Tirsdag den 2. maj 2017 kl 16:30 onsdag den 3. maj 2017 kl 16:29

16:30 Lois og jeg prøver at tale på Skype med Alison, vores datter i København, og med Isaac, hendes 6-årige søn, men der er et problem – hun kan høre os, men vi kan ikke høre dem. Pokkers! Vi aftaler at prøve igen på torsdag.

17:00 Jeg  hopper op på min kondicykel og tilbagelægger endnu 6 miles (10km). Jeg tænder for min smartphone og ser 1965s 100 bedste sange, mens jeg cykler. Hver gang jeg hopper op, stiller jeg året 1 år tilbage. Jeg føler mig i frit fald ned dette lange kaninhul tilbage til mine rødder ha ha ha.

jeg ser på 1966s 100 bedste sange, mens jeg cykler.

Mens jeg hører sangene, prøver jeg at huske året 1965s rolle i min livshistorie, i et forsøg på, at udskyde demens ha ha ha. Frygten for demens er det ældre menneskes værste mareridt – det ved jeg bedre, end de fleste. Uha!

Jeg var 19, og havde lige forladt gymnasiet, men jeg skulle vente indtil september, før jeg kunne starte på universitetet. Jeg tog et midlertidigt job og arbejdede i 6 mdr for Radio Rentals, et firma, der udlejede fjernsyner og andre elektriske udstyr – deres sydvestlige regionelle kontor havde til huse i Southey House på Vingade i byen Bristol.

Southey House, hvor jeg tog et midlertidigt job

hos Radio Rentals fra januar til juni 1965

I august byttede vi vores hus i tre uger med en hollandsk familie i Haag. Mine forældre, min 13-årige bror, Steve, og min 7-årige søster Gill og jeg rejste derover i min fars bil. Min søster, Kathy, der var 17 år gammel, rejste til Spanien i stedet, men efter 2 uger fløj hun til Holland for at tilbringe vores sidste uge sammen med os i Haag.

tilbageblik til august 1965:

mine forældre, min bror Steve,

og min søster Gill på en hollandsk strand.

Vi er alle beskæftiget med typiske britiske

strandaktiviter – du godeste!

huset, vi boede i i Haag. Min bror

og min søster kan ses i stuevinduet. Vores britiske

Austin bil står foran huset.

mig på den lokale busstation.

17:30 Lois og jeg spiser aftensmad, lidt tidligere, end normalt. Jeg har ondt i tænderne – pokkers! Måske bliver jeg nødt til at gå til tandlægen igen inden alt for længe! Efter maden skal vi af sted. 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.

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

Jeg har lidt alenetid og bruger aftenen på at lytte til radio, et interessant program, der handler om en moderne gåde: hvorfor er antallet af teenagegraviditeter faldet i de seneste få år i England og Wales på en så dramatiske måde? Programmets vært er den charmerende Michael Blastland.

Programmets konklusion synes at være, at ingen virkelig forstår årsagerne til trenden. Man tror at der er en række mulige grunde: mere og bedre seksuelundervisning i skoler, flere præventionsmidler til rådighed,  den økonomiske recession, længere fultidsuddannelse, lavere alkoholforbrug osv. Denne moderne gåde er. at ingen af disse mulige teorier er blevet bekræftet af overbevisende statistiske data.

Blastlands fornemmelser siger til ham, at der for det første ikke er nogen simpelt svar til spørgsmålet, og at det for det andet var selve teenagerne, der opnåede dette resultat. Det blev ikke sejt længere, at være en gravid teenager, og trenden har fortsat, og er blevet styrket med hvert år, der går. Og de sociale medier har tendens til at styrke alle trender bland de unge.

Det er næsten som om, vores teenagere pludselig blev fornuftigere uden ekstern hjælp, hvilket er meget bekymrende ha ha ha!!!!!

Vi forbliver nervøse – vi forstår ikke den præcise årsag til teenagegraviditets tilbagegang, så derfor forstår vi ikke, hvad vi skal gøre for at forhindre trenden i at reversere på ét eller andet tidspunkt i fremtiden.

