18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt
fjernsyn og lytte til radio, et interessant program, der handler om forholdet
mellem poesie og pensionering. Programmets vært er den dystre 74-årige skotske
digter, Douglas Dunn.
Sjovt spørgsmål: går de fleste digtere på pension? Dunn minder os om, at Rimbaud, den teenårige franske digter,
opgav poesie på 21 år, og blev en rejsende forretningsmand – du godeste, sikke
en ændring af tempoet – yikes!!!!!
Douglas Dunn har ikke bare været en digter – han blev for det meste i et
rigtigt job, indtil han gik på pension på 65 år.
Da hun var yngre, arbejdede han i Hull Universitets bibliotek, og Philip
Larkin, den berømte digter, var Dunns chef. Tænk, at Larkin var hans chef – du godeste!
Jeg elsker Larkins digte, men som chef ville han have været et komplet mareridt
– ingen tvivl om det!!!
Det værste ville
have været den årlige samtale med chefen, som danskerne kalder en MUS (medarbejderudviklingssamtalen).
Uden tvivl må den have været noget, der bare skulle overstås. En samtale ”under
fire øjne” (som danskerne siger), eller i Larkins tilfælde, en samtale ”under 6
øjne”, i betragtning af Larkins skræmmende briller!!!!
en typisk
årlig samtale med en chef, ikke Philip Larkin
i dette tilfælde –
hænderne er for bløde, selvom Larkin
var kendt for sin
brug af Dove.
Både Larkin og Dunn
hører til de slags mennesker, der kan klassificeres som ”dystre”, og Dunns årlige
samtaler må have været smertefulde at være vidne til. Hvis begge parter er
dystre, er det hele helt sikkert noget, der bare skulle overstås. I
sammeligning med Dunns samtale, ville Keiths session med David Brent i ”The Office”,
dokumentaren om moderne arbejdspladser, have været mindre pinlig: det var
Keith, der skrev ”regnskaber” som sin største styrke og ”eksem” som sin største
svaghed, på samtalens forberedelsesmaterialer – du godeste, sikke et vanvid.
Keiths ”pinlige”
årlige samtale med hans chef, David Brent
Vi hører lidt om,
hvad Dunn kan huske om Larkin. Det er rart at høre, at Larkin, som mig, syntes,
at Katy i Susan Coolidge’s ”Hvad Katy Did” skrev verdens bedste dagbognotat
nogensinde, da hun skrev ”Glemte, hvad jeg gjorde” i sin dagbog. Men i en ældre
persons dagbog kunne dette udtryk kunne blive til en indrømmelse af senilitet – det ved jeg med sikkerhed. Måske ville
det være noget, som en kvalificeret læge bør dukke ned i, når det sker?
22:00 Vi går i seng
– zzzzzzz!!!!!
04:15 Jeg står
tidligt op og kigger lidt på nettet.
07:45 Jeg lunter
ind i køkkenet og laver to kopper te. Jeg tager dem med op i soveværelset og
hopper op i sengen til Lois. Vi drikker téen og står op. Vi spiser morgenmad.
09:00 Vi kører over
til Bishops Cleeve, en lille by, der ligger lidt nord for Cheltenham. Vi kigger
ind i den lokale isenkræmforretning for at købe en sjat mellemstrygning,
pensler og terpentin, så jeg kan blive færdig med at male den nye poststolpe,
som Bob, vores nabo, i går installerede.
På vej hjem smutter
vi ind i Waghornes, den lokale slagterforretning, og købe brød, kød og ost. Vi kommer
hjem og slapper af med en kop kaffe i sofaen.
12:30 Vi spiser
frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage mig en gigantisk eftermiddagslur
– zzzzzzz!!!!
15:00 Jeg står op
og kigge lidt på nettet. Jeg ser, at Alison, vores datter i København, har oplagt
et charmerende billede af den 10-årige Josie, sin ældste barn, på Instagram.
Josie går højt op i rugby for tiden. Hvor ser hun dog sej ud !!!!
Josie,
vores 10-årige barnebarn i København.
Hvor ser hun dog
sej ud!!!!
Jeg kigger igen på
flyselskaberwebsteder for at tænke på vores optioner, når vi flyver til
Australien i marts. Qantas tilbyder en nonstop direkte flyvetur, der varer
15-18 timer. Flyet afgår fra Heathrow lufthavn kl 13: 30 med ankomst i Perth kl
13:15 den følgende dag. Men 15-18 timer er lang tid at sidde på et fly.
Man kan også flyve
fra Birmingham, hvilket er venligere, men det tager længere (20 timer) og man
har besværet med at skifte fly i Dubai osv. Du godeste! Beslutninger,
beslutninger – hvad er svaret???!!!!!
