Mandag den 2. oktober 2017

11:00 Jeg blader igennem ugens tv-programmer i det seneste nummer af ”Radio Times”-tidsskriftet. Min yndlingssitcom, Larry Davids ”Curb Your Enthusiasm”, som jeg i ca 6 år ikke har set, vender tilbage  til tv-skærmen i aften (den 9. sæson, efter 6års fravær). En stor overraskelse – jeg havde formodet,  at Larry David endelig havde løbet tør for idéer, og nød en velfortjent pensionering.

Den dårlige nyhed er ikke desto mindre, at de kun viser denne 9. sæson på en betalt kanal:  den såkaldte Sky Atlantic. Pokkers!

Ikke en god start på dagen – ingen tvivl om det! Jeg må gør lidt forskning på nettet, for at finde ud af, om jeg kan se programmet uden at betale for hele Sky-pakken. Grrrrr!!!!!

Det er små pirringsmidler og stemning-killers som dette, der kan ødelægge dagen for en pensionists vedkommende. Det er svært at tro, men jeg har nu været pensionist i 11 år. Tilfældigvis er i dag 45-års jubilæum for dagen, jeg først mødte på arbejde – mandag den 2. oktober 1972. Yikes, tiden flyver når man har det sjovt ha ha ha!!!!

12:00 Jeg må rase ud og lader min negative følelser falde til ro, ved at dyrke lidt motion.

Jeg hopper op på min kondicykel og cykler 9 miles (15km).  Jeg tænder for min smartphone og søger en mindst 30-minutter video jeg kan se på, mens jeg cykler. Jeg finder noget, der handler om den berømte korniske digter, Charles Causley.

Jeg vælger Causley i dag, fordi  jeg i går så en interessant dokumentarfilm om hans liv i fjernsyn, og jeg har spørgsmål, jeg vil få besvaret om denne mand – det ved jeg med sikkerhed!!!!

Jeg finder en analyse af Causleys digt ”Eden Rock”, designet specielt til skoleelever. I digtet forestiller digteren sig at han er ved at dø, ved at krydse over floden til det næste verden. Han skildrer sine forældre på den anden side af floden, ventende på ham. Hans mor har medbragt en picnickurv og har bredet en borddug ud på græsset. 

They are waiting for me somewhere beyond Eden
          Rock:
My father, twenty-five, in the same suit
Of Genuine Irish Tweed, his terrier Jack
Still two years old and trembling at his feet.

My mother, twenty-three, in a sprigged dress
Drawn at the waist, ribbon in her straw hat,
Has spread the stiff white cloth over the grass.
Her hair, the colour of wheat, takes on the light.

She pours tea from a Thermos, the milk straight
From an old H.P. sauce-bottle, a screw
Of paper for a cork; slowly sets out
The same three plates, the tin cups painted blue.

The sky whitens as if lit by three suns.
My mother shades her eyes and looks my way
Over the drifted stream. My father spins
A stone along the water. Leisurely,

They beckon to me from the other bank.
I hear them call, 'See where the stream-path is!
Crossing is not as hard as you might think.'

I had not thought that it would be like this.

Jeg kan godt lide dette digt, men jeg er lidt nysgerrig over, at digterens far er 25 i digtet og hans mor er 23, og jeg vil gerne høre på ekspertenes kommentarer om det.  Desværre ved slutningen af analysen er jeg stadig ikke helt sikker på, hvorfor Causley valgte at skildre sine forældre i den alder.

Jeg formoder, at Causley ville skildre sine forældre på 25 og  23 årige, fordi han havde lykkelige minder om dem i den alder. Også jeg ved, at hans far døde, da lille Charles kun var 8 år, hvilket også må være betydningsfuldt. 

Måske, som Charles er ved at dø, har han lyst til at vende tilbage til sin barndom, da de passede på ham, og han var ikke nødt til at frygte noget.

Digteren Charles Causley skimter sine forældre

på den anden side af ”floden”, som han forbereder sig på at dø og slutte til dem.

De har taget en picnic med, hvilket er heldigt!

Det er et charmerende image af død, ingen tvivl om det, og jeg er helt sikker på, at det beroligede Causley, som han tænkte på sit livs ende.

