Onsdag den 19. april 2017 kl 16:30 torsdag den 20. april 2017 kl 16:29

17:00 Lois og jeg sidder i stuen og jeg hører, mens hun læser de næste 2 sider af ”Forbandet” op og oversætte dem til engelsk. ”Forbandet” er den danske kriminoveller, som vores U3A danske gruppe for tiden læser, og gruppens næste møde finder sted i morgen eftermiddag hos os.

Efter ca. 40 sider, står det nuværende ligtal på 9, hvilket er lovende ha ha ha (selvom ikke for de kommende offre, unødvendigt at sige !!!!).

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant reality tv-program, ”Second Chance Summer: Tuscany”, der handler om en gruppe af helt udslåede briter, mange af dem typiske ”tabere”, der ikke kender hinanden, og som midlertidigt overtager en bøndegård og vinmark i Toscana.

  

I deres første 2 uger i Toscana skal gruppen klare den årlige druehøst, samtidig med, at starte en B&B forretning og restaurant. Ingen lille udfordring, med andre ord – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

Gruppen er en blandet landhandel af briter  – nogle af dem er bare livets tabere, andre har været igennem en krise i deres liv: for eksempel, afskedigelse, skilsmisse, dødsfaldet af en partner osv. De søger alle en ”anden chance” for at have succes ved at deltage i programmet og måske finde et nyt formål i livet.

Flere af briterne mangler selvtillid, i sammenligning med de lokale indbyggere, der ikke kan lade være med at rose deres liv, Toscanas smukke landskab, Italiens smukke vejr, og den lækre mad, de hver dag spiser – du godeste!

Der er lidt af en katastrofe, da den britiske gruppe beslutter at starte deres restaurant i weekenden og inviterer nogle naboer til at være deres første gæster.

Gavin, en 56-årig tidligere kok fra det nordlige England, tager ansvar for at fremstille maden, og besøger Firenze for at købe en masse friske italienske ingredienser af høj kvalitet i specielforretninger, og han planlægger en ægte italiensk spisekort til gæsterne.

Men et par timer før restauranten skal åbnes, lader det til, at hans mod svigter ham og han viger tilbage, sigende, at han har et maveproblem – du godeste! Han prøver at finde én eller anden i gruppen, der ville være villig til at overtage i køkkenet, men de siger alle, er for sent og han må udskyde restaurantens åbning, bortset fra én af kvinderne, Lesley, en 58-årige tidligere husmor.

Lesley skynder sig ud til det lokale supermarked, kommer tilbage igen, og lave typiske italienske retter men i en meget britisk stil, den slags mad, hun ville have lavet til sin familie, da hun var yngre. Du godeste! Restaurantens italienske gæster er meget høflige, men det er indlysende, at de ikke kan lide noget som helst, der ikke er ægte italiensk kost – du godeste, sikke en katastrofe !!!! Og stakkels Lesley!!!!

Italienerne kan kun lide italiensk kost –

det er der ikke nogen tvivl om !!!!!

Det er interessant, at italienerne i programmet ikke interessere sig for at smage på engelsk mad. Det er de måske ret i – det er jeg ikke helt sikker på.

Der er sandt, at engelsk kost i årevis har haft et dårligt navn på kontinentet. Evelyn Waugh, den berømte engelske forfatter, sagde i 1930’erne, at ”der er ikke noget tvivl om , at franskmændene kender til mad. Men de kender kun til god mad – det er her, vi briter scorer stort!".

Men jeg synes også, at folk i de sydeuropæiske lande er meget mere konservative, end os, når det kommer til at smage på ny kost. For nogle år siden så Lois og jeg en anden reality-tv serie, hvor en brit af indisk oprindelse flyttede til det sydlige Frankrig og åbnede en indsk restaurant derover, men de lokale indbyggere ikke var interesseret – de ville kun have fransk kost. Du godeste!

Sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzz!!!!!

04:15 Jeg står tidligt op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske ordforrådtest.

Jeg kigger lidt på nettet, og jeg ser, at Francis, vores svigersøn i Perth, Australien, har lagt et charmerende billede op på Facebook, af vores datter, Sarah, og parrets 3,5-årige tvillinger, Lily og Jessica.

Sarah, vores dejlige datter, og vores

3,5-årige børnebørn Lily og Jessica, i Perth,  Australien.

Hvor ser de dog alle søde ud !!!!

07:30 Jeg trisser 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 Vi går i gang med at rydde op i huset og støvsuger overalt, fordi vores U3A danske gruppes næste møder finder sted i eftermiddag hos os. Jeg rykker en ekstra stole fra spisestuen ind i stuen.

12:00 Vi spiser frokost, lidt tidligere end normalt, så jeg kan tage en kort eftermiddagslur, før mødet starter.

14:30 Gruppens medlemmer ankommer og vi læser endnu 6 sider af vores danske kriminovelle, ”Forbandet” af Gittemie Eriksen. Ligtallet står stadig på 9 gudskelov! Men hvem vil være morderens næste offer?

Vi skiftes til at læse en halv-side og oversætte den til engelsk. Jeanette, vores danske veninder, hjælper os med at udtale teksten rigtigt og læser selv en lejlighedsvis uddrag. Vi briter er i den syvende himmel og vi kommer i ekstase når vi hører Jeanette tale sproget på den ægte danske måde, efter vi briter alle har  radbrækket det så skamløst – du godeste!!!

Jeanette, vores danske veninde

16:00 Mødet slutter, men gruppens medlemmer nøjes med at blive siddende i vores stue og snakke om dette og hint i endnu 40 minutter – du godeste! Joys datter har lige giftet sig med sin partner, som hun i 12 år har boet sammen med, og parret planlægger nu at flytte til Singapore.

