16:30 Lois og jeg er begge meget forkølede, hvilket er lidt af en skam.
Heldigvis har jeg en rolig uge denne uge, selvom Lois har en stribe aftaler,
herunder to formiddage, hvor hun skal hjælpe med at bemande sin kirkes pop-up
shop midt i Tewkesbury. Der er også en dåb i aften i en jacuzzi i en
kirkemedlems hus – du godeste! Men det
må være meget hyggeligere, end i floden Avon (eller selve Jordanfløden) for
eksempel – det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl om!!!
Jeg er heldigere. Scillas U3A oldnorske gruppens møde, der finder sted hver
2 uger om onsdagen, er heldigvis blevet aflyst, hvad angår dagens møde, fordi
Scilla for tiden er væk på ferie. Og Lyndas månedlige U3A ”Making of English”
gruppe har intet møde i august på grund af mange medlemmers fravær på ferie.
Hurra!
Men desværre skal jeg også køre Lois til hendes aftaler – hun er ikke
tilladt at køre bil for tiden på grund af grå stær. Hendes operation er bestemt
til midten af september.
18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad: hakket oksekød med kartofler, pralbønner,
gulerødder og courgetter: alle fra vores grøntsagshave (bortset fra oksekødet).
Nam nam!
19:30 Vi går ud i baghaven og vander blomsterne og grøntsager. Bagefter
kommer vi tilbage ind i huset og smækker benene op foran fjernsynet.
De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm om tsunamier. Programmets vært er
den charmerende skotske tv-geolog, Iain Stewart.
Programmets titel er ”10 ting du ikke vidste om tsunamier”, selvom Lois og
jeg ærligt talt tror, at vi kender til mindst 8 af Iains ”ting”. Men som altid
med Iain, er det sjovt at have tal på, hvor mange gange han bruger ordet
”planet” (over 60 gange, eller over en gang om minuttet – du godeste!). Det er
imidlertid lidt irriterende at skulle kigge på så mange computer-genererede
billeder af oversvømninger og vulkanudbrud mellem Iains hyppige gåture på øde
strande. Sikke et vanvid!!!!
Det er interessant, at der var en sandsynlig tsunami, der i 1607 ramte de grevskaber,
der grænsede op til Bristolkanalen (Glamorganshire, Monmouthshire og Somerset),
og dræbte ca 2000 personer.
Katastrofen blev fortolket i 1600-tallet som følger: Gud straffede bare et ondt
folk. Det er heldigt, at i nutidens verden er det de folk, der bor omkring
Stillehavet, som er de ondeste – de får flere tsunamier, end andre dele af
verden.
Lois interesserer sig meget i en ny fortolkning af den bibelske historie af
Moses, hvor han splittede det Røde Hav. Det står i bibelen, at Farao og hans
hær forfulgte israelitterne ud i ørkenen og nåede dem ved det Røde Hav.
Israelitterne var fanget mellem havet og Egyptens hær. Ved et mirakel splittede
Moses havet og førte Israelitterne over til den anden side. Egypterne forsøgte
også at passere det spaltede hav, man havet lukkede sig og egypterne druknede.
Mange
historiker tror, at begivenhederne i biblen daterer til en periode ca. for
3.500 år siden, hvilket omtrentligt svarer til det berømte vulkansk udbrud på
Santorini i det Ægæiske Hav, der også ødelagte den minoiske civilisation på øen
Kreta. ”Det Røde Hav” i den bibelske historie kan være en forkert oversættelse
af ”Hav af vasser” i Nildeltaet.
Da Moses splittede havet i den bibelske historie, kan det
være,
at det ikke var det Røde Hav, men et ”hav af vasser” i Nildeltaet
Teorien er, at
israelitterne kunne krydse havet, da vandet pludselig trak sig tilbage –
hvilket ofte er første tegn på en tsunami.
Lois tvivler
imidlertid på, at 20 minutter – som er den teoretiske varighed af denne korte
tørre mellemrum – ville have været nok til, at lade tusindvis af israelitter,
plus kameler og bagage osv, krydse i
sikkerhed, og rejse langt nok væk til at slippe for den følgende mega-oversvømning!
