Danskcolin: Mandag den 7. august 2017 kl 16:30 indtil tirsdag den 8. august 2017 kl 16:29

17:30 Lois kommer tilbage fra Tewkesbury. Hun er meget træt efter sin eftermiddag i sin kirkes pop-up shop. Hun har været meget travlt – der var en masse ”kunder”, der smuttede ind i shoppen.

Jeg kan se, at hendes kirkes nye tilgang til, at ”sprede ordet” ved at sætte fokus på bibelstudier og bibelseminarer, snarere, end bare at invitere mennesker til at deltage i gudstjenester, virker at være meget mere vellykket. Der er mange mennesker i nutidens verden, der har problemer af en eller anden art, og som søger svar uden succes, og det kan være, at de spekulerer på, om denne mystiske bog, bibelen, kan måske hjælpe dem med at løse disse problemer.

En anden årsag til, at der i dag har været en flok kunder, der kom ind i shoppen, kunne være, at shoppens udstilling har et nyt tema fra i dag. Den gamle udstilling handlede om kreationisme vs. evolutionsteorien, og den nye handler om den store statue i Nebukadnesars drøm, der blev beskrivet i Daniels bog. Lois siger, at der er et stort billede af statuen i shoppen, og dette kan have lokket nogle forbipasserende til at smutte ind og stille et par spørgsmål – ingen tvivl om det!!!

Nebukadnesar, den babylonske konge, drømte om en stor statue: Dens hoved var af guld, dens bryst og arme var af sølv, dens mave, hofter og lår var af kobber, dens ben var af jern, og dens fødder var en blanding af jern og ler. Så blev en sten revet løs fra et bjerg, og den ramte statuens fødder. Hele statuen blev fuldstændigt knust og blæste væk som støv. Så blev stenen til et stort bjerg der fyldte hele jorden.

Nebukadnesar, den babylonske konge,

drømte om en mærkelig statue

Drømmen er blevet fortolket som en profeti om 5 riger –det babylonske (hovedet), det persiske (brysten og armene), det græske (maven, hofterne og lårene) og det romerske (benene), men identiteten af det 5. rige er desværre uklar.

Jeg læste engang i en eller anden bog, at selvom Nebukadnesars regeringstid var ca 605-562 f. Kr., blev Daniels bog faktisk skrevet meget senere, i det 2. århundrede f.Kr. Som resultat, er der mange profetier i bogen, der virker forbløffende akkurate (ved hjælp og forfatterens 20-20 bagklogskab ha ha ha), men forfatterens profetier om kommende begivenheder går desværre ikke i opfyldelse – pokkers!

Min personlige fortolkning er, at historien af drømmen simpelthen havde til formål, at skræmme mennesker fra, at leve deres aktuelle ”onde” liv, fordi ”verdens ende er nær” – intet mere kompliceret, end det. Dette er en perfekt respektabel ambition for en profet – det er, hvad profeter gør (eller gjorde) ha ha ha!!!

18:30 Vi spiser aftensmad – 2 fedtfattige færdigretter fra CookShop, med grønne bønner fra vores grøntsagshave – nam nam!!!

Vi snakker lidt mere, om Lois’s eftermiddag i pop-up shoppen. Hun siger, at en ung kvinde kom ind og tilmeldte sig kirkens næste bibelseminarserie, der starter i efteråret. Da kvinden så seminarets tilmeldingsliste, bemærkede hun, at hendes ægtemand allerede havde tilmeldt sig, men han havde ikke fortalt hende om det – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

Shoppens regelmæssige ”original”/ekscentriker, den unge mand, der bor i et telt og lider af ”hallucinationer” smuttede også ind, som han gør hver dag. Alarmklokker ringer i mit hoved, da jeg igen hører om denne mand. Desværre er jeg ikke så menneskekærlig, som Lois og hendes venner - uha!!!

Han medbragte en stor sække beskidt tøj ind i shoppen, og Lois tilbød desværre at vaske det i vores maskine herhjemme – hvilket er det, jeg mest havde bange for – yikes!!!! Hun lovede at give ham tøjet tilbage på onsdag. Det betyder, at jeg skal på onsdag køre hende over til Tewkesbury– Lois er ikke tilladt at køre bil for tiden på grund af grå stær.

Det er jeg absolut ikke glad for at høre: kørslen er ca. 20-25 minutter der og 20-25 minutter tilbage. Pokkers! Bare jeg er mere menneskekærlig, så ville denne slags ting ikke irritere mig så meget måske!!!

