17:30 Jeg går ud i baghaven for at samle alle de klippede grene fra fase 4
af projekt hækkeklipning og putter dem i sorte plastiksække: hvilket tager
længere tid, end at klippe dem, som sædvanligt, men haveaffaldspanden er
allerede fuld, og vejrpigen siger, det bliver regnvejr i nat.
21:00 Efter aftensmaden, smækker Lois og jeg benene op foran fjernsynet. De
viser en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om vikingerne. Programmets
vært er den charmerende Alice Roberts.
En interessant dokumentarfilm, men Lois og jeg føler, at vi for det meste
allerede er vidende om hovedparten af indholdet (og oven i købet over de
seneste 50 år har vi set hovedparten af de citerede dokumentarfilmene – du godeste!). Vi glider over i søvnen af
og til under programmet.
Programmets vigtigste konklusioner er, at vikingernes ”dårlig presse” var
resultatet af kristen propaganda. Vikingerne var ikke mere voldsomme, end andre
folk i perioden.
Det er interessant, som altid, at blive mindet om resultaterne af
DNA-undersøgelser i den seneste tid, der viser en anselig skandinavisk komponent
i England og Skotlands befolkning, der for det meste ikke findes i Wales og Irland.
Og i særlige områder, som for eksempel, Skotlands nordlige øer, Isle of Man, og
Cumbria i England, er det et specifikt norsk element, der man ser, i modsætning
til det danske og nogle gange svenske element i resten af Skotland og England,
i sær i de østlige regioner.
DNA-undersøgelser
finder et norske element i Skotlands nordlige øer,
Isle
of Man og Cumbria, og et danske og nogle gange svenske element
i
resten af England og Skotland
Jeg har ofte spekuleret på, om min afdøde far havde dansk blod. Han var
ganske høj og slank (indtil sin alderdom ha ha ha) med rødt hår og blå øjne, og
hans familie kom oprindeligt fra Derby, en by, hvor mange dansker bosatte sig
for 1.000 år siden. Navnet Derby er dansk i oprindelse og betyder by, hvor
mange dyr/hjorte findes.
I tilfældet af Derby skiftede Danskerne den oprindelige angel-saksiske
navnet Northworthy ud med et helt anderledes navn – hvilket var den modsatte af
deres normale vane: sædvanligt enten de opbevarede den engelske navn (nogle
gange adapterende det lidt på linje med dansk udtale), eller grundlagde deres
egen by eller landsby, ikke langt væk fra den angelsaksiske.
22:00 Vi går i seng, i Sarahs gamle værelse igen. Vi er vilde med at sove i
denne værelse, der har udsigt over baghaven – vi kan holde vinduerne helt åbent
hele natten og lytte til brisen i træerne, uden at blive forstyrret af
trafiklarm – det er dejligt!
04:30 Jeg står tidligt op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske
ordforrådtest.
07:30 Jeg hopper tilbage op i sengen til Lois og vi drikker vores morgenté.
Vi står op og spiser morgenmad.
Mens vi spiser morgenmad i stuen, lytter vil til radio, Tony Blackburns
”Sounds of the Sixties”, som jeg optog i lørdags.
Vi hører en af Tonys elendige men nydelige jokes. Han siger, han har en
ven, der har åbnet en butik, hvor der sælges toastere – men det er ikke for
evigt. Det er kun en pop-up shop ha ha ha.
09:00 Vi skal ud. Lois har indvilliget i at hjælpe bemande sin kirkes
pop-up shop midt i byen Tewkesbury i formiddag, og hun er ikke tilladt at køre
bil for tiden på grund af grå stær.
Sidste onsdag formiddag, da hun arbejdede i shoppen, kom hun hjem derefter
med bus, men i dag hun beder mig om at hente hende ved bil, fordi hun vil have
meget travlt i eftermiddag med at opdatere sit skema: hvem har indvilliget at
arbejde i shoppen og hvilke tidsrum osv. Udover at arbejde selv i shoppen, er
hun ansvarlig for at opdatere skemaet og andre administrative opgaver, fx at
prøve at finde folk, der kan fylde skemaets tomme tidsrum osv.
Det generer mig ikke at hente hende, fordi jeg ved godt, hendes opgaver er
meget trættende, men man kan ikke nægte, at det hele ikke desto mindre optager
to timer af dagen, at levere hende og køre hende hjem igen. Det er heldigt, at pop-up shoppen
ophører ved slutningen af august. Hun bliver udmattet – stakkels Lois!!!!
10:00 Jeg kommer hjem. Efter lidt
havearbejde laver jeg to portioner frokost.
12:45 Jeg kører tilbage til Tewkesbury for at hente hende. Vi har aftalt at
mødes kl 13:15 foran indgangen til klosteret. Jeg henter hende og vi kører
hjem.
Jeg kigger på min smartphone, og jeg ser, at Sarah, vores datter i Perth i
Australien, har sendt os en mail, der er lidt bekymrende. Jeg beslutter ikke at
fortælle Lois med det samme – hun er træt og jeg vil ikke have hende til at
bekymre sig over den, indtil hun har haft en lejlighed til at slappe af og
geare lidt ned – du godeste, ingen fred for de ugudelige!!!
Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage mig en gigantisk
eftermiddagslur – zzzzzzz!!!!
15:30 Jeg står op og laver vores eftermiddagsté. Lois har set Sarahs email,
men vi overlader at diskutere det i detaljer til senere – uha! Sarah vil have
os til at overveje, om vi gerne ville tilbringe mindst et år i Perth, leje en
bolig derovre, og udleje vores hus i England. Hun har beregnet omkostninger
osv, og spurgt ind til hvilket slags visum, vi ville har brug for. Vi formoder,
at de vil have os til at bosætte os permanent derovre, hvis vi godt kan lide
det.
tilbageblik til 2015: vi siger farvel til Sarah og hendes lille familie.