Og det må jeg give hende ret i !!!! Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!! Tilbage til
tegnebrættet, Iain!!!!!
Også må
israelitterne været faret massivt vild, hvis de troede, at havet af vasser var
den bedste rute fra Egypten til Israel – selvom det kan være, at de prøvede at
undgå sommerferiens trafikpropper i Røde Hav-området – men det er jeg ikke helt
sikker på.
21:00 Vi
fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn, en interessant dokumentarfilm (1. del af 2),
der handler om et eksperiment, hvor 4-årige børn regelmæssigt besøgte et
plejehjem. Eksperimentets mål, var at undersøge, om oplevelsen fik plejehjemmets
ældre beboere til at forbedre sig, når det kom til fysisk eller psykisk
helbred.
Ifølge
programmet er sådanne projekter blevet hyppige i USA i mange år, men der er
ikke blevet prøvet før i Storbritannien af en eller anden grund. I denne første
episode (af to) virker resultaterne meget lovende – ingen tvivl om det. Det er
imidlertid tydeligt, at dette plejehjems beboere er velhavere
eks-professionelle mennesker. Også kommer de 4-årige børn alle fra velhavere,
professionelle familier: det er åbenbart fra deres perfekte udtale af
standardengelsk – der er ikke nogle spirende Eliza Doolittles her!
Det, jeg tager
med fra programmet, er, at psykiske glæde og velbehage har en meget godt effekt
på fysiske helbred, hvilket jeg allerede vidste fra min egne oplevelse, men det
bekræfter min følelse, at se så klart det samme i andre mennesker, uden tvivl
om det. Rabelais, den franske munk og læge, forstod dette princip for 500 år
siden. I programmet glemte plejehjemmets beboere undertiden at tage
spadserestokke med, for eksempel, fordi de var så begejstret over at lege med
de charmerende små børn, der besøgte dem.
plejehjemmets ældre beboere bliver begejstrede
for
undertiden første gang i år over at omgås med charmerende små børn
Det er en
kendsgerning, at ingen tror, at der kommer en tid, hvor han/hun kommer til at
blive gammel, og ingen fortæller én, hvordan man bedst kan klare alderdommen,
så derfor må hver menneske finde for sig selv frem til, hvordan man gør det.
Jeg ved godt, at man må efterlade plads til begejstring i livet så meget som
muligt – det er min motto, men det er ikke altid så nemt, for sådan er livet – yikes!!!!
Det er langt nemmere for introverte mennesker at blive interesseret i livet,
hvis de har nettet. Men de må samtidig modstå fristelsen til at leve et
stillesiddende liv – det ved jeg med sikkerhed!!!
22:00 Vi går i
seng – zzzzzzz!!!!
05:00 Jeg står
tidligt op, men jeg er for forkølet til at lave én af mine rutinemæssige danske
ordforrådtest – uha!
Jeg kigger
lidt på nettet. Jeg ser, at Alison, vores datter i København, i går aftes
endlig kom hjem, sammen med sin familie, efter 4 ugers ferie i England og
Holland. Hun siger, at det regnede kraftigt hele vejen fra deres sommerhus i
Holland til København. Wow, sikke et uvejr!
08:15 Jeg
hopper tilbage op i sengen til Lois og vi drikker vores morgenté. Vi står op og
spiser morgenmad.
12:30 Vi
spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage mig en gigantisk
eftermiddagslur – zzzzz!!!
15:00 Jeg står
op og kigger lidt på internettet. Steve, min amerikanske svigerbror, har sendt
mig en morsom Matt-vittighedstegning: to kvinder snakker. Den ene siger, hun er
på Brexit-slankekuren: hun faster de dage, arbejderpartiet bakker op om Brexit,
og spiser normalt de dage, de modstår den.
Meget morsomt, men Mac-vittighedstegningen minder mig om en af Morten Ingemanns
seneste tegneseriestriber. Danskeren Ingemann er min yndlingstegner – ingen tvivl om det! Han interesserer sig
meget for grimme, overvægtige, midaldrende eller ældre folk, de slags
mennesker, som de fleste tegnere sjældent giver opmærksomhed til.