19:30 Jeg bruger en frusterende time og en halv på at kompilere 3 fotobøger fra 66 af de billeder, jeg tog i juni i Danmark, da Lois og jeg besøgte Alison, vores datter i København, og hendes familie. Jeg plejer at bruge snapfish-webstedet, men desværre har de ændret deres fotobøg-software, og jeg har svært ved at redigere fotoerne og kompilere bøgerne. Jeg overvejer at skifte websteder, og jeg eksperimenterer med et andet websted – bonusprint, men desværre er dets software endnu mere kompliceret og dårligt dokumenteret – pokkers!!!! Til sidst lykkes det mig at kompilere de tre fotobøger, som jeg så bestiller fra snapfish.

21:00 Jeg går ind i stuen. Vi smækker benene op foran fjernsynet. De viser en dokumentarfilm, der handler om ”dræberoversvømmelser”.

Det viser sig, at forskere tror, at en vis type af mærkelige klippeformationer, der findes i (for det meste) ubeboede regioner i Washington-delstaten og Island, blev resultatet af enorme oversvømmelser, der pludselig skete i forhistoriske tider, involverende en massiv kvantitet vand, eksempvis hvis en gletscher pludselig smælter. Disse enorme svømmelser er altid associerede med istider.

Min hjerne er træt, jeg er meget forkølet, og jeg er ikke ret frisk på at se dette program. Filmen er propfyldt af computer-genererede billeder af oversvømninger og vulkanudbrud, hvilket er lidt kedeligt efter de første 20 sådanne klip!!!

Jeg nyder imidlertid programmets sidste historie, der handler om den engelske kanal, som også har disse mærkelige klippeformationer og dybe fjeldkløfter, selvom de alle er under vand, hvilket er lidt underligt.

Dovers hvide klipper og de franske klipper Doverkanalens anden side er mærket af lange sorte horisontale linjer, ligesom en slags stregkode: og den engelske stregkode og den franske er faktisk identiske. Det betyder, at der i forhistoriske tider van en ubrudt klippeformation, der tilsluttede nutidens Storbritannien til det europæiske kontinent.

en ubrudt klippeformation

tilsluttede engang Storbritannien til det europæiske kontinent

Men senere blev Storbritannien til en stor ø. Under en eller anden forhistorisk istid, for 450.000 år siden, var Nordsøens nordlige dele dækkede med is, men den sydlige del var vand – som en gigantisk sø, indespærret af denne ubrudt klipperformation mellem nutidens Dover og nutidens Calais. Disse klipper er lavet af kalk, en stof, der bliver svagere og svagere, når den er i kontakt med vand. Til sidst klipperne kollapserede, og den resulterende massive oversvømning skabte disse mærkelige klippeformationer, der i dag kun kan ses under vand. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

Til sidst, for 450.000 år siden blev denne ”bro” ødelagt

af en massiv oversvømning fra en gigantisk ”sø”,

så stor som én af Nord-Amerikas ”store søer”.

22:00 Vi går i seng – adskilte senge og værelser igen på grund af vores forkølelser – zzzzzz!!!!!

03:45 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 morgenté. Vi står op og spiser morgenmad.

10:00 Jeg går ud i baghaven for at rydde op lidt. I morgen tidligt kommer skraldebilen og genbrugsbilen, og jeg må prøve at fylde vores to store spande helt op hvis muligt – jeg må ikke svigte mine fællesborgere i vores kamp mod kommunen – det ved jeg med sikkerhed!!!

Jeg mangler energi igen i dag. Min teori er, at det har kostet mig en masse energi at prøve at holde denne forkølelse ned, men det er jeg ikke helt sikker på. Det er min historie og jeg holder fast ved den.

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

15:00 Jeg står op. Lois siger, hun vil smutte ind hos naboerne (Bill og Mary) for at snakke lidt. Det er vigtigt at snakke nu og da med Mary, fordi hun begynder at lide af en mild form for demens, så samtaler med venner og naboer hjælper hende meget, synes vi.

Jeg sætter mig til rette i sofaen og begynder at se det seneste afsnit af den danske krimi-serie, ”Dicte”s 2. sæson (5. 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. Lois har holdt op med at se serien på grund af dens seksuelle indhold, men jeg må desværre udholde disse ubehagelige aspekter, fordi vores U3A danske gruppers medlemmer godt kan lide at diskutere serien, hver gang vi samles – uha, men jeg må være stærk, må holde ud, det her er min kamp! Jeg må være stærk, når Lois er svag, og hun må være stærk, når jeg er svag.

Efter 30 minutter hører jeg vores anden nabo (Bob) gå i gang med at slå sin græsplæne lige bag huset. Jeg formoder, at græsplænen overhovedet ikke til at slås – jeg er helt sikker på, at han bare minder mig høfligt om, at vores græsplæner trænges til at slås. Og det har har ret i – jeg har ikke gjort det endnu på grund af vores ferie sidste uge og min forkølelse.

