18:00 I aften er jeg meget psykisk træt, efter to timers oldnorske læsning
og oversætning i bibliotekets ”afslappet område” sammen med Scilla og Kath. Det
føles lidt som om, jeg er hjernedød, for at sige mildt. Men jeg (og Scilla
også) er meget tilfreds med mit fremskridt, når det kommer til at oversætter
prosa passagerne. Digtene er stadig lidt af en gåde for mig, men det skal
forventes. Mit vigtigste mål er imidlertid bare at vide, hvordan det var i leve
i de tider, i lande, hvor vinteren normalt begyndt i oktober (ligesom i England ha ha ha).
Min oldnorske udtale er elendig – det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl om. Men jeg
er bange for, at jeg bliver forvirret og blande dansk og oldnorsk sammen, så
jeg udtaler oldnorsk som om det var dansk – jeg er kommet til den konklusion,
at det er det bedste kompromis.
Lois og jeg spiser aftensmad, og bagefter skal hun ude. Hun ønsker at
deltage i sin kirkes ugentlige bibelklasse i aften. Klassen finder sted i byen
Tewkesbury, men Lois er ikke tilladt at køre bil for tiden på grund af grå
stær. Vores ven, Alf, kører forbi for at hente hende.
19:00 Jeg har lidt alenetid, og planlægger at bruge aftenen på at slappe af
og se lidt fjernsyn, selvom den afslappede stemning i en vis grad bliver
ødelagt, da en email fra Alison, vores datter i København, lægger en bombe
under mine planer – du godeste!
21:00 Jeg tænder for fjernsynet. De viser en varietéforestilling, med andre
ord det slags show, der for 50 år siden (og tidligere) var meget populær, men
er nu for det meste uddød, troede jeg. Showets vært er Bradley Walsh.
Dette show i særdeleshed havde karakter af lidt af en ”national institution”
i 1950’erne og 1960’erne, og det blev sendt hver søndag aften. Millioner af
tv-seere plejede at tænde for fjernsyn hver søndag aften kl 20 for at se det.
For os skolebørn, var det weekendens sidste chance for at få det sjovt, før
skoleugen startede igen om mandagen.
I aften ser jeg på det opdaterede version af showet for første gang, først
og fremmest fordi der er ikke andet interessant i tv lige nu (siger jeg i mit
forsvar!) og jeg vil gerne se den gamle pigegruppe fra 1980’erne, Bananarama,
der for nylig efter ca 30 år har genforenet sig.
Det er lidt af en overdrivelse, synes jeg, at sige, det der står i Radio
Times-tidskriftet, at hele landet for nylig har skændes over, om Bananarama i
deres storhedstid var god eller ej – du godeste, disse journalister lever i en
fantasiverden, synes jeg.
Det er meget rart, at se ”pigerne” igen, selvom jeg finder deres præstation
lidt skuffende. Det er altid interessant, at se om folk er ældes med ynde eller ej – de er alle nu sidst i 50’erne. Deres
ansigter ser så gode om, som i fortiden, og udtrykket i Siobhans ansigt er så sexet
som nogensinde. Men på scenen bevæger de sig ikke ret meget – det må jeg nok
sige!!! De synger med et stort backingspor, og den eneste sang i deres
præstation i aften, ”Venus”, er ikke ret udfordrende – den kræver ikke en stor
rækkevidde, for at sige mildt!!!! Og jeg må indrømme, at jeg altid foretrak den
oprindelige ”Shocking Blue” version.
”Bananarama”
er genforenet sig efter 30 år
Publikummet går
amok også, da de ser Barry Manilow, der er tilladt at synge to sange (heldige Barry!). Jeg googler
ham – han er 73 år gammel. Jeg havde troet, at han var yngre, end Lois og mig.
publikummet går amok, når
de ser den 73-årige
Barry Manilow
22:00 Lois kommer
tilbage. Jeg går i seng, men Lois trænger til at slapper af og geare ned lidt
efter aftenens stimulerende bibelklasse – stakkels Lois!!!!
Jeg er bange for,
at fortælle hende om Alisons email. Jeg overlader den til i morgen, når hun forhåbentligt
vil være friskere og frejdigere.
