Fredag den 16. juni 2017 indtil lørdag den 17. juni 2017 kl 16:29

16:30 Vi lytter lidt til radio, et interessant program, ”Den sidste ord”, som vi netop nu har optaget på vores PlusnetTV-enhed.  Lois og jeg har for vane at høre dette program hver uge, fordi vi ønsker at finde ud af, om nogen i de seneste 1-2 uger døde eller ej (jeg har bemærket, at der i de fleste uger sker nøjagtig 5 dødsfald).

Vi hører, at ak (som vi selvfølgelig allerede ved!) vores yndlingsskuespiller, Adam West (TVs Batman) for nogle dage siden desværre døde. Han var en stor komisk skuespiller og også en meget intelligent mand, med en bachelorgrad i litteratur fra UCLA, og en stor evne til at grine af sig selv. Lois og jeg er meget glad også for at høre endnu engang i programmet hans berømte linje fra vores yndlings- Batman afsnit, ”Overgiv den der gigantiske pie!”. Vi har bange for, vi ikke igen vil se hans lig i vores livtid – pokkers, ak – livet er svært!!!!

Batman: ”Overgiv den der gigantiske pie!!!”

West var også meget dygtig til at drikke alkohol i store mængder, og kom tæt på at kaste op over paven (Pave Paul 6.), da han mødte ham.

Lois og jeg elsker Wests stemme – den lyder lidt som Roger Moores stemme, synes vi (hans udseende også lidt). For 2-3 år siden købte jeg på internettet en ny stemme til min Tomtom enhed: og jeg valgte Roger Moores (det kostede £7,50). Lois og jeg kan begge to vældig godt lide Rogers stemme, og han er ro personificeret – hvilket hjælper på meget, når man kører bil i en fremmed by og farer vild.

Jeg lover Lois, at jeg vil tjekke op på nettet, for det tilfælde, Adam Wests stemme også fås, som en tredje option på vores Tomtom-enhed. Vi har også en kvindelig stemme, som vi kalder ”Orgasme-kvinde”, der bliver meget begejstret over det, når vi nærmer os til rundkørsler, korsveje osv.

Det er interessant, at Albert R Broccoli inviterede West til at spille James Bond i ”Diamanter varer evigt”, men West afviste rollen: han mente, at rollen skulle altid blive taget af en britisk skuespiller. Broccoli betalte Sean Connery en masse penge for at komme tilbage og genoptage rollen endnu engang i ”Diamanter”, og derefter Roger Moore overtog den i ”Lev og lad dø”.

”Den sidste ord” er en meget interessant program, synes vi. Vi hører også, at Kailash Puri døde for nogle dage siden, en indisk kvinde, der flyttede fra Punjab til London som teenager. Hun var berømt for at blive den første punjabiske sexolog nogensinde. Hun var nødt til at opfinde en ny sexforråd i det punjabiske sprog: hun opfandt eksempelvis udtrykket ”paraplyen af lykkelighed” (clitoris).

Kailash Puri (til venstre)

Kailash Puri var også meget dygtig til at lave mad, og hun blev den berømte engelsk stormagasin Marks and Spencers første køkkenkonsulent.

Maggie Thatcher var en stor fan af hendes kogboger. Det er interessant også, at Maggie var en stor fan af Adam Wests Batman-tvserie. Kom tilbage, Maggie, alt er tilgivet ha ha ha!!!!

Albert R. Broccoli var også en stor fan af Adam West selvfølgelig. Broccoli blev opkald efter den grøntsag, som ifølge Steve, min amerikanske svigerbror, er nu Storbritanniens yndlingsgrøntsag. Steve spørger, om Lois og jeg nu dyrker den i vores grøntsagshave, men vi skal svare, at desværre nej. Lois siger, broccoli er en meget svær grøntsag at dyrke med succes. Pokkers!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger aftenen på at lytte til radio og se lidt fjernsyn. Vi hører først et interessant radiodrama, der handler om det lange forhold mellem den berømte viktorianske forfatter, Edward Lear, og hans græske-albanske kok Giorgio, der boede sammen i det sydlige Frankrig og andre steder ved Middelhavet, tror jeg.