Jeg går ud og klipper to af vores 4 græsplæner, herunder den, der ligger foran huset, som er den vigtigste for vores naboer og venners skyld – du godeste!!!!

16:00 Jeg kommer tilbage ind i huset og tænder for fjernsynet. Jeg fortsætter med at se det seneste afsnit af ”Dicte”, men jeg har kun tid til at se første halvdelen af afsnittet. Faktisk er dette afsnit hidtil lidt mildere, når det kommer til sexscener, og mindre propfyldt med prostituerede, end normalt.

Jeg formoder ikke desto mindre, at John Wagner, seriens co-helt og lokal detektiv, er begyndt at falde for sin lejer, en afrikanske kvinde, der er en eks-prostitueret.

Og vi ser imidlertid Wagners lesbiske assistent, den pragtfulde politibetjent Bendtsen (Ditte Ylva Olsen), snige sig afsted i smug sammen med Wagners chef, den dejlige politidirektør, Louise (Andrea Vagn Jensen): de to kvinder smutter ind i politigårdens bibliotek for at blive ”kærlige” og hygger sig mellem politiets arkivskabene – du godeste. Hvorfor ville de risikere sådan noget???? Wagner er også i en anden del af biblioteket og hører dem le og fnise ligesom skolepiger – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!

Politidirektøren Louise (til venstre) (Andrea Vagn Jensen)

og hendes kæreste, politibetjenten Bendtsen (Ditte Ylva Olsen)

Jeg vil se resten af afsnittet i morgen måske. Denne uges sag handler om et mord og en ”match-fixing” skandale for danske fodbold – uha!

English translation

17:30 Lois comes back from Tewkesbury. She is very tired after her afternoon in her church's pop-up shop. She has also been very busy - there were a lot of "customers" popping into the shop.

I can see that her church's new approach to "spreading the word" by focusing on Bible studies and Bible seminars, rather than just inviting people to attend church services, seems to be much more successful. There are many people in today's world who have problems of some kind or other and who are looking for answers without success, and they may get to wonder if this mysterious book, the Bible, could help them solve these problems.

Another reason why there has been a bunch of customers coming into the shop could be that the shop's exhibition has a new theme from today. The old exhibition was about creationism vs. evolution theory, and the new one is about the great statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, described in the book of Daniel. Lois says there is a big picture of the statue in the shop, and this may have lured some passers-by to pop in and ask a few questions - no doubt about it !!!

Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, dreamed about a great statue: Its head was of gold, its chest and arms were of silver, its belly, hips and thighs were of copper, its legs were of iron, and its feet were a mixture of iron and clay. Then a stone was torn out from a mountain, hitting the statue's feet. The whole statue was completely smashed and it blew away like dust. Then the stone became a great mountain that filled the whole earth.

Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king,

dreamed about a strange statue

The dream has been interpreted as a prophecy of 5 empires - the Babylonian Empire (the head), the Persian (the breasts and the arms), the Greek (the stomach, the hips and the thighs) and the Roman (the legs), but the identity of the fifth empire is unfortunately unclear.

I once read in some book or other that although the reign of Nebuchadnezzar was in about 605-562 BC, Daniel's book was actually written much later, in the 2nd century BC. As a result, there are many prophecies in the book that seem amazingly precise (with the help of the author's 20-20 hindsight ha ha ha), but the author's prophecies about future events unfortunately do not seem to come true - dammit!

My personal interpretation is that the story of the dream was simply meant to scare people out of living their current "evil" lives because "the end of the world is nigh" - nothing more complicated than that. This is a perfectly respectable ambition for a prophet - it's what prophets do (or did) ha ha ha !!!

18:30 We have dinner - 2 low fat dishes from CookShop, with green beans from our vegetable garden - yum yum !!!

We talk a little more about Lois's afternoon in the pop-up shop. She says that a young woman came in and enrolled in the church's next series of seminars, starting in the autumn. When the woman saw the enrolment sheet for the seminar, she noticed that her husband had already signed up, but he had not told her about it - good grief, what madness !!!!

The shop's regular "weirdo" / eccentric, the young man who lives in a tent and suffers from "hallucinations", also popped in as he does every day. Alarm bells ring in my head whenever I hear about this man. Unfortunately, I'm not as charitable as Lois and her friends - oh dear!!!

He brought a big bag of dirty clothes into the shop, and Lois unfortunately offered to wash them in our machine at home - which is what I was most afraid of - yikes !!!! She promised to give him the clothes back on Wednesday. That means I have to drive her over to Tewkesbury on Wednesday. Lois is not allowed to drive a car at the moment due to cataracts.

That's something I am absolutely not happy to hear: the drive is approx. 20-25 minutes there and 20-25 minutes back. Damn! If only I were more charitable, this kind of thing would not annoy me so much maybe !!!

