Fredag den 4. august 2017 kl 16:30 indtil lørdag den 5. august 2017 kl 16:29

18:30 Lois og jeg spiser aftensmad og bagefter sætter Lois sig foran computeren i spisestuen for at opdatere og afsende via email til kirkemedlemmerne sit seneste skema, der giver detaljer om, hvem har indvilliget i at dække hvilket halvdage i kirkens pop-up shop. Der er nu kun ca. 3 uger før shoppen ophører (indtil næste år?)

”Sundhed og sikkerhed” kræver, at der altid er 2 personer, der kan arbejde sammen i shoppen, så stakkels Lois skal finde endnu en person, der kan dække torsdag formiddag, og to personer, der kan dække lørdag formiddag – ellers desværre vil shoppen måtte holde lukket de der tidsrum.

Jeg så tidligere på dagen, at Pence og Sessions deltager i en regelmåssige bibelklasse i det Hvide Hus. Trump deltager ikke – jeg formoder, at han har alt for meget travlt, men klassens leder sender ham en ugentlig resumé af klassens diskussioner. Lad os håbe på, at han læser dem forsigtigt!

Mens Lois arbejder på sit skema, benytter jeg lejligheden til at se sidste uges afsnit af  den danske krimi-serie, ”Dicte”s 2. sæson (4. afsnit). Serien handler om en aarhusianske kriminelreporter, der hedder Dicte Svendsen, og hendes ven i det lokale politi, John Wagner.

More4-kanalen sendte dette afsnit sidste fredag, da Lois og jeg var i Bournemouth-omegn for at deltage i Julias bryllup, så desværre missede jeg det. Lois har holdt op med at se serien på grund af dens seksuelle indhold, men jeg må desværre udholde  at se på disse aspekter, fordi vores U3A danske gruppers medlemmer diskuterer serien, hver gang vi samles – uha, men jeg må være stærk, må holde ud, det her er min kamp! Jeg må være stærk, når hun er svag, og hun må være stærk, når jeg er svag.

Faktisk er dette afsnit er lidt mildere, når det kommer til sexscener, og mindre propfyldt med prostituerede, end normalt.

Hver uge samarbejder Dicte, en lokal journalist (Iben Hjejle), og John Wagner, hendes ven i det lokale politi (Lars Bryggman), for at løse kriminelle sager, men det er faktisk Dicte, der spiller den vigtigste rolle i at løse dem. Det her er en lang tradition i krimigenren, der måske oprindeligt stammer fra Sherlock Holmes, privatdetektiven, der får de almindelige politimænd til at ser dumme ud.

Wagner har stadig ikke indset, at hans lesbiske assistent, den pragtfulde politibetjent Bendtsen (Ditte Ylva Olsen), har startet en affære med Wagners chef, den dejlige politidirektør,  Louise (Andrea Vagn Jensen). Det her er på trods af, at de to kvinder begge tilbragte sidste weekend i Paris, og de begge to fortalte ham, at de faktisk ikke så meget af byen under weekenden – du godeste, Wagner er så naiv!!!! Hver gang vi tænker, at ”nu faldt tiøren” (som vi siger i Storbritannien, dvs at han havde en ”pære øjeblik”),  viser det sig, at han igen har misforstået situationen. Sikke et vanvid!

Politidirektøren Louise (til venstre) (Andrea Vagn Jensen)

og politibetjenten Bendtsen (Ditte Ylva Olsen)

21:00 Lois er færdig med sin pop-up shop arbejde og kommer ind i stuen. Vi putter os ind til hinanden i sofaen og ser en underholdende TV-quiz, ”Only Connect”. Deltagerne prøver at finde forbindelser mellem 4 tilsyneladende tilfældige ting eller udtryk. To hold bestående af 3 venner eller kolleger dyster i hvert afsnit. Programmets vært er den charmerende Victoria Coren Mitchell.

Victoria er endnu mere underholdende, end normalt, synes vi. Hun åbner quizzen med sin sædvanlige  monolog, der begynder med en nyttig guide til hjemsøgte huse.