Det er fascinerende, som altid, at se eller høre store forfattere arbejde på deres berømte værker, og Lois og jeg bliver pludselig klar over, at Giorgio, Lears kok, der kun talte gebrokken engelsk, faktisk var meget behjælpelig med at polere digtenes linjer.

Vi hører denne samtale, for eksempel, mellem de to mænd:

Lear: “How pleasing NO pleasant to know Mr Lear

Who has written a number of books, NO, is famous for nonsense in verse,

Some think him bad-tempered…  NO SURELY NOT”

Giorgio: “No is true – you is bad-tempered especially when flies and midge in summer.”

Lear: “Am I? I try so hard not to be!”

Giorgio: “Huh!”

Lear: “Well, …some think him ill-tempered and drear. Or am I more queer than drear?

But some think he could be much worse.

His mind is both broad and compendious

His hands are remarkably….   small.

His body’s most fat and …. pendulous pendulous!

So he don’t see his feet not at all!

Giorgio: “Why you no see feet? You lift them up you see them.”

Til sidst hører vi den perfektioneret og optimeret version:

"How pleasant to know Mr.Lear!"
      Who has written such volumes of stuff!
Some think him ill-tempered and queer,
      But a few think him pleasant enough.

His mind is concrete and fastidious,
      His nose is remarkably big;
His visage is more or less hideous,
      His beard it resembles a wig…. osv osv”

Lois og jeg fornemmer, at Giorgio nøjes med denne sidste version, selvom han indvender, at Lear ikke går med en paryk. Han forstår ikke det engelske ord ”resembles”, lader det til.

   

Giorgio laver mad til Lear – han har forklart til sin kone og familie i Corfu, at Lear ved ikke, hvordan man laver mad. Men Giorgios smag er lidt underlig , for at sige mildt. Ved morgenmad hører vi denne samtale i dramaet:

Lear: vi kan ikke leve af mus og larver for evigt.

Giorgio: jeg koger aldrig mus, mester. Mus meget bitter. Jeg skal lave trøsk til frokost og sardin til aftensmad.

og senere...

Giorgio: jeg har lavet 100 makroner, mester, måske 50.

22:00 Lois og jeg går i grinende i seng. Det er interessant at Andrew Sachs, der spillede Manuel i den berømte sitcom, Fawlty Towers, spillede Lear i dette radio-drama, og ikke Giorgio,  som man kunne har forventet. Andrew Sachs har været heldig i, at han aldrig blev karakteriseret (typecast) som en ”dago dodo” (Pollys udtryk), og det hjælper også, at dette drama kun er en radiodrama. Det var desværre Adam Wests problem, at han havde svært ved at finde nye roller efter Batman, selvom han senere på sit liv, fik en god rolle i Family Guy.

05:00 Jeg står tidligt op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske ordforrådtest.

08:00 Jeg hopper tilbage op i sengen til Lois og vi drikker vores morgente. Vi står op og spiser morgenmad.

10:00 Vi taler lidt på Skype med Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien og hendes 2 små døtre, Lily og Jessica, der er tvillinger, 3 år 11 måneder gamle. Vi ser Lily ikke ret meget – hun føler sig lidt søvnig og genert i dag, men Jessie er meget livlig og på det ene tidspunkt  tysser på sin mor, fordi hun vil fortælle os noget om Leederville, den forstad til Perth, hvor familien bor.

Vi taler lidt på Skype med Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien

Jessie, en af Sarahs 2 små tvillinger, er meget livlig i dag – du godeste!

