18:00 Det er meget varmt – i dag har været den varmeste junidag siden 1976
– du godeste! Vi spiser aftensmad, men vi beslutter at overlade havevandningen
til senere, når det forhåbentlig bliver lidt køligere.
19:00 Det er stadig utrolig varmt og lommert. Vi tager noget tøj af og
begynde at se en islandsk film, ”Blandt mænd og får”, som jeg optog for et par
måneder siden på vores Plusnet TV-enhed. Jeg vil gerne blive lidt i stemningen,
efter at have brugt eftermiddagen på at læse en middelalderlig islandsk saga
”Grettes saga”, sammen med Scillas U3A oldnorske gruppes medlemmer - Lois og jeg håber også, det vil køle os af
lidt at kigge på det islandske landskab osv ha ha ha.
19:30 Telefonen ringer og vi skal pause filmen. Det er Lois’s veninde,
Gillian, og de snakker i ca en time – desværre har Peter, Gillians mand, det
ikke ret godt for tiden. Han er blevet diagnosticeret med kronisk obstruktiv
lungesygdom, stakkels Peter.
Mens Lois taler på telefonen, beslutter jeg at gå op i loftet og grave to
af vores tre elektriske vifter frem. Det er lidt af en skam, fordi i dag er
hedebølgens sidste dag, ifølge vejrpigen, men vi er desperate!!!!
20:30 Opkaldet fortsætter, men jeg skriver en settel til Lois, hvorpå det
står, at vi må hellere gå i gang med havevandning, inden havens myg står op og
påbegynder deres arbejde ha ha ha.
21:00 Vi vander haven, kommer ind i huset igen og genoptager filmen. Den
handler om 2 islandske brødre, Kiddi og Gummi, begge to ugifte, begge to fårebønder,
der ejer farme ved siden af hinanden. Og de har ikke talt
med hinanden i årtier – de kommunikerer kun med breve. Du godeste, sikke et
vanvid!!!!
Lois og jeg håber, det vil køle os af
at se det islandske
landskab ha ha ha
Nogle af Kiddis får
pådrager sig desværre scrapie, og myndighederne beordre alle fårebønder i dalen at slagte
deres får, hvilket betyder konkurs for mange af dalens beboere.
Myndighederne beordrer dalens fårebønder
at slagte deres
får, hvilket betyder konkurs for de fleste af dem – uha!
Men Gummi beslutter
at gemme nogle af sine får (en han og nogle hunner, der synes at være sunde)
gennem vinteren i sin kælder.
Til sidst opdager
en lokal dyrelæge Gummis gemte får og ringer efter myndighederne. Gummi går i panik, og de to brødre, Gummi og
Kiddi, beslutter at medarbejde for første gang i årtier – de begynder igen at
tale med hinanden og beslutte hurtigt at drive fårene op ad bjergene og gemme
dem deroppe.
De
to brødre beslutter at medarbejde
med hinanden for
første gang i årtier
Desværre bliver det
mørkt og en snestorm starter. Gummi går i gulvet og Kiddi graver et hul i sneen
de begge to kan ligger i. Filmen ender med en scene, hvor de to nøgne brødre
ligger i hullet, og Kiddi omfavner Gummi og prøver at holde Gummi varm med sin
krop. Du godeste!
En trist film, og
jeg er overrasket at læse senere, at man solgte filmen som en ”mørk komedie” i
den engelsktalende verden, sandsynligvis for at overtale flere folk til at gå i
biografen og se den. Sikke et vanvid, vi grinede ikke engang!!!!
22:00 Vi går i
seng. Jeg falder næsten straks i søvn men Lois har svært ved at gøre det samme.
Det er selvfølgelig stadig lyst. Vi har soveværelsevinduerne åbne, og der er
konstant trafiklarm, for ikke at nævne de lejlighedsvise skrigende teenagere –
du godeste! Hun beslutter at sove i Sarahs gamle værelse, der er lidt køligere
og mere stille – det vender mod nord og har udsigt til baghaven.
05:00 Hun hopper tilbage op i sengen til mig, men hun har ikke ret godt
sovet og trænge til at sove længere. Jeg står op og laver én af mine
rutinemæssige danske ordforrådtest.
08:00 Jeg tager to kopper té med op til soveværelset og hopper tilbage op i
sengen til Lois. Vi drikker téen og står op. Vi spiser morgenmad. Her er meget
køligere i dag, gudskelov.
10:00 Vi tænker på at forberede huset for Alisons besøg den 2. juli.
Alison, vores datter i København, har sagt, hun kan besøge os i nogle dage,
sammen med Ed, sin mand, deres 3 børn og deres hund. Børnene har for vane at
sove i Alisons gamle værelse og Alison og Ed sover i Sarahs gamle værelse.