Et af aftenens to hold hedder ”Vikingerne”, men det viser sig, at de valgte dette navn, fordi holdets medlemmer alle kommer fra byen York (”Yorvik” i byens vikingeperiode). De opfører sig ikke ret voldsomt under quizzen, men de påstår, at de forbrændte deres taxa, da de tidligere på aftenen ankom til tv-studien.

Jeg ved ikke, om disse 3 ”Vikinger” har nogen atavistisk viden om deres forfædres danske sprog, men det kunne have hjulpet dem med at løse forbindelsen mellem de 4 ord/navne:  ”McMahon” (irsk efternavn), ”Bjørn” (germansk fornavn), ”Bern” (schweiziske by) og ”Ursula” (fornavn). Det viser sig, at alle 4 stammer fra dyret bjørn.

22:00 Vi går i seng, adskilte senge og værelser igen på grund af, at vi begge to er meget forkølede, og vi hellere ikke vil forstyrre hinanden.

04:00 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.

09:00 Vi kører ind i landsbyen og smutter ind i Waghorne’s, den lokale slagterforretning, for at købe brød, kød, æg og ost. Bagefter går vi hen til Bakery Stores, den lokale nærbutik, for at købe halspastiller og kleenex. Desværre fortæller Lois ekspeditørerne (og kunderne), at hun og jeg er meget forkølede, hvilket er lidt af et fejlskøn efter min mening. Det får bare alle til at  se skræmmede ud og tage afstand fra os, hvilket er lidt af en skam. De tænker, ”urene, urene”, men de siger ikke noget, gudskelov. Vi piler skamfuldt hjem i vores ’kaninhul’, og slapper af med en kop kaffe.

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage mig en gigantisk eftermiddagslur.

15:00 Jeg står op og lytter lidt til radio, et interessant program, der handler om mennesker, der kan lide at komme for tidligt til aftaler, og deres fjender, der hellere kan lide at komme for sent. Programmets vært er den charmerende yorkshiremand og digter, Ian McMillan.

Ligesom Ian, er jeg det slags menneske, der kan lide at komme for tidligt til aftaler, og det irriterer mig nogle gange, hvis andre ikke føler sig flov over, at de ikke kommer til tiden. Det mest irriterende for mig, er ikke de, der i sidste øjeblik ringer til mig for at sige unskyld: det er de, der bare siger ”I’m running late”. 

Hvis man siger, ”I’m running late”, så antyder man, at man har vigtigere ting for, end at komme til tiden, selvom de har lavet en aftale med mig. Det er ikke virkelig en undskyldning, det strengt taget er lidt af en beskyldning. Det er min skyld, for at tage deres værdifuld tid op ved at arrangere irriterende aftaler – du godeste!!

Jeg slår ”running late” op i min danske ordbog, men dette udtryk på dansk betyder kun, at man eksempelvis løbetræner sent (om aftenen) som en form for motion. Måske er det lidt uhøfligt i Danmark ikke at sige undskyld ordentlig  i disse omstændigheder. Det kan man kun håber på!!! Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

English translation

18:30 Lois and I have dinner and afterwards Lois sits down in front of the computer in the dining room to update and email to the church members her latest schedule, giving details of who has agreed to cover which half-days in the church's pop-up shop. There are now only about 3 weeks left before the shop closes (until next year?).

"Health and safety" requires that there are always 2 people working together in the shop so poor Lois has to find 1 other person who can cover Thursday morning and 2 people who can cover Saturday morning - otherwise unfortunately, the shop will have to stay closed for those time-slots.

I saw earlier in the day that Pence and Sessions participate in a regular Bible class in the White House. Trump does not take part - I suppose he's too busy, but the leader of the class sends him a weekly summary of class discussions. Let's hope that he reads it carefully!

While Lois is working on her rota I take the opportunity to see last week's episode of the Danish crime series, "Dicte"'s 2nd season (4th episode). The series is about an Aarhus crime reporter called Dicte Svendsen, and her friend in the local police, John Wagner.

The More4 channel aired this episode last Friday when Lois and I were in Bournemouth to attend Julia's wedding, so unfortunately I missed it. Lois has stopped watching the series because of its sexual content, but unfortunately, I have to watch this type of thing because our U3A Danish group members discuss the series every time we get together - oh dear, but I have to be strong and endure it, this is my struggle! I must be strong when she is weak and she must be strong when I'm weak.

