Lois og jeg går pludselig i panik, fordi vi har inviteret Susan, min kusine
fra Colorado USA, til middag på onsdag, sammen med sin bror John og Johns kone,
Chris, der bor i Witney i grevskabet Oxford. Sidste gang vi mødtes med dem var
september 2016.
Lois har planlagt kalkun roulader med hjemmedyrkede grøntsager til
hovedretten, men hun har også besluttet at købe dauphinoise kartofler som
færdigret hos CookShop for at spare os
for en masse madlavning. Hun har planlagt gedeost tarteletter til forretten, og
passionsfrugt ingefær trifli til desserten – nam nam!
tilbageblik til september 2016: vi mødtes med Susan, min kusine
fra
Colorado, også John, Susans bror, og Chris, Johns kone.
Lois
står til højre.
09:30 Vi kører over til det lokale Sainsburys-supermarked for at købe ind
efter sidste uges ferie væk i grevskabet Devon, også i særdeleshed for at købe
kalkunen til onsdags middag. Derefter kører vi videre til Leckhampton for at
købe dauphinoise kartofler hos CookShop, men desværre finder vi ud af, at de kun
sælger store familieportioner af dauphinoise kartofler julen og nytåret over.
Pokkers! For at berolige Lois ha ha ha, lover jeg at skrælle og skære
kartoflerne i små stykker – jeg er alt hjerte ha ha ha.
Susan var meget tætte venner med min afdøde søster Kathy, som børn. De var
i en lignende alder, og begge to ganske egensindige og de havde hyppige opgør
med forældrene – det kan jeg huske meget tydeligt. Tværtimod var John (Susans
bror) og jeg (Kathys bror) pæne små drenge, der altid gjorde hvad vi blev fortalt.
Tilbageblik til 1968: min kusine Susan (på ca 21 år) i mine forældres hus i Oxford,
lidt før, hun flyttede til USA
lidt før, hun flyttede til USA
I dag er Lois’s sidste halvdag i shoppen, der skal lukkes i weekenden efter
2 måneder. Næste uge skal shoppens skranker,
udstillinger, bøger, pjecer osv fjernes, fordi en polsk delikatesse har aftalt med
shoppens ejer at overtage lokalet og betale en markedsleje. Kirken har lejet
lokalet på halvpris.
16:45 Jeg skynder
mig ind i køkkenet for at tænde for ovnen og varme op aftenens ret: hyrde tærte
– nam nam!
17:30 Lois kommer
hjem og vi spiser aftensmad. Hun fortæller mig lidt om sin eftermiddag i pop-up
shoppen. Manden, der ”kender bibelen som sin egen bukselomme” (ifølge Lois)
dukkede op igen. Han er fundamentalisk kristen, men er uenig med Lois’s kirke
i, at han synes, kristne folk skal også overholde Moses lov, med andre ord, den
hele jødiske smøre derudover – du
godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!
Denne mand tager tilsyneladende tabletter for milde
skizofrene symptomer. Har han både et kristent sind og et jødisk sind måske?
Og præcis hvad er
denne forbindelse mellem religion og psykiske problemer? Selvfølgelig er de
fleste af shoppens ”kunder” fuldstændigt normale, gudskelov, eller sådan
forstår jeg det i hvert fald. Heldigvis var det ganske stille i shoppen i dag,
med få ”kunder”.
Jeg er meget glad for, at projektet er ved at ophøre. Det har været en
meget lang to måneder. Jeg har skullet køre Lois derover mange gange og hente
hende efter. Stakkels mig !!!!!
20:00 Vi bruger aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser det første afsnit af den anden sæson
af ”Upstart Crow” (Opkomling krage), en sitcom, der handler om den unge Will
Shakespeare og hans omgangskreds. Sitcommens forfatter, Ben Elton,
specialiserer sig om historisk komedier, for eksempel Blackadder-sagaen.
Lois og jeg glæder os meget til at se dette første afsnit. Vi gik glip af
den første sæson, fordi vi var i Australien på besøg hos Sarah, vores yngste
datter, og hendes familie.
Programmet er ganske morsomt, med dialog på parodisk elisabetansk engelsk, et
parodisk shakespearesk plot, og en masse historiske og kulturelle henvisninger
kun egnede til uddannede mennesker, der er en forfriskende forandring ha ha ha.
”Opkomling krage”, en ganske morsom sitcom
på
parodisk elisabetansk engelsk
Sitcommen har mange morsomme egenskaber, for eksempel min
yndlingskomedieskuespiller, Mark Heap, der spiller Robert Greene, en af den
kongelige hofs embedsmænd, og som taler en masse morsomme parodiske shakespeareske
afsides replikker til kameraerne.
Mark Heap, min yndlingskomedieskuespiller, taler en masse morsomme
parodiske
shakespeareske afsides replikker til kameraerne
Plottet handler om en tilsyneladende marokkansk prins, Otello, der besøger
Shakespeares og Marlowes omgangskreds. Kate, datteren af Shakespeares udlejer,
falder for Otello med det samme og begynder at have liderlige tanker om ham. Hun
kalder ham for ”Hotello” eller ”Hottie”. Det er en løbende joke i disse
historiske sitcoms, at mændende ikke anerkender, at kvinder har liderlige
tanker eller sjofle tankegange – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!
Kate indrømmer til Will, at hun
finder
Otello ekstremt ”hot”
Til sidst bliver Otello afsløret som bedrager – han er kun en sort
indvandrer, der kommer fra byen Bristol. Det er lidt af en skam efter min
mening, at forfatteren har valgt Bristol som Otellos hjemsted. Navnet Bristol
er overhovedet ikke morsomt – for eksempel Stockton-on-Tees ville have været meget
morsommere.