I
Ingemann-tegneseriestriben snakker to gamle mænd. Den ene siger, han har fundet
den perfekte måde at slanke sig på: han spiser simpelthen ikke, mens hans kone
taler. Og jeg kender desværre ikke nok på arbejderpartiets problemer, til at bedømme,
om Macs kvinde eller Ingemanns gamle mand, vil nå deres målvægt først.
Jeg begynder
at spekulere på disse slankekur-vittigheder er måske en moderigtig ny kategori
af vittigheder, som jeg på en eller anden måde er gået glip af. Jeg formoder,
at nogen i fortidden var den første at finde på en ”knock-knock” joke, for
eksempel. Ingen er helt sikker på det, men knock-knock jokes er meget gamle –
måske fra middelalderen eller Shakespeares tid.
En ting er
sikkert – jeg fortsætter med at være dybt umoderne, og jeg ved ikke, hvordan
jeg kan redde mig selv og komme ud fra hullet, jeg har gravet mig ned i. Dette
er et råb om hjælp for resten, for at tale klart og tydeligt!!!!
English
translation
16:30 Lois and I have both got bad colds, which is a bit
of a shame. Fortunately, I have a quiet week this week, although Lois has a
series of appointments, including two mornings where she has to help staff her
church's pop-up shop in the middle of Tewkesbury. There is also a baptism
tonight in a jacuzzi in a church member's house - good grief! But it must be
much nicer than in the River Avon (or the River Jordan itself) for example - I
have no doubts about that !!!
I'm luckier:- Scilla's U3A Old Norse Group meeting,
which takes place every 2 weeks on Wednesdays, has been cancelled as regards
today's meeting because Scilla is currently on vacation. And Lynda's monthly U3A
"Making of English" group has no meeting in August due to the absence
of many members on vacation. Hoorah!
But unfortunately, I must also drive Lois to her
appointments - she is not allowed to drive a car at the moment due to
cataracts. Her surgery is scheduled for mid September.
18:00 We have dinner: minced beef with potatoes, beans,
carrots and courgettes: all from our vegetable garden (except for the beef). Yum
yum!
19:30 We go into the backyard and water the flowers and
vegetables. Afterwards, we come back into the house and stick our feet up in
front of the television.
An interesting documentary is on, all about tsunamis. The
host of the program is the charming Scottish TV geologist, Iain Stewart.
The title of the program is "Ten things you did not
know about tsunamis", although Lois and I honestly think we know at least
8 of Iain's "things". But as always with Iain, it's fun to keep a
tally of how many times he uses the word "planet" (over 60 times or
once a minute - good grief!). However, it's a bit annoying to have to look at
so many computer-generated images of floods and volcanic eruptions between
Iain's frequent walks on deserted beaches. What madness !!!!
It is interesting that there was a probable tsunami in
1607, which affected the counties adjacent to the Bristol Channel
(Glamorganshire, Monmouthshire and Somerset) and killed about 2,000 people.
The disaster was interpreted in the 17th century as
follows: God was just punishing a wicked people. It is fortunate that in today's
world it's the people who live around the Pacific, who are the wickedest ones -
they get more tsunamis than other parts of the world.
Lois is very interested in a new interpretation of the
biblical story of Moses, when he parted the Red Sea. It is stated in the Bible
that Pharaoh and his army pursued the Israelites into the wilderness and
overtook them at the Red Sea. The Israelites were caught between the sea and
the Egyptian army. By a miracle Moses parted the sea waters and led the
Israelites to the other side. The Egyptians also tried to travel across the
parted waters, but the sea closed again and all the Egyptians drowned.
Many historians believe that the events in the Bible date
to a period of approximately 3,500 years ago, which roughly corresponds to the
famous volcanic eruption in Santorini in the Aegean, which also destroyed the
Minoan civilisation on the island of Crete. Plus "the Red Sea" in the biblical story may be a mis-translation of the "Sea of Reeds" in the Nile
Delta.