In fact, this episode is a bit milder than usual, when it comes to sex scenes, and it is less teeming with prostitutes than it is normally.

Every week, Dicte, a local journalist (Iben Hjejle), and John Wagner, her friend in the local police (Lars Bryggman), collaborate to solve criminal cases, but it is actually Dicte who plays the biggest part in solving them. This is a long tradition in the crime fiction genre, which originally started with Sherlock Holmes, the private detective who made ordinary policemen look stupid.

Wagner has still not realised that his lesbian assistant, the gorgeous Officer Bendtsen (Ditte Ylva Olsen), has embarked on an affair with Wagner's boss, the lovely police commissioner, Louise (Andrea Vagn Jensen). This is despite the fact that the two women both spent last weekend in Paris and they both told him on their return that they actually did not see much of the city - good grief, Wagner is so naive !!!! Every time we think "at last the penny has dropped" (as we say in Britain, i.e he may have had a "light bulb moment"), it turns out that he has again misread the situation. What madness!

  

Police Commissioner Louise (left) (Andrea Vagn Jensen)

and Officer Bendtsen (Ditte Ylva Olsen)

21:00 Lois finishes her pop-up shop work and comes into the living room. We snuggle up on the couch and watch an entertaining TV quiz, "Only Connect". Participants try to find connections between 4 seemingly random things or expressions. Two teams, each consisting of 3 friends or colleagues, compete with each other each week. The host of the program is the charming Victoria Coren Mitchell.

Victoria is even more enjoyable than usual, we think. She opens the quiz with her usual monologue, starting with a useful guide to haunted houses.

One of the evening's two teams is called the Vikings, but it appears that they chose this name because the team members all come from the city of York (or "Yorvik" as it was known in its Viking period). The team do not behave that violently during the quiz, but they claim that they burned their taxi when they arrived in the television studio earlier in the evening.

I do not know if these 3 "Vikings" have some atavistic knowledge of their Danish ancestors' language, but it could have helped them solve the connection between these 4 words / names: "McMahon" (Irish surname), "Bjørn" (first name), "Bern" (Swiss city) and "Ursula" (first name). It turns out that all 4 names stem from the animal the bear.

22:00 We go to bed, separate beds and rooms again because we both have heavy colds and we would rather not disturb each other.

04:00 I get up early and do one of my routine Danish vocabulary tests.

07:30 I jump back into bed with Lois and we drink our morning tea. We get up and have breakfast.

09:00 We drive into the village and pop into Waghorne's, the local butcher's shop, to buy bread, meat, eggs and cheese. Afterwards, we go in the Bakery Stores, the local convenience store, to buy throat lozenges and kleenex. 

Unfortunately, Lois tells the sales assistants (and customers) that she and I have got heavy colds, which is a bit of a mistake in my opinion. It just makes everyone look scared and keep their distance from us, which is a bit of a shame. They are thinking, "Unclean, unclean!", but they say nothing, thank goodness. We scuttle shamefacedly home to our ‘rabbit hole’ and relax with a cup of coffee.

12:30 We eat lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap.

15:00 I get up and listen a little to the radio, an interesting program all about people who like to arrive early for appointments, and their enemies, those who prefer to get there late. The host of the program is the charming Yorkshireman and poet, Ian McMillan.

Like Ian, I'm the kind of person who likes to arrive early for appointments, and it sometimes annoys me if others do not feel embarrassed about not getting there on time. The most annoying thing to me is not those who call me at the last minute to apologise: it's those that just say that they're "running late".

If you say, "I'm running late," then you're suggesting that you have more important things on your plate than to get there on time even though they have made an appointment with me. It's not really an apology, it's strictly speaking a bit of an accusation. It's my fault for taking up their valuable time by arranging annoying appointments - good grief !!

I look up "running late" in my Danish dictionary, but in Danish this expression means only that, for example, one goes jogging late (in the evening) as a form of exercise. Perhaps it's a bit rude in Denmark not to apologise properly in these circumstances. One can only hope so! Good grief, what madness !!!!