De flyttede 2 dage senere over til Australien
De ved godt selvfølgelig, at vi savner dem og deres små tvillinger, vores
børnebørn, men jeg føler også, at de måske finder, det er svært at klare deres
liv derovre uden vores hjælp – hjælp af den karakter, som vi gav dem i stor grad, mens de boede i
England (indtil december 2015). Men bortset fra at se dem og børnene, er der
ikke ret meget til fordel for os i at bo der: i sær er klimaet et stort problem
blandt andet. Uha! Også vi elsker England og landets historie.
English translation
17:30 I go out in the back garden to
collect up all the cut branches from phase 4 of project hedge-trimming and put
them in black plastic bags: which takes longer than it did to cut them, as
usual, but the garden waste bin is already full and the weather girl is saying
there will be rainy weather tonight.
21:00 After dinner, Lois and I stick
our feet up in front of the television. An interesting documentary is on about
the Vikings. The host of the program is the charming Alice Roberts.
An interesting documentary, but
Lois and I feel that we are mostly already aware of the majority of the content
(and over the last 50 years we have seen most of the quoted documentaries -
good grief!). We drift off to sleep on and off during the programme.
The main conclusions of the
program are that the Vikings' "bad press" was the result of Christian
propaganda. The Vikings were no more violent than other people in the period.
It is interesting, as always, to
be reminded of the results of DNA studies in recent years showing a significant
Scandinavian component in England and Scotland's population, mostly not found
in Wales and Ireland. And in particular areas, such as the northern islands of
Scotland, Isle of Man, and Cumbria in England, it is a specifically Norwegian
element, in contrast to the Danish and sometimes Swedish element in the rest of
Scotland and England, that we see particularly in the eastern regions.
DNA studies find a Norwegian element in
Scotland's northern islands,
Isle of Man and Cumbria, and a Danish and
sometimes Swedish element
in the rest of England and Scotland
I have often wondered whether my
late father had Danish blood. He was quite tall and slender (until his old age ha
ha ha) with red hair and blue eyes, and his family came originally from Derby,
a town where many Danes settled 1000 years ago. The name Derby is Danish in
origin and means town where many animals (deer) are found.
In the case of Derby, the Danes
replaced the original Anglo-Saxon name Northworthy with a completely different
name - which was the opposite of their normal habit: usually either they kept
the English name (sometimes adapting it slightly in line with Danish
pronunciation), or founded their own town or village, not far away from the
Anglo-Saxon one.
22:00 We go to bed, in Sarah's
old room again. We are crazy about sleeping in this room overlooking the back garden - we
can keep the windows wide open all night and listen to the breeze in the trees
without being disturbed by traffic noise - it's great!
04:30 I get up early and do one
of my routine Danish vocabulary tests.
07:30 I hop back into bed with
Lois and we drink our morning tea. We get up and have breakfast.
While we are eating breakfast in
the living room, we listen to the radio, Tony Blackburn's "Sounds of the
Sixties", which I recorded on Saturday.
We hear one of Tony's rubbishy but
enjoyable jokes. He says he has a friend who has opened a shop selling toasters
- but it's not forever. It's only a pop-up shop ha ha ha.
09:00 We have to go out. Lois has
agreed to help with manning her church's pop-up shop in the middle of
Tewkesbury this morning, and she is not allowed to drive a car at the moment
due to cataracts.
Last Wednesday morning when she
worked at the shop, she came home by bus afterwards, but today she asks me to
pick her up by car because she will be very busy this afternoon with updating
her rota-sheet of who has agreed to work in the shop and what time-slots, etc.
In addition to working in the shop, she is responsible for updating the
rota-sheet and other administrative tasks, for example, trying to find people
who can fill out the blank time slots, etc.
It does not bother me to pick her
up because I know her duties are very tiring, but one cannot deny that it
nevertheless takes up two hours of the day to deliver her and drive her home
again. It is fortunate that the pop-up shop finishes at the end of August. She
is becoming exhausted - poor Lois !!!!
10:00 I come home. After a little
gardening, I make two portions of lunch.
12:45 I drive back to Tewkesbury
to pick her up. We have agreed to meet at 1:15pm in front of the entrance to
the abbey. I pick her up and we drive home.
I look at my smartphone and I see that Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia, has sent us an email that's a little worrying. I decide not to tell Lois right away - she is tired and I do not want her to worry about it until she has had an opportunity to relax and wind down a little - good grief, no peace for the wicked!!
We have lunch and afterwards I go
to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap - zzzzzzz !!!!
15:30 I get up and make our
afternoon tea. Lois has seen Sarah's email, but we leave discussing it in
detail till later - oh dear! Sarah wants us to consider whether we would like
to spend at least a year in Perth, renting a property over there, and renting
out our house in England. She has calculated costs, etc., and looked into what
kind of visa we would need. We suppose that they want us to settle permanently
over there if we like it.
Flashback to 2015: we say goodbye to Sarah and her little family,
they flew out to Australia 2 days later
They know, of course, that we
miss them and their little twins, our grandchildren, but I also feel that they
may be finding it difficult to cope with their lives over there without our
help - help of the kind we gave them in great measure while they were still living in
England (until December 2015). But apart from seeing them and the children,
there is not much benefit for us in living there: in particular the climate is
a big problem, among other things. Oh dear! Also we love England and the country's history.
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