19:30 I spend a frustrating hour and a half compiling 3 photo books from 66 of the pictures I took in June in Denmark when Lois and I visited Alison, our daughter in Copenhagen, and her family. I normally use the Snapfish site but unfortunately they have changed their photo book software and I have trouble editing the photos and compiling the books. I consider switching sites, and I experiment with another website - Bonusprint, but unfortunately its software is even more complicated and poorly documented - damn !!!! Finally, I manage to compile the three photo books, which I then order from Snapfish.

21:00 I go into the living room. We stick our feet up in front of the television. A documentary film is on, all about "killer floods".

It turns out that researchers believe that some kind of strange rock formations found in (mostly) uninhabited regions of Washington State and Iceland were the result of huge floods that occurred suddenly in prehistoric times involving a massive quantity of water, for example, if a glacier suddenly melts. These enormous floods are always associated with Ice Ages.

My brain is tired, I've got a bad cold, and I'm not that keen on watching this programme. The film is packed with computer-generated images of floods and volcanic eruptions, which is a little boring after the first 20 such clips !!!

However, I enjoy the programme's last story, about the English Channel, which also has these strange rock formations and deep canyons, even though they are all under water, which is a little strange.

Dover's white cliffs and the French cliffs on the other side of the Straits are marked by long black horizontal lines, just like a barcode: and the English barcode and the French one are actually identical. This means that in prehistoric times there was an unbroken rock formation that connected today's Britain to the European continent.

an unbroken rock formation

once connected Britain to the European continent

But later Britain became a big island. During one or other prehistoric ice age, 450,000 years ago, the northern parts of the North Sea were covered with ice, but the southern part was water - like a giant lake, blocked in by this unbroken cliff formation between today's Dover and today's Calais. These rocks are made of chalk, a substance that becomes weaker and weaker when it is in contact with water. Eventually the cliffs collapsed, and the resulting massive flood created these strange rock formations, which today can only be seen underwater. Good grief, what madness !!!!

Eventually, 450,000 years ago, this "bridge" was destroyed

by a massive flood from a giant "lake"as big as one of North America's "Great Lakes".

22:00 We go to bed - separate beds and rooms again because of our colds - zzzzzz !!!!!

03:45 I get up early and do one of my routine Danish vocabulary tests.

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

10:00 I go out into the back garden to clear up a little. Early tomorrow the garbage truck and the recycling truck will be coming and I have to try to completely fill up our two big wheelie-bins if possible - I cannot let my fellow citizens down in our struggle against the council - I know that for sure !!!

I am lacking in energy again today. My theory is that it has cost me a lot of energy trying to fight off this cold , but I'm not entirely sure of that. But it's my story and I'm sticking to it.

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

15:00 I get up. Lois says she is going to pop in at the neighbours (Bill and Mary) to chat for a while. It's important to talk every now and then with Mary because she is starting to suffer from a mild form of dementia, so conversations with friends and neighbours help her a lot, we think.

I settle down on the couch and start watching the latest episode of the Danish crime series, "Dicte"'s 2nd season (5th episode). The series is about a crime reporter in Aarhus named Dicte Svendsen, and her friend in the local police, John Wagner.

The More4 Channel aired this episode last Friday. Lois has stopped watching the series because of its sexual content, but unfortunately, I must put up with these unpleasant aspects because our U3A Danish group members like to discuss the series every time we get together - oh dear, but I must be strong, I must endure, this is my struggle! I must be strong when Lois is weak and she must be strong when I'm weak.

After 30 minutes, I hear our other neighbour (Bob) start mowing his lawn just behind the house. I am guessing that the lawn does not need to be mown at all - I'm quite sure he is just reminding me politely that our lawns need to be cut. And he's right there - I have not done it yet because of our holiday last week and my cold.

I go out and mow two of our 4 lawns, including the one in front of the house, which is the most important thing for our neighbours' and friends'sake - my goodness !!!!

16:00 I come back into the house and turn on the television. I carry on watching the latest episode of "Dicte", but I only have time to see the first half of the episode. In fact, this episode is (so far) a bit milder when it comes to sex scenes, and it's less packed with prostitutes than normal.

Nevertheless, I am guessing John Wagner, the co-hero of the series and local detective, has begun to fall for his tenant, an African woman who is an ex-prostitute.

And we also see Wagner's lesbian assistant, the gorgeous Officer Bendtsen (Ditte Ylva Olsen) sneak away with Wagner's boss, the lovely police commissioner, Louise (Andrea Vagn Jensen):- the two women pop into the police station's library to get "lovey-dovey" and have a bit of fun among the police filing cabinets - good grief. Why would they risk such such a thing???? Wagner is also in another part of the library and hears them laughing and giggling like two schoolgirls - good grief, what madness !!!