Folk er ikke glade for, ikke at kunne finde simple forklaringer og de foretrækker et velordnet univers  – det ved jeg med sikkerhed!!!!

Du godeste – sikke en skør verden vi lever i  !!!!

21:30 Lois kommer tilbage fra sit bibelseminar. Mari-Ann og Alf sætter hende af foran huset.

Vi ser lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant program (4. del af 6), der handler om Victoria Wood, den afdøde stand-up komiker.

Det er meget rart at mindes om den afdøde Victoria Woods brilliant karriere som stand-up komiker, men det er også desværre tankevækkende at huske, at Victoria, som mange tv-stjerner, kom til at tro, at hun også kunne finde succes som både dramatiker og skuespiller.

Succes i det ene felt fører ikke altid til succes i et andet felt, som fx Victorias katastrofale forsøg på at have succes i sæbeopera verden, med ”Acorn Antiques”, en elendig serie, der kredsede om en antikvitetsforretning i Manchester-omegn.

Plottene og manuskripterne var svage, skuespillet var ynkeligt. Mange af showets hovedfigurer mødte en utidig død, når Victoria besluttede sig for at afskedige de pågældende skuespillere. Victoria spillede selv Miss Berta, butikkens chef – her ser vi den usandsynlige død af Clifford, sin forretningskollega: han bliver dræbt af elektrisk strøm, da han trækker stikproppen ud til Miss Bertas defekte strygejern.

I aften ser vi igen det ynkelige gamle afsnit, hvor den oprindelige ”Acorn Antiques” antikvitetsforretning  pludselig forsvandt, og blev udskiftet (uden forklaring) af et privat helbredscenter, med samme personalet (inklusive nogle, der før i tiden var ”død”!!!) og samme sætstykket og dekoration osv. Min teori er, at der havde været en katastrofale tilbagegang i seertal, og dette var tv-kanalens desperate forsøg på at redde showet. Sikke et vanvid!!!!

Skuespillet forblev imidlertid så slemt som normalt. I denne scene, fru Overall, den tidligere butiks  køkkenassistent, besvarede et spørgsmål, før det blev stillet, hvilket var par til kurset – du godeste, ræk mig lige opkastningsposen, Alice !!!!

fru Overall besvarede et spørgsmål

før det blev stillet, hvilket kom til at høre til dagens orden!!!!

Og hun læser åbenbart sine linjer op ved hjælp

af sedler på sin tebakker !!!!

Men det er meget nostalgisk for mig at se dette gamle afsnit, fordi det var det afsnit, der først inspirerede mig til at købe en kondicykel, som jeg stadig hopper op på af og til.

Meget nostalgisk for mig at se dette gamle afsnit,

der oprindeligt inspirerede mig til at købe en kondicykel!

22:00 Jeg går i seng, men Lois trænger til at slappe af og geare lidt ned efter aftenens stimulerende bibelseminar, så derfor bliver hun siddende og seende fjernsynet. Stakkels Lois !!!!!

22:30 Jeg vågner ikke, da Lois kryber tilbage under dynen til mig. Zzzzzzzzz!!!!!

04:45 Jeg står tidligt op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske ordforrådtest.

Jeg kigger lidt på nettet. Steve, min amerikanske svigerbror, har sendt mig en email. Han er lidt betuttet over en artikel, hvor der står, at den danske hotdog er blevet standardiseret landet over, dvs kogt eller ristet bajersk pølse lagt i et flækket pølsebrød og garneret med sennep, ketchup, (ristede) løg m.m, mens den amerikanske hotdog varierer lidt fra delstat til delstat.

Forklaringen kan simpelthen være et spørgsmål af tid. USA er stadig et helholdsvis ungt land, og det kan være, at de simpelthen endnu ikke har haft nok tid til at standardisere produktet derovre. Vi må ikke glemme, at mange forhistoriske vikinger plejede at sige, at hotdoggen var deres livret – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!

Jeg mindes om, at da Allan Sherman, den amerikanske komiker, besøgtede England i 1960’erne, var han overrasket at se, at briterne plejer at måle deres personlige vægt i sten (en sten svarer til ca. 6,5 kilo). Hans teori var, at England var en meget ældre land, end USA, og så derfor havde vi haft mere tid til at standardisere vores sten, hvilket lyder helt plausibelt!