23:00 Jeg vågner et
par sekunder, når Lois kryber under dynen til mig, men vi glider snart over i
søvnen – zzzzz!!!!!
04:30 Jeg står
tidligt op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske ordforrådtest. I dag var
lillebror Steves fødselsdag. Han ville have fyldt 65 i dag, hvis han levede
endnu.
07:45 Jeg lunter ud
i køkkenet og laver to kopper te. Jeg tager dem med op i soveværelset, og
hopper op i sengen til Lois. Efter lidt snik-snak, hvor jeg bekræfter til mig
selv, at hun har sovet godt og er rimeligt frisk og frædig, fortæller jeg
hende, hvad Ali, vores datter i København, skrev i emailen, hun afsendte os i
går aftes.
Eds selskab har
skrevet et brev til ham, hvor han har fået at vide, hvor meget han skal få som
redundans løn, og den er mindre, end han forventede. Hans kontrakt med
selskabet betyder, at de må give ham 6 mdrs varsel, men det er vigtigt, at han
så snart som muligt finder et andet job.
Han planlægger at
ansøge om et job i selskabets nye hovedkontor i Virginia USA, men han har ikke
den fjerneste anelse om, hvor gode hans chancer er for at få noget godt der.
I mellemtiden, et
selskab i Holland og et selskab i Hong Kong har kontaktet ham. Der er
tilsyneladende en række problem med det hollandske job (hvilket er lidt af en
skuffelse for Lois og mig!!!), men Hong Kong ser mere lovende ud, synes han.
Men selskabet i
Hong Kong vil have både Ed og Ali til at besøge dem personligt først i juni,
før selskabet kommer videre med at tilbyde ham jobbet. Jeg formoder, at de
ønsker at møde dem begge, for at blive sikre på, at Ed og Ali giver et tilsagn
om at slå sig ned i Hong Kong, og ikke skifter mening efter Ed starter jobbet.
Ed har allerede talt med flere af selskabets ledere på Skype.
Alison beder Lois
og mig om, at flyve over til København for at passe på deres 3 børn, mens hun
og Ed er i Hong Kong. Du godeste!
Det har været ét af
vores værste mareridt, at begge vores kærlige døtre ville bosætte sig i den
anden ende af verden. Jeg er bange for, at Lois og jeg er fordømt til at have
en besværlig og ensom alderdom – pokkers!
Det blive imidlertid meget sjovt at se Alisons familie igen og at kunne hjælpe til, nu hvor hun står over dette enorme problem.
Selvfølgelig er det
ikke helt sikkert, at selskabet vil tilbyde Ed dette job, og det kan være, at
han afslå det. Og der er to plusser med Hong Kong: for det første danner det en
god mellemstation på vej til Australien og på vej hjem fra Australien, hvor
Sarah, vores anden datter bor. For det andet vil det være nemmere for vores to
døtre at mødes engang imellem, og Sarah vil ikke være så isoleret.
09:00 Vi går i bad
og står op. Vi spiser morgenmad.
10:00 Jeg ringer
til Gloucester Honda. For 2 uger siden bestemte jeg en tid hos dem, , når de
kan installere nye airbags, som del af et enormt projekt involverende en masse
Honda-modeller, inklusive min Honda Jazz. Arbejdet vil vare 1 time, og tiden
var oprindeligt bestemt til den 2. juni. Jeg udsætter tiden fra den 2. juni til
den 16. juni.
Jeg går i gang med
at købe vores flybilletter til København. Ed vil betale for billetterne. Vi
tilføjer et par ekstra luksuser, som vi selv skal betale for: for eksempel vi
kan godt lide at overnatte på et hotel i Birmingham lufthavn den nat, før vi
flyver.
Lois og jeg er i
virkeligheden godt trætte af lange flyveture, lufthavne, store kufferter osv,
men vi kan ikke gøre noget ved det. Når vi forestillede os vores alderdom,
syntes vi, at den ville meget roligere, og ville ligne nærmere alderdommen af
vores 4 forældre, som vi passede på indtil deres død – stakkels os!!!