Desværre er disse to værelser et stort rod – vi bruger dem begge som lagerrum –
hjælp! Også for nogle uger siden havde vi et fugtproblem under ét af vinduerne
i Alisons gamle værelse. Problemet er nu blevet løst, men jeg behøver at male
problem-området.
Jeg graver en dåse
maling frem – denne maling har anti-fugt egenskaber, som vil være nyttige, hvis
vi har samme problem i fremtiden. Jeg anvender malingen til væggen under
vinduet. Det skal jeg gentage i morgen, efter væggen er tørret af over natten.
11:30 Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien, forslog i går, at vi taler
med hende igen kl 11:30 på Skype,men da vi ringer til hende, er der intet svar
– pokkers! Men det er ikke overraskende. Hun må have meget travlt i dag – det
er hendes 40. fødselsdag og efter arbejde må han hjælpe Francis, sin mand, med
at pakke sine ting og forberede sig på at flyve til England i morgen for at se
sin mor, der er alvorlig syg i Devon.
Det er svært at tro, at det er 40 år, siden jeg sad ved siden af Lois’s
seng i det lokale hospital og så Sarah blive født. Jeg kan stadig se det hele
meget klart. Lille Sarah lå på den ekstra seng, mens hendes små blå øjene
flakkede rundt rummet (1977).
Dette er den tredje af mit livs 3 vigtige minder, som jeg må beholde i mit
hoved og bære med mig til graven – selvom ikke endnu tak!!!! Min anden vigtige
minde er, da sygeplejersken gav mig den 20-minutter gamle Alison og jeg for
første gang vuggede hende i mine arme (1975).
Min første vigtige minde er mit ”Hazel O’Connor – Will You” øjeblik, da jeg
først gjorde tilnærmelser til Lois (1970) – du godeste! Jeg må mindes disse 3
øjeblik da jeg er ved at dø!!! Men hvad så, hvis jeg begynder at lide af demens
– yikes!!!!!
12:30 Vi spiser frokost, og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage mig en
gigantisk eftermiddagslur – zzzzz!!!!
Mens jeg ligger, døser og drømmer i sengen, hører jeg dørklokken flere
gange – underligt!
15:00 Jeg står op. Min nye hækkeklipper
er blevet leveret (den gamle eksploderede sidste uge), også en ekstra
Farsdagsgave fra Lois – en cd af John Betjeman, der læser nogle af sine digte,
ledsaget af flot jazzmusik – hurra, jeg glæder mig meget til at lytte til den!
Min ekstra
Farsdagsgave og kort fra Lois
16:00 Sarah sender
en sms. Hun bekræfter, at hun har haft meget travlt i dag, og hun forslår vi
taler fremover på Whatsapp udover Skype, så jeg går i gang med at installere
appen, selvom jeg ikke har den fjerneste idé om, hvordan man bruger den. Jeg
forventer, det vil ikke være for svært (forhåbentlig). Nogle steder i en sang,
hørte jeg engang teksten ”Jeg er forelsket i den moderne verden”, men jeg har
glemt, hvilken sang og hvilken sanger – du godeste, jeg bliver gammel, det er
der ikke nogen tvivl om !
Jeg slapper af med en stærk gin og
tonic.
“Well, listen
Well, the modern world is not so bad
Not like the students say
In fact I'd be in heaven
If you'd share the modern world with me”
Sig god nat, Gracie!
English translation
18:00 It is very hot - today has
been the warmest June day since 1976 - good grief! We have dinner, but we
decide to leave the watering for later, when hopefully it will get a little
cooler.
19:00 It is still incredibly hot
and stuffy. We take some clothes off and start watching an Icelandic movie,
"Rams", which I recorded a couple of months ago on our Plusnet TV
unit. I would like to stay a little in the mood after spending the afternoon
reading a medieval Icelandic saga "Gretti's saga" together with Scilla's U3A
Old Norse group members – and Lois and I hope that it will cool us off to look
at the Icelandic landscape, etc. ha ha ha.
19:30 The phone rings and we have
to pause the movie. It's Lois's friend, Gillian, and they talk for about an
hour - Peter, Gillian's husband, is unfortunately not very well at the moment.
He has been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, poor Peter.
While Lois is speaking on the
phone, I decide to go up to the loft and dig out two of our three electric
fans. It's a bit of a shame to have to do that, because today is the last day of the heatwave,
according to the weather girl, but we are desperate !!!!
20:30 The call is continuing, but
I write a note to Lois, saying that we'd better get going with the watering
before the garden's midges get up and start their work ha ha ha.
20:45 We water the garden, come
into the house again and resume the movie. It is about 2 Icelandic brothers,
Kiddi and Gummi, both unmarried, both sheep farmers who own farms next door to
each other. And they have not spoken to each other for decades – they
communicate only by letter. Good grief, what madness!