08:00 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.

10:00 Jeg går i gang med at læse de næste 100 linjer af Layamons Brut, som vi medlemmer af Lyndas U3A ”Making of English” gruppe læser for tiden. Gruppens næste møde finder sted på fredag.

der handler om det slag, der fandt sted i det 6. århundrede i nærheden af byen Bath. Slaget viser sig at være lidt af en walkover – du godeste! Arthur og den britiske hær slog med Gud på deres side, mens på den hedenske angelsaksiske side døde tusindvis af mænd, og ofte ikke på en meget pæn måde – yikes! Arthur halshugger Colgrim, den angelsaksiske leder – staklen!!!!!

Alle de interessante ord i digtet slår jeg op online og gøre lidt forskning om ordenes oprindelser osv. Som sædvanligt er der er mange overraskelser. Det er interessant, at når angelsaksiske folk talede om en persons alder, målede de alderen i vintre, ikke i år. For nylig fandt jeg ud af, at de islandske vikinger gjorde det samme. Vikingerne havde også en speciel dag, som de kaldte ”vinterdag”, der altid faldt mellem den 10. og den 16. oktober, hvilket synes af være lidt pessimistisk!!! Sikke et vanvid!

Jeg tror, at folk nu til dags, især hvis de er unge kvinder,  undertider måler en persons alder i somre, men ikke i vintre, hvilket er lidt muntrere, synes jeg. Som for eksempel i Gallagher og Lyles berømte sang, ”Fifteen Summers [and you’re trying to tell me, just how lonely this world can be]” osv osv.

Det kan være nyttigt at måle alderen i årstider. For eksempel, jeg er 71 år gammel, men hvis jeg måler min alder i somre, er jeg kun 70 somre, hvilket lyder meget mer ungdommeligt, synes jeg. Jeg føler nu en feder i min trin – ingen tvivl om det!!!! [godt forsøgt. men en forbier, Colin - du er også 71 vintre gammel - gøre matematikken! red.] 

11:00 Vi går ud i baghaven for at opsætte stængerne til årets stangbønner.

Stængerne til vores stangbønner er oppe - hurra!

12:00 Jeg skynder mig ind i køkkenet og laver frokost, som vi spiser i stuen på sofaen. Bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage mig en gigantisk eftermiddagslur – zzzzzzz !!!!!

15:00 Jeg står op. Vi slapper af med en kop te i sofaen.

15:30 Jeg går i gang med at udarbejde en danske ordforrådtest til vores U3A gruppes medlemmer. Gruppens næste møder finder sted i morgen eftermiddag kl 14:30 hos os. De rigtige svar staver sætningen ”St Barnabas, slå det første græs” (et dansk ordsprog, lader det til). De rigtige svar er tophemmelige indtil onsdag kl 16, unødvendigt at sige ha ha ha!!!

St Barnabas går i gang med at fraråde haveelskere

at slå græs for tidligt – hvor fornuftig! (eller er det det?!!!!)

Jeg gører lidt forskning, og jeg finder ud af, at Barnabas Dag falder på den 11. juni, så jeg formoder, at danskerne ikke er nødt til at slå deres græsplaner før den 11. juni, hvilket lyder lidt sent, synes jeg. En britisk græsplæne ville være blevet til en sand jungle, hvis jeg fulgte de slags regler – det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl om  !!!!!

English translation

16:30 Lois and I try to talk on Skype with Alison, our daughter in Copenhagen, and with Isaac, her 6 year old son, but there is a problem - she can hear us, but we cannot hear them. Damn! We agree to try again on Thursday.

17:00 I hop up on my exercise bike and clock up another 6 miles (10km). I turn on my smartphone and look at 1965's 100 best songs while cycling. Every time I hop up, I set the year back a year. I feel I'm in free fall down this long rabbit hole back to my roots ha ha ha.

I watch 1966's 100 best songs while cycling.

