16:30 Vi hører et interessant radio-program der handler om en engelsk
dronning der levede for 1000 år siden: Emma (c.985-1052), der var halv dansker
og halv normanner. Hun var giftet to gange, første gang, som teenager, med den
engelske konge, Æthelred, og den anden gang sidst i 20’erne med Æthelreds
fjende, Knud den Store, den danske konge, efter Æthelred døde. Emma og Knud
regerede næsten sammen, ligesom ”William og Mary”, og de regerede samtidigt
både Danmark og England.
Lois kommentarer, at Emma var en meget heldig kvinde i en periode, da
kvinderne havde svært med at leve et godt liv. Dronningens nr. 1 job i de dage
var at blive gravid, siger Lois. Emma måtte gå i seng med Æthelred, en ældre
mand, i 10 år, men heldigvis døde han pludselig, og Emma kunne gifte sig med
Æthelreds fjende, Knud den Store, der var meget yngre end Æthelred og meget
yngre end selve Emma. Knud var flot og behagelig, en fornøjelse at se på, med
god fysik, en ”god dansk tyr”, siger Lois.
Knud
den Store – ”god dansk tyr” ifølge Lois
Lois’s kendskab til engelsk historie er legendarisk – og hun kender alle de
vigtigste figurer. Jeg er lidt jaloux på hende. Jeg var lidt uheldig i min
skoletid, fordi min historielærer (hr Bailey) var skotte og han interesserede
sig mere for Skotlands historie, end Englands. Mig og mine klassekammerater ved
meget mere om hvad der skete i Skotland under den engelske borgerkrig, end hvad der
skete i England, hvilket er ren nonsens – sikke et vanvid!!!
Når mine klassekammerater og jeg skrev stiler, gav han en karakter, der var
baseret på stilens længde: jo længere stilen, jo bedre karakterer. Sikke et
vanvid!!! I de dage måtte man skrive en masse lort for at opnå den der meget
lang længde, hvilket var meget hårdt arbejde: nu til dags, ville man finder
noget passende på nettet og bare klippe og sætte ind. Sikke en skør verden vi
lever i !!!!!
17:30 Vi spiser aftensmad. Vi ser samtidig lidt fjernsyn. De viser en
underholdende tv-quiz, Pointless. Ét par ud af de 4 deltagende par kommer fra
Petersfield i grevskabet Hampshire. Kvinden arbejder i byens turistbureau og
manden i byens bibliotek.
Parret minder os om, at Lois og jeg for 5 år siden havde planlagt at flytte
til Petersfield, for at være tætte på Alisons familie i den nærliggende by
Haslemere: vi havde planlagt en rolig alderdom, med Alisons familie ikke for
langt væk, parat til at hjælpe os, når vi havde brug for hjælp. Hvor var vi dog fjollede! Vi vidste ikke, at
begge vores døtre om 5-6 års tid måske ville bosætte sig i den anden ende af
verden (Hong Kong og Australien) !!!! Stakkels os !!!!!!
1 af de 4 par i quizzen kommer
fra
Petersfield, hvor Lois og jeg engang håbede på at tilbringe
vores
alderdom i fred og ro – hvor var vi dog fjollede!
18:15 Vi skal ude. Lois ønsker at deltage i et bibelseminar, der finder
sted i aften i Brockworth, og hun er ikke tilladt at køre bil for tiden på
grund af grå stær (hendes tid hos det lokale hospitals specialist er bestemt
til den 31., dagen før vi flyver til Danmark) . Jeg kører hende over til
Mari-Ann og Alfs hus i Hatherley. De skal køre Lois over til Brockworth. Jeg
sætter Lois af foran huset og kører hjem.
19:00 Jeg kommer tilbage hjem igen. Jeg har lidt alenetid og bruger aftenen
på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om
”Underlige signaler fra ydre rum”, og søgen efter kommunikationer fra andre
civilisationer.