Sarah siger, at Francis, hendes mand, planlægger at flyve til England på fredag og bo i en uge ii grevskabet Devon – hans mor, Ann, er desværre alvorligt syg, og hun har haft et par slagtilfælde. Sarah skal tage en uges orlov for at passe på tvillingerne i Francis’s fravær. Det hele er lidt stressende for Sarah også, fordi juni er årets travltest måned for revisorer i Australien: slutningen af det financielle år derovre.

11:00 Lois og jeg kører over til Blooms-havecentret. Vi køber nogle planter og smutter ind i centrets café for at spise frokost. I morgen er det Fars Dag i Storbritannien og vi kom her også på den britiske Mors Dag. Solen skinner og det er meget varmt.

vi spiser frokost på havecentrets café

fordi i morgen er Fars Dag i Storbritannien

13:00 Vi kommer hjem igen og går i seng i et par timer. Det er stadig meget varmt – du godeste! Det er altid lidt af et chok, når det pludselig bliver varmt, synes vi altid.

16:00 Vi står op og slapper af med en kop te på terrassen.

English translation

16:30 We listen a little to the radio, an interesting program, "The Last Word", which we have just recorded on our PlusnetTV device. Lois and I have a habit of hearing this program every week because we want to find out if anyone in the last 1-2 weeks has died or not (I have noticed that most weeks exactly 5 deaths occur).

We hear that alas (as we of course already knew!) our favourite actor, Adam West (TV's Batman) sadly died a few days ago. He was a great comic actor and also a very intelligent man, with a bachelor's degree in literature from UCLA, and a great ability to laugh at himself. Lois and I are also very happy to hear once again in the programme his famous line from our favourite Batman episode, "Surrender that giant pie!". We are afraid we will not see his like again in our lifetime dammit. Alas life is sometimes hard!

Batman: "Surrender that gigantic pie !!!"

West was also very good at drinking alcohol in large quantities, and came close to throwing up over the Pope (Pope Paul VI) when he met him.

Lois and I love West's voice - it sounds a bit like Roger Moore's voice, we think (his appearance also a bit). 2-3 years ago I bought a new voice for my Tomtom device on the Internet: and I chose Roger Moores (it cost £ 7.50). Lois and I both really like Roger's voice and he is calmness personified - which helps a lot when driving a car in a strange city and getting lost.

I promise Lois that I will check up online, in case Adam West's voice is also available, as a third option on our Tomtom device. We also have a female voice, which we call "Orgasm Woman", who gets very excited when we approach roundabouts, crossroads, etc.

It is interesting that Albert R Broccoli invited West to play James Bond in "Diamonds Are Forever", but West rejected the role: he believed that the role should always be taken by a British actor. Broccoli paid Sean Connery a lot of money to come back and resume the role once again in "Diamonds", and then Roger Moore took it over in "Live and Let Die."

"The Last Word" is a very interesting programme, we think. We also hear that Kailash Puri died a few days ago, an Indian woman who moved from the Punjab to London as a teenager. She was famous for becoming the first ever Punjabi sexologist. She had to invent a new sex vocabulary in the Punjabi language: she invented, for example, the term "umbrella of happiness" (clitoris).

Kailash Puri (left)

Kailash Puri was also very good at cooking and she became the famous English department store Marks and Spencer's first cooking consultant.

Maggie Thatcher was a big fan of her cookbooks. It is also interesting that Maggie was a big fan of Adam West's Batman TV series. Come back, Maggie, all is forgiven ha ha ha !!!!

Albert R. Broccoli was also a big fan of Adam West of course. Broccoli was named after the vegetable which, according to Steve, my American brother in law, is now Britain's favourite vegetable. Steve asks if Lois and I now grow it in our vegetable garden, but we have to answer sadly no. Lois says broccoli is a very hard vegetable to grow successfully. Damn!

18:00 We eat dinner and spend the evening listening to the radio and watching some television. We hear first an interesting radio drama about the long relationship between the famous Victorian writer Edward Lear and his Greek-Albanian chef Giorgio, who lived in the south of France and elsewhere on the Mediterranean.