As I listen to the songs, I try to remember the role of the year 1965 in my life story, in an attempt to postpone dementia ha ha ha. The fear of dementia is the worst nightmare of the older person - I know that better than most. Oh dear!

I was 19 and had just left high school, but I had to wait until September before I could start at university. I took a temporary job and worked for 6 months for Radio Rentals, a company that rented out televisions and other electrical equipment - their southwestern regional office was based in Southey House on Vingade in the city of Bristol.

Southey House, where I took a temporary job

at Radio Rentals from January to June 1965

In August we exchanged our house for three weeks with a Dutch family in The Hague. My parents, my 13 year old brother, Steve, and my 7 year old sister Gill and I travelled over in my father's car. My sister Kathy, 17, travelled to Spain instead, but after 2 weeks she flew to Holland to spend our last week with us in The Hague.

Flashback to August 1965:

My parents, my brother Steve,

And my sister Gill on a Dutch beach.

We are all engaged in typical British

beach activities - good grief!

The house we lived in in The Hague. My brother

and my sister can be seen in the living room window. Our British

Austin car is in front of the house.

Me at the local bus station.

17:30 Lois and I eat dinner a little earlier than usual. I get toothache - damn it! Maybe I will have to go to the dentist again before too long. After the meal we have to leave. Lois wants to attend a Bible seminar taking place this evening in Brockworth, and she is not allowed to drive a car at the moment due to cataracts.

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

I have a little alone time and spend the evening listening to the radio, an interesting program about a modern mystery: why has the number of teenage pregnancies fallen in the last few years in England and Wales in such a dramatic way? The host of the program is the charming Michael Blastland.

The conclusion of the program seems to be that no one really understands the reasons for the trend. It is believed that there are a number of possible causes: more and better sex education in schools, more contraceptives available, the economic recession, longer full-time education, lower alcohol consumption etc. This modern mystery is that none of these possible theories have been confirmed by convincing statistical data.

Blastland's feelings tell him that firstly there is no simple answer to the question, and that, secondly, it was the teenagers themselves that achieved that result. It became uncool to be a pregnant teenager and the trend has continued and has been reinforced with each passing year. And the social media tend to reinforce all trends among young people.

It’s almost as if our teenagers suddenly became more sensible without any outside help, which is worrying ha ha ha!!!

We remain nervous - we do not understand the exact reason for the decline of teenage pregnancy, so we do not understand what to do to prevent the trend of reversing at some point in the future.

People are not happy if they are unable to find simple explanations, and they prefer a well-ordered universe - that's something I know for sure !!!!

My god - what a crazy world we live in !!!!

21:30 Lois comes back from his Bible seminar. Mari-Ann and Alf drop her off in front of the house.

We watch a little television.

An interesting program is on (4th part of 6) all about Victoria Wood, the late stand-up comedian.

It is very nice to recall the late Victoria Wood's brilliant career as a stand-up comedian, but unfortunately it is sobering to remember that, like many television stars, Victoria came to believe she could also find success as both playwright and actress.

Success in one field does not always lead to success in another field, such as Victoria's catastrophic attempt to succeed in the soap opera world, with "Acorn Antiques", an awful series that revolved round an antique shop in the Manchester area.

The plots and manuscripts were weak, the acting was pitiful. Many of the show's main characters encountered an untimely death when Victoria decided to fire the actors concerned. Victoria herself played Miss Berta, the shop manager - and I well remember the unlikely death of Clifford, her business colleague. He was killed by an electric shock when he pulled out the plug on Miss Berta's defective iron.

Tonight we see again the awful old episode where the original "Acorn Antiques" antique shop suddenly disappeared and was replaced (without explanation) by a private health spa with the same staff (including some who had previously “died” !), all with the same sets and scenery etc as before. My theory is that there had been a disastrous decline in ratings, and this was a desperate attempt by the TV channel to save the show. What madness !!!!

However, the acting remained as bad as ever. In this scene, Mrs Overall, the former antique shop’s kitchen assistant, answered a question before it had been asked, which was par for the course - good grief, pass the sickbag, Alice !!!! She is also obviously reading out her lines from the tea tray!!!