Programmet er en time lang, men indeholder ærligt talt ca 15-20 minutters
materiale – du godeste, sikke en skam, når emnet er så interessant! Men man ved
med det samme, om en dokumentarfilm er lidt tynd, når det kommer til beviser,
når programmagerne spilder tid på at vise scener fra astronomers privatliv, som
for eksempel, når vi kigger på en kvindelig astronom lave morgenmad til sine
sønner, eller hendes mand tage sønner med i skole – sikke et vanvid!!!!
programmet spilder en masse tid på trivialiteter
om
astronomernes privatliv – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!
Forskerne har faktisk efter 60 års undersøgning aldrig fundet overbevisende
tegn på intelligente kommunikationer på trods er det utrolig store antal
stjerner i universet. Det kalder forskerne ”den store tavshed” !!!
Den mest sandsynlige årsag dertil er, at avancerede civilisationer ikke
varer ret lang (henholdsvis) – de lærer at bruge mere og mere energi, hvilket
bliver mere og mere farligt – og ender med utrolig destruktive krige eller
utrolige skader på miljøet. Med andre ord ender de med at ødelægger sig.
I 1974 afsendt forskere en ”besked”, til en galakse, der er 25.000 lysår
væk, den såkaldte ”Arecibo besked”.
Beskeden vil desværre tage lang tid at ankomme, og det vil tage lang tid
at modtage ”svaret” – det ved jeg med sikkerhed!!!!
Der er imidlertid 1 spændende nyt område, som forskerne er i gang med at
undersøge: den såkaldte ”Tabbys stjerne”, nævnt efter den kvindelige astronom
der opdagede den. Oprindeligt troede forskerne, at Tabbys stjerne var omgivet
af planeter. Lyset fra stjerner med planeter bliver normalt mere uklart i et
par timer, når deres større planeter bevæger sig mellem os og stjernen. Tabbys
stjerne viser lignende tegn, men ikke på en regelmæssig måde. Det er muligt, at
intelligente væsner har bygget en såkaldt ”Dyson struktura” af kæmpe spejl
omkring stjernen, for at høste så meget energi som muligt fra den.
Interessant, men denne teori er ganske ung, så derfor kan blive modbevist
før eller senere, måske ii morgen – pokkers!
For mit vedkommende kommer programmets mest interessante punkt, da en
forsker spekulerer om chancerne for at finde andre civilisationer. Han siger,
at det mest fascinerende, er bare den utrolige kendsgerning, at intelligent liv
i virkeligheden eksisterer nogen steder i universet – det synes så
usandsynligt!!!
22:00 Lois kommer hjem igen. Jeg går i seng, men Lois trænger til at slappe
af og geare lidt ned efter aftenens stimulerende bibelseminar – du godeste,
stakkels Lois! Jeg anbefaler et underholdende program, ”Første dates”, der
handler om potentielle kærestepars første dates, og om de viser sig at være
lovende, eller ej.
23:00 Jeg vågner ikke, da Lois kryber i seng til mig. Zzzzzzzz!!!!!
04:30 Jeg står tidligt op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske ordforrådtest.
08:15 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.
10:30 Vi går i gang
at rydde op og støvsuge overalt i huset, fordi vores U3A danske gruppe holder
dens næste møde i morgen kl 14:30 hos os.
12:30 Vi spiser
frokost og bagefter går jeg i sengt for at tage mig en gigantisk
eftermiddagslur –zzzzz!!!
15:00 Jeg står op.
Jeg er nået til ”Bygningen” digtet i min sengetidbog, ”Digte af Philip Larkin,
valgt af Martin Amis”. ”Bygningen” er Larkins ”hospital-digt”, som udtrykker
frygten for hospitaler, især i alderdom. Larkin skriver set ud fra synspunktet
af nogen, en midaldrende digter(?) der venter i venterummet og observerer de
ældre patienter. Betjeman skriver fra synspunktet af en gammel mand i en
hospitalseng.
slutningen af
Larkins ”hospital-digt” – uha!