Jeg opdager, at jeg ikke har noget billede af mine afdøde forældre siddende på græsset, inviterende mig til at dele en picnic med dem. Jeg har et foto taget i 1965 på stranden i Kijkduin, Holland, hvor min mor og min far sidder på dækstole på stranden, og picnicen, herunder den obligatoriske termoflaske te, er desværre stadig i min mors taske. Ikke det samme, men det ligner Causleys billede lidt måske, eller det synes jeg i hvert fald!!

min version af Causleys billede af  hans forældre -

mine forældre på en strand i Kijkduin Holland i 1965.

men den obligatoriske termoflaske te er stadig i min mors taske,

og de sidder på dækstole, mere komfortable end, at sidde på sandet,

hvilket mine forældre aldrig gjorde.

Der er uden tvivl et stort lys skinnende, ligesom i Causleys digt ha ha ha
Var der virkelig "tre sole" i himlen?

Måske ville det bedre, hvis jeg forestiller mig mine forældre som de var på deres bryllupsdag, den 8. marts 1945, da to billeder blev taget af dem i min mormors baghave i Oxford.

Mine forældre på deres bryllupsdag i 1945: de eneste 2 billeder,

der i ca 65 år nogensinde blev taget af dem som par

Jeg har hundredevis (tusendvis?) af familiebilleder, der dækker over 100 års familieliv, men disse 2 billeder (se ovenfor) er de eneste, der kun viser mine forældre og ingen anden, stående sammen som et par. Jeg kan simpelthen ikke forestille mig dem som parret i Causleys digt, vinkende ad mig, at jeg slutter til dem.

Deres forhold var ikke særligt godt – så langt tilbage som jeg kan huske, var der skænderier og ”dårlig stemninger” – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!! De forblev imidlertid sammen, af hævn og ondskabsfuldhed i en vis grad (som Woody Allen sagde om sine egne forældre), indtil der skete en slags skilsmisse efter 52 år, da min mor afviste at pleje ham længere, og han kom på plejehjem.

Causley giftede sig aldrig, så vidt jeg ved. Jeg har bemærket, at folk der ikke gifter sig og folk der ikke får børn, bliver på en underlig måde til fingerspidserne deres forældres børn hele livet, og har meget tættere bånd til deres forældre, end deres gifte søskende har.

Sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad. Lois er stadig meget forkølet. Hun nyser og pudser næsen ikke så meget som før, men hun får voldsomme hosteanfald, hviket får hendes ryggemuskler til at gøre ondt, og hun har forskellige smerter her og der i kroppen, staklen.

Vi bruger aftenen på at se fjernsyn, men jeg føler mig underligt rastløs, af en eller anden grund. Vi holder os trofaste hele aftenen til BBC2-kanalen,  men det nager mig lidt, at jeg ikke kan se min yndlingssitcom, Larry Davids ”Curb Your Enthusiasm”, på den betalte Sky Atlantic-kanal. Jeg overvejer at købe Amazon Prime, men ville det være bedre at vente på dvd-boxsættet? Beslutninger, beslutninger!!!

”Curb Your Enthusiasm” ville have været det bedste slags tv-program at gå i seng efter. Desværre er dokumentumfilmen ”Den menneskelige krop” (2. del af 3) ikke et godt program at gå i seng efter, fordi programmets værter, de trættende hyperaktive Van Tulleken brødre, er ivrige efter at vise os en stribe ubehagelige oplevelser, for at demonstrere kroppens evn til at overvinde dem.

For eksempel, hvordan kroppen klarer oplevelsen af at dykke ned i iskoldt vand, eler at komme i kontakt med eksempelvis giftige slanger og edderkopper, væmmelige insekter, rådden eller væmmelig mad osv. Yuck, eller snarere yuck kvadrat !!!!

De hyperaktive Van Tulleken brødre er ubarmhjertige og de sparer os ikke for noget, når det kommer til de væmmelige detaljer.  Jeg mærker, at jeg har stor lyst til af bede dem om at ”curb their enthusiasm”, dvs at styre deres entusiasme ha ha ha, men jeg formoder, de ikke kan høre mig – dette er ikke et smart-tv ha ha ha (igen)!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzz!!!!!!

English translation

11:00 I browse through the week's television shows in the latest issue of the "Radio Times" magazine. My favourite sitcom, Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, which I have not seen for about 6 years, returns to the TV screen this evening (9th season after 6 years absence).  

A big surprise - I had imagined that Larry David had finally run out of ideas and was enjoying a well-deserved retirement.

