!!

16:00 The meeting ends and I drive home. Lois and I relax with a cup of tea on the sofa.


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