Vi er begyndt at
ældes hurtigere – det er vi helt sikre på!! Jeg læser i dag på nettet, at ifølge
TheOnion, den indflydelsesrig amerikanske nyhedswebsted, har dokumenterne, den
amerikanske forfatning er skrevet på, ældes hurtigere, end normalt, siden Trump
kom til magt, på grund af de mange angreb mod landsfædrenes oprindelige
artikler. Dokumenterne er faktisk 226 år gamle, men de ser ud som om de er 100
år ældre. Vi kender følelsen!!!
13:00 Vi spiser
frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage mig en gigantisk eftermiddagslur
– zzzzzzz!!!!
16:00 Jeg står op og vi slapper af med en kop te.
16:15 Jeg kigger igen på nettet. Jeg er glad for, at der i det mindste er
én hjertevarmende nyhed på TheOnions websted i dag: i en 3-værelses lejlighed i
Carson City er de manglende tallerkener
og glas blevet endelig fundet i en room-mates værelse (faktisk Brians), efter
et tip fra Brians kæreste – tallerkener og glas er beskidte men ubrudte, synes
det. Men det er ikke tilrådeligt at bruge dem for tiden. Da hjemmesiden gik i
trykket, lå de i meget varmt vand i køkkenvasken.
de manglende tallerkener er blevet fundet gudskelov
Det er den første gode nyhed, jeg har hørt hele dagen! Du godeste, sikke en
dag!!!!!
English translation
18:00 Tonight I am mentally very
tired after two hours of Old Norse reading and translating in the library's
"relaxed area" with Scilla and Kath. It feels a bit like I'm brain
dead, to put it mildly. But I (and also Scilla) are very pleased with my
progress when it comes to translating the prose passages. The poems are still a bit
of a riddle for me, but that is only to be expected. However, my main goal is
just to know what it was like to live in those times, in countries where the
winter usually started in October (much like in England ha ha ha).
My Old Norse pronunciation is
wretched - I have no doubts about that. But I'm afraid I'll get confused and
mix up Danish and Old Norse, so I pronounce Old Norse as if it were Danish - I
have come to the conclusion that that is the best compromise.
Lois and I have dinner, and
afterwards she has to go out. She wants to take part in her church's weekly
Bible class this evening. The class is taking place in the town of Tewkesbury, but
Lois is not allowed to drive at the moment due to cataracts. Our friend, Alf, drives by to pick her up.
19:00 I have a little alone time,
and plan to spend the evening relaxing and watching some television, even
though the relaxed mood is to some extent marred when an email from Alison, our
daughter in Copenhagen, puts a bomb under my plans - oh - my - god!
21:00 I turn on the television.
They show a variety show, in other words, the kind of show that was very
popular 50 years ago (and earlier), but which is now mostly extinct, I
thought. The show's host is Bradley Walsh.
This show in particular had the
character of something of a "national institution" in the 1950s and
1960s, and it was broadcast every Sunday evening. Millions of television
viewers used to turn on their televisions every Sunday evening at 8pm to see
it. For us schoolchildren, it was the last chance at the weekend to have some
fun before the school week started again on Monday.
Tonight I look at the updated
version of the show for the first time, first and foremost because there is
nothing interesting on TV right now (I say in my defence!) and I want to
see the old girl-group from the 1980s, Bananarama, who have recently reunited
after about 30 years.
It's a bit of an exaggeration, I
think, what it says in the Radio Times magazine, that the whole country has
recently been arguing about whether Bananarama was ever any good or not - good
grief, these journalists live in a fantasy world, I think.
It’s very nice to see the
"girls" again, though I find their performance a little
disappointing. It's always interesting to see if people have grown old
gracefully or not - they are all now in their late 50's. Their faces look as
good as in the past, and the expression on Siobhan's face is as sexy as ever.
But on stage they do not move much, I've got to say !!! They sing with a big
backing track, and the only song in their act tonight, "Venus", is
not that challenging - it does not require a big range, to say the least !!!!
And I have to admit that I always preferred the original "Shocking
Blue" version.
"Bananarama" has reunited
after 30 years
The audience goes crazy when they
see Barry Manilow, who is allowed to sing two songs (lucky Barry!). I google
him - he is 73 years old. I had thought he was younger than Lois and me.