It's fascinating, as always, to see or hear great writers working on their famous works, and Lois and I suddenly realise that Giorgio, Lear's cook, who spoke only broken English, was actually very helpful in polishing the poems' lines.

We hear this conversation, for example, between the two men:

Lear:- "How pleasing - NO pleasant - to know Mr. Lear

Who has written a number of books, NO, is famous for nonsense in verse,

Some think him bad-tempered ... NO SURELY NOT "

Giorgio:- "No, is true - you is bad-tempered especially when flies and midge in summer."

Lear: "Am I? I try so hard not to be! "

Giorgio:- "Huh!"

Lear:- "Well, ... some think he's ill-tempered and drear. Or am I more queer than drear?

But some think he could be much worse.

His mind is both broad and compendious

His hands are remarkably…. small.

His body’s most fat and …. pendulous, pendulous!

So he don’t see his feet not at all!"

Giorgio:-  "Why you no see feet? You lift them up you see them. "

Finally, we hear the perfected and optimised version:

"How pleasant to know Mr.Lear!
      Who has written such volumes of stuff!
Some think him ill-tempered and queer,
      But a few think him pleasant enough.

His mind is concrete and fastidious,
      His nose is remarkably big;
His visage is more or less hideous,
      His beard it resembles a wig…. etc etc”

Lois and I sense that Giorgio is content with this final version, although he objects that Lear does not wear a wig. He does not understand the English word "resembles", it seems.

Giorgio cooks meals for Lear – he has explained to his wife and family in Corfu that Lear does not know how to cook.

But Giorgio's tastes are a little strange, to say the least. At breakfast we hear this conversation in the drama:

Lear:- "We cannot live on mouse and caterpillar forever."

Giorgio:- "I never cook mouse, master. Mouse very bitter. I shall make thrush for lunch and sardine for dinner."

And later ...

Giorgio:- "I've made 100 macaroons, master, maybe 50."

22:00 Lois and I go to bed laughing. It is interesting that Andrew Sachs, who played Manuel in the famous sitcom, Fawlty Towers, played Lear in this radio drama, and did not play Giorgio, as one might have expected.

Andrew Sachs has been lucky in never having been typecast as a "dago dodo" (Polly's expression), and it also helps that this drama is only a radio drama. Unfortunately, Adam West's problem was that he had trouble finding new roles after Batman, although later in his life, he got a good part in Family Guy.

05:00 I get up early and do one of my routine Danish vocabulary tests.

08:00 I hop back into bed with Lois and we drink our morning tea. We get up and have breakfast.

10:00 We talk a little on Skype with Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia and her 2 little daughters, Lily and Jessica, who are twins, 3 years 11 months old. We do not see Lily very much - she feels a bit sleepy and shy today, but Jessie is very lively and at one point shushes her mother because she wants to tell us something about Leederville, the suburb of Perth where the family lives.

We talk a little on Skype with Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia

Jessie, one of Sarah's little twins, is very lively today - my goodness!

Sarah says that Francis, her husband, is planning to fly to England on Friday and stay for a week in Devon - his mother, Ann, is seriously ill, sadly, and she has had a couple of strokes. Sarah must take a week's leave to look after the twins in Francis's absence. It's all a bit stressful for Sarah too, because June is the busiest month for accountants in Australia this year: it's the end of the financial year over there.

11:00 Lois and I drive over to Blooms/Wyevale Garden Centre. We buy some plants and pop into the centre's cafe to have lunch. Tomorrow is Father's Day in Britain and we also came here on the British Mother's Day. The sun is shining and it is very hot.

We have lunch in the garden centre café

because tomorrow is Father’s Day in Britain

13:00 We come back home and go to bed for a couple of hours. It is still very hot - my god! It's always a bit of a shock when it gets hot suddenly , we always think.

16:00 We get up and relax with a cup of tea on the terrace.