Jeg ved, at sitcomforfattere bruger en masse tid på at beslutte hvilke
navne osv er morsomme og hvilke ikke er. Douglas Adams i sin komedie ”Blafferens
guide til galaksen” besluttede til sidst, at 42 ville være et morsomt svar til det
ultimative spørgsmål om ”livet, universet og alt det der”. Du godeste, sikke en
skør verden vi lever i !!!!
22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzz!!!!!
English translation
Lois and I suddenly panic because
we have invited Susan, my cousin from Colorado USA, to dinner on Wednesday,
along with her brother John and John's wife, Chris, who live in Witney in the
county of Oxford.
Lois has planned turkey roulades with home-grown vegetables for
the main course, but has also decided to buy ready portions of dauphinoise
potatoes at CookShop to save us a lot of food preparation. She has planned goat
cheese tartlets for starters, and passion fruit ginger trifle for dessert - yum
yum!
Flashback to September 2016: We
met up with Susan, my cousin
from Colorado, also with John, Susan's
brother, and Chris, John's wife.
Lois is on the right.
09:30 We drive over to the local
Sainsburys supermarket to do the shopping after last week's vacation away in
the county of Devon, and especially in order to buy the turkey for Wednesday's
dinner. After that, we drive on to Leckhampton to buy dauphinoise potatoes at
CookShop, but unfortunately we find that they only sell family-size portions of
dauphinoise potatoes for Christmas and New Year. Damn! To calm Lois ha ha ha, I
promise to peel and cut the potatoes into small pieces - I'm all heart ha ha
ha.
Susan was very close friends with
my late sister Kathy, as children. They were of a similar age, and both were
quite headstrong and they had a frequent showdowns with their parents - I can
remember that very clearly. Contrariwise, John (Susan's brother) and I (Kathy’s
brother) were good little boys who
always did what we were told.
Flashback to 1968: my cousin Susan (21?) at my parents' house in Oxford,
shortly before she moved to the USA
shortly before she moved to the USA
12:00 We have lunch and
afterwards Lois has to go out. She has agreed to help with manning her church's
pop-up shop in the centre of Tewkesbury this afternoon. Fortunately, her “co-volunteer”
Gillian is able to drive her over there, so as a result, I can go to bed and
take a gigantic afternoon nap.
Today is Lois's last half-day in
the shop, which has to close this weekend after 2 months. Next week, the shop's
counters, exhibitions, books, pamphlets, etc. have to be removed because a
Polish delicatessen has agreed with the shop’s owner to take over the premises
and pay a market rent. The church has been renting the premises at half price.
16:45 I hurry into the kitchen to
turn on the oven and warm up the evening's dish: shepherd's pie - yum yum!
17:30 Lois comes home and we have
dinner. She tells me a little about her afternoon in the pop-up shop. The man
who "knows the Bible like the back of his hand" (according to Lois)
showed up again. He is a fundamentalist Christian, but disagrees with Lois's
church in that he believes Christian people must also obey the law of Moses, in
other words all the Jewish stuff as well - good grief, what madness !!!!
This man apparently takes tablets
for mild schizophrenic symptoms. Has he got both a Christian mind and a Jewish mind perhaps?
And exactly what is this connection between religion
and psychological problems? Of course, most of the "customers" of the
shop are completely normal, thank goodness, or so I understand at least.
Fortunately, it was quite quiet in the shop today, with few
"customers".
I am very glad that the project
is about to end. It has been a very long two months, and I have had to drive
Lois over there several times and pick her up afterwards. Poor me!!!!!
20:00 We spend the evening
watching television. The first episode of the second season of "Upstart
Crow" is on, a sitcom all about the young Will Shakespeare and his circle
of friends. The sitcom's author, Ben Elton, specializes in historical comedies,
such as the Blackadder saga.
Lois and I are very much looking
forward to seeing this first episode. We missed the first season because we
were in Australia visiting Sarah, our youngest daughter, and her family.
The programme is quite amusing,
with dialogue in cod Elizabethan English, a cod shakespearean plot, and a lot
of historical and cultural references only suitable for educated people, which
is a refreshing change ha ha ha.
“Upstart Crow” - quite a
funny sitcom in cod Elizabethan English
The sitcom has many amusing
features, e.g. my favorite comedy actor Mark Heap as Robert Greene, one of the
royal court officials, who speaks a lot of amusing cod shakespearean asides to
the cameras.
Mark Heap, my favourite comedy
actor, speaks a lot of amusing
cod shakespearean asides to the cameras
The plot is about an apparent
Moroccan prince, Otello, who visits Shakespeare's and Marlowe's social circle.
Kate, the daughter of Shakespeare's landlord, immediately falls for Otello and
begins to have lustful thoughts about him. She calls him "Hotello" or
"Hottie". It is a running joke in these historical sitcoms that men
do not acknowledge that women have lustful thoughts or drty minds - good grief,
what madness !!!
Kate admits to Will that she
finds Otello extremely "hot"
In the end Otello is revealed as
a fraudster - he is just a black immigrant from Bristol. It is a bit of
shame in my opinion that the author has chosen Bristol as Otello's hometown.
The name Bristol is just not funny at all - for example, Stockton-on-Tees would
have been much funnier.
I know that sitcom authors spend
a lot of time deciding which names etc are funny and which are not. Douglas
Adams in his comedy "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" eventually
decided that 42 would be a funny answer to the ultimate question of "life,
the universe and everything". My god, what a crazy world we live in!!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz
!!!!!
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