Datteren og hendes partner planlægger at efterlade deres møbler i Joys hus og garage – du godeste! Joy kommer til at have samme problem som Lois og mig, hvad angår vores yngste datter Sarah, der for to år siden flyttede til Australien. Det er et hårdt liv at være bedsteforældre – ingen tvivl om det!!!!

Det irriterer mig ikke, at medlemmerne bliver siddende i vores stue og snakker i 40 minutter efter mødet slutter. Det viser i det mindste, at de føler sig helt hjemme hos os, hvilket er hjertevarmende.

English translation

17:00 Lois and I sit in the living room and I listen as she reads out the next 2 pages of "Forbandet" and translates them into English. "Forbandet" is the Danish crime short story our U3A Danish group is currently reading and the next meeting of the group is taking place here tomorrow afternoon.

After approx. 40 pages, the current corpse-count stands at 9, which is promising ha ha ha (except for the future victims, needless to say !!!!)

18:00 We eat dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching television. An interesting reality tv show is on, "Second Chance Summer: Tuscany", which is about a group of totally washed up brits, many of them typical "losers" who do not know each other and who temporarily take over a farmyard and vineyard in Tuscany .

In their first 2 weeks in Tuscany, the group has to cope with the annual grape harvest while starting a B & B business and restaurant. No small challenge in other words – good grief, what madness!!!!

The group is a mixed bag of Brits - some of them are just life's losers, others have been through a crisis in their lives: for example, redundancy, divorce, the death of a partner, etc. They are all seeking a "second chance" of achieving success by participating in the program and maybe finding a new purpose in life.

Several of the Brits lack self-confidence, compared to the local residents who cannot stop praising their life, the beautiful scenery of Tuscany, Italy's beautiful weather, and the delicious food they eat every day - my goodness!

There is a bit of a disaster when the group of Brits decide to start their restaurant at the weekend and invite some of their Italian neighbors to be their first customers.

Gavin, a 56-year-old former chef from the north of England takes responsibility for producing the food and visits Florence to buy a lot of fresh Italian ingredients of high quality in speciaity stores, and he plans a real Italian menu for the guests.

But a few hours before the restaurant opens, it looks like his courage fails him and he backs out, saying that he has a stomach problem - good grief! He tries to find someone in the group who would be willing to take over in the kitchen, but they all say it's too late and he has to postpone the opening of the restaurant, except for one of the women, Lesley, a 58-year-old former housewife, who boldly accepts the challenge.

Lesley hurries out to the local supermarket, comes back again and makes typical Italian dishes but in a very British style, the kind of food she would have made for her family when she was younger. My goodness! The restaurant’s Italian customers are very courteous, but it is obvious that they do not like anything that is not real Italian fare - good grief, what a disaster !!!! And poor Lesley !!!!

The Italians like only Italian food - there's no doubt about that !!!!! 

It is interesting that the Italians in the program are not interested in trying English food. Maybe they are right in that - I'm not quite sure.

It is true that English food has had a bad name on the continent for years. Evelyn Waugh, the famous English writer, said in the 1930s that "there is no doubt that the French know about food. But they only know about good food – that’s where we score!"

But I also think that people in the southern European countries are much more conservative than us when it comes to tasting new cuisine. A few years ago, Lois and I saw another reality TV series where a Brit of Indian ancestry moved to southern France and opened an Indian restaurant over there, but the local residents were not interested - they only wanted French food.

My Goodness!What a crazy world we live in !!!!

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz !!!!!

04:15 I get up early and do one of my routine Danish vocabulary tests.

I take a little look online and I see that Francis, our son-in-law in Perth, Australia, has posted a charming picture on Facebook of our daughter Sarah, and the couple's 3 and a half-year-old twins, Lily and Jessica.

Sarah, our lovely daughter, and our

3 and a half-year-old grandchildren Lily and Jessica, in Perth, Australia.

How sweet they all look!

07:30 I toddle into the kitchen and make two cups of tea. I take them up into the bedroom and jump into bed with Lois. We drink the tea and go in the shower. We get up and have breakfast.

10:00 We tidy up the house and vacuum everywhere because our U3A Danish Group's next meeting is taking place here this afternoon. I move an extra chair from the dining room into the living room.

12:00 We have lunch, a bit earlier than usual, so I can have a short afternoon nap before the meeting starts.

14:30 The group members arrive and we read another 6 pages of our Danish crime story, "Forbandet" by Gittemie Eriksen. The body-count still stands at 9 thank god! But who will be the killer's next victim?

We take turns to read a half page and translate it into English. Jeanette, our Danish friend, helps us to pronounce the text correctly and even reads an occasional extract. We Brits are in seventh heaven and go into ecstasies when we hear Jeanette speak the language in the true Danish way, after we Brits have all mangled it so shamelessly - good grief!!!

Jeanette, our Danish friend

16:00 The meeting ends, but the members of the group just stay sitting in our living room talking about this and that for another 40 minutes - good gracious! Joy's daughter has just married her partner, whom she has been living with for 12 years, and the couple are now planning to move to Singapore.

The daughter and her partner are planning to leave their furniture in Joy's house and garage - good grief! Joy is going to have the same problem as Lois and me, as regards our youngest daughter Sarah, who moved to Australia two years ago. It's a hard life to be grandparents - no doubt about it !!!!

It does not bother me that the members stay on in our living room and talk for 40 minutes after the meeting ends. At least it shows that they feel completely at home with us, which is heartwarming.