Mrs. Overall answered a question

Before it was asked, which had become the order of the day !!!!

And she is obviously also reading her lines out from notes on

her tea tray - my god!!!!!

But it's very nostalgic for me to see this old episode because it was the episode that first inspired me to buy an exercise bike, one which I still hop on occasionally.

Very nostalgic for me to see this old episode

that initially inspired me to buy an exercise bike!

22:00 I go to bed, but Lois needs to relax and wind down a bit after the evening's stimulating Bible seminar, so she stays sitting and watching the television. Poor Lois !!!!!!

22:30 I do not wake up when Lois crawls back under the covers with me. Zzzzzzzzz !!!!!

04:45 I get up early and do one of my routine Danish vocabulary tests.

I take a little look online. Steve, my American brother in law, has sent me an email. He is a little bit puzzled over an article saying that the Danish hot dog has been standardised throughout Denmark, ie boiled or roasted Bayern sausage put in a cracked sausage roll and garnished with mustard, ketchup, roasted onion etc. whereas by contrast the American hot dog varies from state to state.

The explanation could simply be a matter of time. The United States is still a relatively young country, and it may be that they simply have not had enough time to standardise the product over there. We must not forget that many prehistoric Vikings used to say that the hot dog was their favourite dish - good grief, what madness !!!

I recall that when Allan Sherman, the American comedian, visited England in the 1960s, he was surprised to see that the British measure their personal weight in stones (a stone being equivalent to about 6.5 kilos). His theory was that England was a much older country than the United States, and so we had had more time to standardise our stones, which sounds eminently plausible!

08:00 I amble 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 get up. We eat breakfast.

10:00 I get going with reading the next 100 lines of Layamon's "Brut", which we members of Lynda's U3A "Making of English" group are currently reading. The next meeting of the group is taking place on Friday.

The book is about the battle that took place in the 6th century near the city of Bath. The battle turned out to be a bit of a walkover - my god! Arthur and the Britons' army fought with God on their side, while on the heathen Anglo-Saxon side thousands of men died and often not in a very nice way - yikes! E.g. Arthur beheads Colgrim, Anglo-Saxon Leader - the poor thing !!!!!

All the interesting words in the poem I look up online and do some research on the origins of the words etc. As usual there are many surprises. It is interesting that when Anglo-Saxon people talked about a person's age, they measured their age in winters, not in years. Recently, I found out that the Icelandic Vikings did the same. The Vikings also had a special day, which they called "Winter Day", which always fell between 10th and 16th October, which seems to be a bit pessimistic !!! What madness!

I think people nowadays, especially if they are young women, sometimes measure their age in summers, but not in winters, which is a bit more cheerful, I think. For example, in Gallagher and Lyle's famous song, "Fifteen Summers [and you're trying to tell me, just how lonely this world can be]" etc, etc.

It can sometimes be useful to measure one's age in seasons. For example, I'm 71 years old, but if I measure my age in summers, I'm only 70 summers, which sounds a lot more youthful, I think. I now feel a slight spring in my step - no doubt about that !!!! [Nice try but no, Colin. You are also 71 winters old - do the math!!!! - Ed]

11:00 We go out to the backyard to set up the poles for this year's runner beans.

The poles for our runner beans are now up - hurrah!

12:00 I hurry into the kitchen and make lunch, which we eat in the living room on the couch. Afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap - zzzzzzz !!!!!

15:00 I get up. We relax with a cup of tea on the couch.

15:30 I go to work on preparing a Danish vocabulary test for our U3A group members. The next meeting of the group is taking place tomorrow afternoon at 2.30pm. The correct answers spell out the sentence "It's St Barnabas, cut your first grass" (a Danish proverb, seemingly). The correct answers are top secret until Wednesday at 16, needless to say ha ha ha !!!

St Barnabas goes to work on discouraging garden lovers

from cutting the grass too early - how sensible! (or is it??)

I do some research and I find out that St Barnabas Day falls on June 11th, so I suppose the Danes do not have to cut their lawns before June 11, which sounds a little late, I think. A British lawn would have become a real jungle if I followed those rules - I have no doubts about that !!!!!