When Moses parted the sea
waters in the biblical story, it may
be the case that it was not the Red Sea, but
the "Sea of Reeds" in the Nile Delta
The theory is that the Israelites were able to cross the
sea when the waters suddenly retreated - which is often the first sign of a
tsunami.
Lois, however, doubts that 20 minutes - which is the
theoretical duration of this short dry interval - would have been enough to
allow thousands of Israelites, plus camels and luggage, etc. to cross in
safety, and to travel far enough away to escape the ensuing mega flood! And I
have to give her that one !!!! Good grief, what madness !!!! Back to the
drawing board, Iain !!!!!
Also, the Israelites must have got massively lost if they
thought that the Sea of Reeds was the best route from Egypt to Israel -
although they may have been trying to avoid summer traffic jams in the Red Sea
area - but that's something I'm not quite sure about.
21:00 We carry on watching television, an interesting
documentary film (1st part of 2), all about an experiment where 4-year-old
children regularly visited a nursing home. The aim of the experiment was to
investigate whether the experience caused the elderly residents to improve as
regards physical or mental health.
According to the programme, such projects have been
frequent in the United States for many years, but have not been tried before in
Britain for some reason. In this first episode (of two) the results seem very
promising - no doubt about it. It is clear, however, that this nursing home's
residents are wealthy ex-professional people. Also, the 4-year-old children all
come from wealthy, professional families: that's evident from their perfect
pronunciation of standard English - there are no budding Eliza Doolittles here!
What I take from the program is that mental happiness and
well-being have a very good effect on physical health, which I already knew from
my own experience, but it confirms my feeling to see the same thing clearly in
other people, no doubt about that. Rabelais, the French monk-cum-doctor,
understood this principle 500 years ago. In tonight’s programme the nursing
home residents sometimes forgot to take their walking-sticks along with them,
for example, because they were so excited at playing with the charming little
children who visited them.
The elderly residents of the nursing
home get excited
sometimes for the first time in years over
mixing with charming little children
It's a fact that nobody thinks the time will come when he
or she will get old, and nobody tells you how best to manage old age, so that's
why every person has to find out for himself how to do it. I know that you have
to leave space in life for excitement as far as you can – and that's my motto,
but it's not always that easy, because life is like that - yikes !!!! It's far
easier for introverted people to stay interested in life if they have the web.
But at the same time they must resist the temptation to live a sedentary life -
that's something I know for sure !!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz !!!!
05:00 I get up early, but I've got too much of a cold to
do one of my routine Danish vocabulary tests - oh dear!
I take a little look online. I see that Alison, our
daughter in Copenhagen last night finally came home, with her family, after 4
weeks of vacation in England and Holland. She says it rained heavily all the
way from their summerhouse in Holland to Copenhagen. Wow, what shocking weather!
08:15 I hop back into bed with Lois and we drink our
morning tea. We get up and have breakfast.
12:30 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a
gigantic afternoon nap - zzzzz !!!
15:00 I get up and take a little look at the internet.
Steve, my American brother in law, has sent me a funny Matt cartoon: two women
are chatting. One woman is saying she is on the Brexit diet: she fasts on the
days the Labour Party backs Brexit, and eats normally on the days when they
oppose it.
Very amusing, but the Mac cartoon reminds me of one of
Morten Ingemann's latest comic strips. The Dane Ingemann is my all time favourite
cartoonist - no doubt about that! He is very interested in ugly, overweight,
middle aged or older people, the kind of people rarely given attention by most
cartoonists.
In the Ingemann comic strip, two old men are chatting.
One of the men is saying he has found the perfect way to slim: he simply does
not eat while his wife is talking. And unfortunately, I do not know enough
about the Labour Party's problems to judge whether Mac's wife or Ingemann's old
man will reach their target weight first!
I start speculating whether these dieting jokes are maybe
a fashionable new category of jokes, which I have somehow missed out on. I
suppose someone in the past was the first to think of a knock-knock joke, for example. Nobody is absolutely sure, but
knock-knock jokes are very old - maybe from the Middle Ages or Shakespeare's
time.
One thing is certain - I continue to be deeply out of
date and I do not know how to save myself and get out of the hole I've dug
myself into. This is a cry for help by the way, to speak plainly !!!!
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