Lois and I hope it will
cool us off
to look at the Icelandic landscape ha ha ha
Some of Kiddi's sheep
unfortunately contract scrapie, and the authorities order all sheep farmers in
the valley to slaughter their sheep, which means bankruptcy for many of the
inhabitants.
The authorities order the
valley's sheep farmers
to slaughter their sheep, which means
bankruptcy for most of them - oh dear!
However Gummi decides to hide
some of his sheep (a ram and some ewes who seem to be healthy) through the
winter in his cellar.
Eventually, a local vet discovers
Gummi's hidden sheep and calls the authorities. Gummi gets in a panic, and the
two brothers, Gummi and Kiddi, decide to work together for the first time in
decades - they begin to talk to each other again and decide to drive the sheep quickly
up the mountains and hide them up there.
The two brothers decide
to cooperate
with each other for the first time in
decades
Unfortunately, it's getting dark
and a blizzard starts. Gummi passes out and Kiddi digs a hole in the snow they
can both lie in. The movie ends with a scene where the two naked brothers are
lying in the hole, with Kiddi hugging Gummi and trying to keep him warm with
his body. Good grief!
A sad movie and I'm surprised to
read later that the movie was sold as a "dark comedy" in the
English-speaking world, probably to persuade more people to go to the cinema
and watch it. What madness, we didn’t laugh once !!!!
22:00 We go to bed. I fall asleep
almost immediately but Lois finds it hard to do the same. It is still light of
course. We have the bedroom windows open and there is constant traffic noise,
not to mention the occasional screaming teenagers - good grief! She decides to
sleep in Sarah's old room, which is a bit cooler and quieter - it faces north
and overlooks the back garden.
05:00 She hops back into bed with
me, but she has not slept well and needs to sleep longer. I get up and do one
of my routine Danish vocabulary tests.
08:00 I take two cups of tea up
to the bedroom and jump back into bed with Lois. We drink the tea and get up.
We eat breakfast. It is much cooler here today, thank goodness.
10:00 We think about getting the house ready for Alison's visit on July 2nd. Alison, our daughter in Copenhagen,
has said she can visit us for a few days, together with Ed, her husband, their
3 children and their dog. The children are used to sleeping in Alison's old
room, and Alison and Ed sleep in Sarah's old room. Unfortunately, these two
rooms are in a big mess - we use them both as storage rooms - help! Also a few
weeks ago we had a damp problem under one of the windows in Alison's old room.
The problem has now been fixed, but I need to paint the problem area.
I dig out a can of paint - this
paint has anti-damp properties that will be useful if we have the same problem
in the future. I apply the paint to the wall under the window. I'll repeat that
tomorrow after the wall has dried overnight.
11:30 Sarah, our daughter in
Perth, Australia, suggested yesterday that we talk to her again on Skype at
11:30am, but when we call her there is no answer - damn! But it is not
surprising. She must be very busy today - it's her 40th birthday and after work
she must help Francis her husband pack up his stuff and prepare to fly to
England tomorrow to see his mother who is seriously ill in Devon.
It's hard to believe it's 40
years since I was sitting next to Lois's bed in the local hospital and saw
Sarah being born. I can still see it all very clearly. Little Sarah lay on the
spare bed while her little blue eyes flashed around the room (1977).
This is the third of my life's 3
important memories that I have to keep in my head and carry with me to the
grave - though not just yet thanks !!!! My second important memory is when the
nurse gave me the 20-minute-old Alison and I cradled her in my arms for the
first time (1975).
My first important memory is my "Hazel O'Connor - Will
You" moment when I first made “approaches” to Lois (1970) - my goodness! I
have to remember these 3 moments when I am dying !!! But what if I start
suffering from dementia - yikes !!!!!
12:30 We eat lunch and afterwards
I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap - zzzzz !!!!
As I lie, doze and dream in bed,
I hear the doorbell several times - strange!
15:00 I get up. My new hedge-trimmer has been delivered (the old one exploded last week), also an extra
Father's Day gift from Lois - a cd by John Betjeman reading some of his poems,
accompanied by great jazz music - hurrah, I look forward to listening to that !
My extra Father's Day gift and
card from Lois
16:00 Sarah sends a text message.
She confirms that she has been very busy today, and she suggests talking on
whatsapp in addition to Skype, so I'm starting to install the app, even though
I do not have the faintest idea about how to use it. I expect it will not be
too difficult (hopefully). Somewhere in a song, I once heard the lyric
"I'm in love with the modern world", but I have forgotten what song
and what singer - good grief, I'm getting old, there's no doubt about that!
I relax with a strong gin and
tonic.
“Well, listen
Well, the modern world is not so bad
Not like the students say
In fact I'd be in heaven
If you'd share the modern world with me”
Say good night, Gracie!
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