For mit vedkommende
stammer den gammel mands frygt for hospitaler delvis fra den følelse, at selvom man er gammel men
rimeligt sund, føler man sig lidt foragtelig ud. At være både gammel og syg,
gør én dobbelt foragtelig, i sær foran sunde unge sygeplejersker osv – du
godeste, sikke et mareridt!!!
15:30 Jeg sætter
mig foran min bærebare og udarbejder en danske ordforrådtest til vores U3A
gruppes medlemmer. Gruppens næste møde finder sted i morgen eftermiddag kl
14:30 hos os. De rigtige svar staver sætningen ”Oktober gød din jord, så får du
mad på bord” (et dansk ordsprog, lader det til – godt råd, der er jeg helt
sikker på!!!!). De rigtige svar er tophemmelige indtil onsdag kl 16,
unødvendigt at sige ha ha ha!!!
English translation
16:30 We hear an interesting radio
program about an English queen who lived 1000 years ago: Emma (c.985-1052), who
was half Danish and half Norman. She was married twice, the first time as
a teenager, to the English king, Æthelred, and the second time in her late 20's
to Æthelred's enemy, Canute the Great, the Danish king, after Æthelred had died.
Emma and Canute almost ruled together, just like "William and Mary,"
and they ruled both Denmark and England at the same time
Lois comments that Emma was a
very lucky woman in a period when women were struggling to live a good life. A queen's No. 1 job in those days was getting pregnant, says Lois. Emma had
to go to bed with Æthelred, an elderly man, for 10 years, but fortunately he
died suddenly, and Emma could marry Æthelred's enemy, Canute the Great, who was
much younger than Æthelred and indeed much younger than Emma herself. Canute was
handsome and a delight to look upon, with a good physique, a "good Danish
stud", says Lois.
Canute the Great - "good Danish
stud" according to Lois
Lois's knowledge of English
history is legendary - and she knows all the main characters. I'm a little
jealous of her. I was a bit unlucky during my schooldays, because my history
teacher (Mr. Bailey) was a Scot and he was more interested in Scotland's
history than England's. Me and my classmates know much more about what happened in
Scotland during the English Civil War than what happened in England, which is
pure nonsense - what madness !!!
When my classmates and I wrote
essays, Mr Bailey gave a grade that was based on the length of the essay: the
longer the essay, the better the grades. What madness !!! In those days, you
had to write a bunch of crap to achieve that very long length, which was a lot
of hard work: nowadays, one would find something appropriate online and just
cut and paste. What a crazy world we live in !!!!!
17:30 We eat dinner. We also
watch a little television. An entertaining TV quiz, Pointless, is on. One of
the 4 participating couples comes from Petersfield in the county of Hampshire.
The woman works in the town's tourist office and the man in the town's library.
This couple reminds us of the fact
that, five years ago, Lois and I had planned to move to Petersfield to be close
to Alison's family in the nearby town of Haslemere: we had planned a quiet old
age, with Alison's family not too far away, ready to help us when we needed
help. What fools we were! We did not know that both of our daughters in 5-6
years' time would settle on the other side of the world (Hong Kong and
Australia) !!!! Poor us !!!!!!
One of the 4 couples in the
quiz come
from Petersfield, where Lois and I once
hoped to spend
our old age in peace and quiet - what fools
we were !
18:15 We have to go out. Lois
wants to attend a Bible seminar taking place this evening in Brockworth, and
she is not allowed to drive a car due to cataracts (her appointment with the
local hospital's specialist is scheduled for the 31st, the day before we fly to
Denmark) . I drive her over to Mari-Ann and Alf's house in Hatherley. They are
going to drive Lois over to Brockworth. I drop Lois off the front of the house
and drive home.