The audience goes crazy when
they see 73-year-old Barry Manilow
22:00 Lois comes back. I go to
bed, but Lois needs to relax and wind down a bit after tonight's stimulating
Bible class - poor Lois !!!!I'm afraid to tell her about Alison's email. I will leave it to tomorrow
when she will hopefully be brighter and bushier-tailed.
23:00 I wake up for a couple of
seconds when Lois creeps under the covers with me, but we soon drift off to
sleep - zzzzz !!!!!
04:30 I get up early and do one
of my routine Danish vocabulary tests. Today was little brother Steve's
birthday. He would have turned 65 today if he were still alive.
07:45 I amble out to the kitchen
and make two cups of tea. I take them up to the bedroom and jump into bed with
Lois. After a bit of chit-chat, where I confirm that she has slept well and is
reasonably bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I tell her what Ali, our daughter in
Copenhagen, wrote in the email she sent us last night.
Ed's company has written a letter
to him in which he has been told how much he will receive as redundancy pay,
and it is less than he expected. His contract with the company means that they
must give him 6 months notice, but it is important that he finds another job as
soon as possible.
He plans to apply for a job at
the company's new headquarters in Virginia, USA, but he has no idea how good
his chances are of getting something good there.
Meanwhile, a company in Holland
and a company in Hong Kong have contacted him. There seem to be a number of
problems with the Dutch job (which is a bit of a disappointment for Lois and me
!!!), but Hong Kong looks more promising, he thinks.
But the company in Hong Kong
wants both Ed and Ali to visit them in person early in June before the company
proceeds with their offer of a job. I suppose they want to meet both of them to
make sure that Ed and Ali are giving a commitment to settling in Hong Kong and
are not going to change their minds after Ed starts the job. Ed has already
spoken to several of the company's executives on Skype.
Alison is asking Lois and me to
fly over to Copenhagen to look after of their 3 children while she and Ed are
in Hong Kong. My goodness!
It has been one of our worst
nightmares that both of our dear daughters would settle on the other side of
the world. I'm afraid Lois and I are condemned to have a difficult and lonely
old age - damn!
However it will be a lot of fun to see Alison and her family again, and we are glad we can help out with this current problem she is facing. Poor Ali !!!!
Of course, it is not certain that
the company will offer Ed this job, and it may be that he will reject it. And
there are two pluses with Hong Kong: firstly, it makes up a good stopover on
the way to Australia and heading home from Australia, where Sarah, our other
daughter lives. Secondly, it will be easier for our two daughters to meet up
now and then, and Sarah will not be so isolated.
09:00 We go in the shower and get
up. We eat breakfast.
10:00 I call Gloucester Honda.
Two weeks ago, I fixed a time when they could install new airbags as part of a
huge project involving a lot of Honda models, including my Honda Jazz. The work
will last 1 hour and the time was originally scheduled for 2 June. I postpone
the appointment from 2 June to 16 June.
I get going with buying our plane
tickets to Copenhagen. Ed will pay for the tickets. We add a few extra luxuries
that we are going to pay for: for example, we like to stay overnight at a
Birmingham airport hotel the night before we fly.
Lois and I are really tired of
long air flights, airports, big suitcases etc, but we cannot do anything about
it. When we imagined our old age, we thought it would be much quieter and would
resemble more closely the old age of our 4 parents whom we looked after until
their death - poor us !!!
We are ageing more quickly- we
are absolutely sure !! Today, I read online that according to The Onion, the
influential American news site, the documents that the American Constitution is
written on are ageing faster than usual since Trump came to power, due to the
many attacks on the founding fathers' original articles. The documents are
actually 226 years old, but they look more like they are 100 years older. We
know the feeling !!!
13:00 We eat lunch and afterwards
I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap- zzzzzzz !!!!
16:00 I get up and we relax with
a cup of tea.
16:15 I look online again. I am
glad that there is at least one heartwarming news item on The Onion's website
today: in a 3-room apartment in Carson City, the missing plates and glasses
have finally been found in a room-mate's room (actually Brian's) after a tip
from Brian's girlfriend - plates and glasses are dirty but unbroken, it seems.
However, it is not advisable to use them for the time being. When the website
went to press, they were lying in very hot water in the kitchen sink.
the missing plates have been found
thank God.
This is the first good news I've
heard all day! Good grief, what a day !!!!!
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