16:00 Jeg kigger på
www.theonion.com, den
indflydelsesrige amerikanske nyhedswebsted. Jeg ser en betryggende og
hjertevarmende nyhed, der handler om de tusendvis af kanadiske progrockere, der
nu er for gamle og svage til at blive stående under deres 19-minutters introer,
eller huske teksten af deres gamle sange fra fortiden. Omsider har nogen
besluttet at forbarme sig over dem, og den kanadiske regering har givet et
tilsagn om at betale for deres sundhedspleje. Ros til landets premierminister,
Justin Trudeau. Hil dig, Justin - du holdt os ud af krigen!!!
English translation
18:00 We eat dinner and spend the rest
of the evening watching television and listening to the radio, and we hear an
interesting program dealing with the relationship between poetry and
retirement. The host of the program is the dour 74-year-old Scottish poet
Douglas Dunn.
Fun question: do most poets retire? Dunn
reminds us that Rimbaud, the teenage French poet, gave up poetry at the age of
21, and became a travelling businessman - my god, what a change of pace - yikes
!!!!!
Douglas Dunn has not just been a poet -
he mostly held down a proper job until he retired at 65. When he was younger,
he worked in Hull University Library, and Philip Larkin, the famous poet, was Dunn’s
boss. Imagine, Larkin was his boss - good grief! I love Larkin's poems, but as
a boss he would have been a complete nightmare - no doubt about it !!!
The worst thing would have been the
annual appraisal interview with the manager, which the Danes call an MUS
(medarbejderudviklingssamtale - yikes!!!). Without a doubt, it must have been something
that just had to be got through. A conversation "under four eyes", as
the Danes say, or in Larkin's case, a conversation "under 6 eyes",
in view of Larkin's scary glasses !!!!
A typical annual appraisal interview with a
boss, not Philip Larkin
in this case - the hands are too soft, even
though Larkin
was known for his use of Dove.
Both Larkin and Dunn belong to the kind
of people who can be classified as "dour" and Dunn's annual appraisal
interviews must have been painful to witness. If both parties are dour, the
whole interview is definitely something only to be got over with.
In comparison to Dunn's interview,
Keith's session with David Brent in "The Office", the documentary
about modern workplaces, could be seen as having been less embarrassing: it was
Keith who wrote "accounts" down as his greatest strength and
"eczema" as his greatest weakness, on the interview preparation form
- good grief, what madness.
Keith's embarrassing annual appraisal
interview with his boss, David Brent
We hear a little about what Dunn can
remember about Larkin. It's nice to hear that Larkin, like me, thought Katy in
Susan Coolidge's "What Katy Did" wrote the world's best diary entry
ever, when she wrote "Forgot What Did" in her diary. But in the case
of an elderly person's diary, this expression could become an admission of
senility - I know that for sure. Maybe that would be something that a
qualified doctor should delve into, when it happens?
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz
!!!!!
04:15 I get up early and take a little look online.
07:45 I amble into the kitchen
and make two cups of tea. I take them up to the bedroom and hop into bed with
Lois. We drink the tea and get up. We eat breakfast.
09:00 We drive over to Bishops
Cleeve, a small town located a little north of Cheltenham. We look into the
local hardware store to buy a drop of undercoat, brushes and turpentine, so I
can finish painting the new gate post which Bob, our neighbour, installed
yesterday.
On our way home, we pop into
Waghorne's, the local butcher's shop, and buy bread, meat and cheese. We come
home and relax with a cup of coffee on the couch.
12:30 We eat lunch and afterwards
I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap - zzzzzzz !!!!
15:00 I get up and take a little
look at the web. I see that Alison, our daughter in Copenhagen, has posted a
charming picture of 10-year-old Josie, her eldest child, up on Instagram. Josie
is very into rugby at the moment. How cool she looks!
Josie, our 10 year old
granddaughter in Copenhagen.
How cool she looks!
I look again at airline websites
to think about our options when we fly to Australia in March. Qantas offers a
nonstop direct flight, lasting 15-18 hours. The flight departs Heathrow Airport
at 13:30 with arrival in Perth at 13:15 the following day. But 15-18 hours is a
long time to sit on a plane.
One can also fly from Birmingham,
which is friendlier, but it takes longer (20 hours) and you have the hassle of
changing flights in Dubai, etc. Good grief! Decisions, decisions - what's the
answer ??? !!!!!
16:00 I take a look at
www.theonion.com, the influential American news site. I see a reassuring and
heartwarming news item about the thousands of Canadian progrockers who are now
too old and weak to stay standing during their 19-minute intros, or to remember
the lyrics of their old songs from the past. At long last someone has decided to
take pity on them, and the Canadian government has committed to paying for
their health care. Hats off to the country's prime minister, Justin Trudeau.
Hail to thee, Justin - you kept us out of the war!
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