19:00 I get back home again. I
have a little alone time and spend the evening watching television. An
interesting documentary is on, all about "strange signals from outer
space" and the search for communications from other civilisations.
The program is one hour long, but
to be honest contains about 15-20 minutes of material - good grief, what a
shame when the subject is so interesting! But one immediately knows if a
documentary film is a bit thin on evidence when the programme-makers waste time
showing scenes from the astronomers' private lives, such as when we look at a
female astronomer making breakfast for her sons, or her husband taking the sons
to school - what madness !!!!
The program wastes a lot
of time on trivialities
about the astronomers' private lives - good
grief, what madness !!!
In fact, after 60 years of
investigations, researchers have never found convincing evidence of intelligent
communications despite the incredible number of stars in the universe. This is
what the researchers call "the big silence" !!!
The most likely reason is that
advanced civilisations do not last that long (relatively) - they learn to use
more and more energy, which becomes more and more dangerous - ending with
incredibly destructive wars or unbelievable environmental damage. In other
words, they end up destroying themselves.
In 1974, researchers sent a
"message" to a galaxy that is 25,000 light years away, the so-called
"Arecibo message". The message will unfortunately take a long time to
arrive and it will take a long time to receive the "answer" - that's
something I know for sure !!!!
However, there is one exciting
new area that the researchers are investigating: the so-called "Tabby's
Star", named after the female astronomer who discovered it. Originally,
the researchers thought that Tabby's star was surrounded by planets. The light
from stars with planets usually dims for a couple of hours when their larger
planets move between us and the star. Tabby's star shows similar signs, but not
in a regular way. It is possible that intelligent creatures have built a
so-called "Dyson structure" of giant mirrors around the star to
harvest as much energy as possible from it.
Interesting, but this theory is
quite young, so it could be disproved sooner or later, maybe tomorrow morning -
damn it!
For me, the program's most
interesting point is when a researcher is speculating about the chances of
finding other civilisations. He says that the most fascinating thing is just
the incredible fact that intelligent life actually exists anywhere in the
universe - it seems so unlikely !!!
22:00 Lois comes home. I go to
bed, but Lois needs to relax and wind down a bit after the evening's
stimulating Bible seminar - my god, poor Lois! I recommend an entertaining
program, "First Dates", about the first dates of potential couples
and whether they prove to be promising or not.
23:00 I do not wake up when Lois
crawls into bed with me. Zzzzzzzz !!!!!
04:30 I get up early and do one
of my routine Danish vocabulary tests.
08:15 I amble out 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.
10:30 We start cleaning and
vacuuming throughout the house because our U3A Danish group is holding its next
meeting here tomorrow at 2:30pm.
12:30 We eat lunch and afterwards
I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap - zzzzz !!!
15:00 I get up. I have reached
the "Building" poem in my bedside book, "Poems by Philip Larkin,
chosen by Martin Amis". "The Building" is Larkin's
"hospital poem", which expresses the fear of hospitals, especially in
old age. Larkin writes from the point of view of someone, a middle aged poet perhaps (?), waiting in the waiting room and observing the elderly patients. Betjeman
writes from the point of view of an old man in a hospital bed.
the end of Larkin's "hospital
poem" - oh dear!
For my part, the old man's fear
of hospitals stems in part from the feeling that although you are old but
reasonably healthy, you feel a bit despicable. But being both old and ill (possibly terminally - yikes!!!!),
makes one doubly despicable, especially in front of healthy young nurses etc -
good grief, what a nightmare !!!
15:30 I sit myself down in front of my
laptop and prepare a Danish vocabulary test for our U3A group members. The next
meeting of the group will take place here tomorrow at 2:30pm. The correct answers
spell the phrase "October - fertilise your soil, and you'll get food on the
table" (a Danish saying, seemingly – good advice, I’m sure of that!). The
correct answers are top secret until Wednesday at 16, needless to say ha ha
ha !!!
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