The bad news is nevertheless that they are only airing this 9th season on a paid channel: the so-called Sky Atlantic. Damn!

Not a good start to the day, and no mistake! I need to do some research online to find out if I can see the programme without paying for the entire Sky package. Grrrrr !!!!!

It’s little irritants and mood killers like this that can ruin the day for a retired person. It is hard to believe, but I have now been a retiree for 11 years. By the way, today is the 45th anniversary of the day I first reported for work - Monday, October 2, 1972. Yikes, time flies when you're having fun ha ha ha !!!!

12:00 I have to calm down and let my negative feelings settle by doing a little exercise.I jump up on my exercise bike and cycle 9 miles (15km). I turn on my smartphone and search for a minimum 30 minutes of video I can watch while I'm cycling. I find something about the famous Cornish poet Charles Causley.

I choose Causley today because yesterday I saw an interesting documentary on television about his life , and I have questions I want to get answered about this man - I know that for sure.

I find an analysis of Causley's poem "Eden Rock", designed specifically for school students. In the poem, the poet imagines that he is about to die, about to cross over the river to the next world. He depicts his parents on the other side of the river waiting for him. His mother has brought a picnic basket and spread a tablecloth on the grass.

They are waiting for me somewhere beyond Eden
          Rock:
My father, twenty-five, in the same suit
Of Genuine Irish Tweed, his terrier Jack
Still two years old and trembling at his feet.

My mother, twenty-three, in a sprigged dress
Drawn at the waist, ribbon in her straw hat,
Has spread the stiff white cloth over the grass.
Her hair, the colour of wheat, takes on the light.

She pours tea from a Thermos, the milk straight
From an old H.P. sauce-bottle, a screw
Of paper for a cork; slowly sets out
The same three plates, the tin cups painted blue.

The sky whitens as if lit by three suns.
My mother shades her eyes and looks my way
Over the drifted stream. My father spins
A stone along the water. Leisurely,

They beckon to me from the other bank.
I hear them call, 'See where the stream-path is!
Crossing is not as hard as you might think.'

I had not thought that it would be like this.

I like this poem, but I'm a little curious that the poet's father is 25 in the poem and his mother is 23 and I would like to listen to the experts' comments about it. Unfortunately by the end of the analysis, I'm still not sure why Causley chose to depict his parents at that age.

I suppose that Causley wanted to portray his parents as 25 and 23 because he had happy memories of them at that age. I also know that his father died when little Charles was only 8 years, which also has to be significant. Perhaps, as Charles is dying, he wants to return to his childhood, when they looked after him, and he did not have to fear anything.

The poet Charles Causley can dimly make out the sight of his parents

on the other side of the "river" as he prepares to die and join them.

They have brought along a picnic, which is lucky!

It's a charming image of death, no doubt, and I'm quite sure that it calmed Causley, as he contemplated the end of his life.

I find that I have no picture of my deceased parents sitting on the grass, inviting me to share a picnic with them. I have a photo of them taken in 1965 on the beach in Kijkduin, Holland, where my mother and my father are sitting on deckchairs on the beach, and the picnic, including the obligatory thermos flask of tea, is still in my mother's bag. Not the same, but it feels a little bit like Causley's picture maybe,  or at least that’s what I think.

My version of Causley's picture of his parents -

My parents on a beach in Kijkduin Holland in 1965.

but the obligatory thermos flask of tea is still in my mother's bag,

and they are sitting on deck chairs, more comfortable than sitting on the sand,

which my parents never did.

There is certainly a bright light shining, just like in Causley's poem ha ha ha.
Were there really "three suns" in the sky?

Perhaps it would be better if I imagine my parents as they were on their wedding day, March 8, 1945, when two pictures were taken of them in my maternal grandmother's backyard in Oxford.

My parents on their wedding day in 1945. These are the

only two pictures ever taken of them as a couple, over a period of roughly 65 years

I have hundreds (thousands?) of family pictures covering over 100 years of family life, but these 2 pictures (see above) are the only ones that show only my parents and no one else, standing together as a couple. I simply cannot imagine them as the couple in Causley's poem, waving to me to join them.

Their relationship was not specially good - as far back as I can remember, there were quarrels and "bad atmospheres" - good grief, what madness !!!! However, they stayed together, to some extent out of spite (as Woody Allen said about his own parents) until a kind of divorce happened after 52 years when my mother refused to look after him any more and he went into a nursing home.

Causley never got married as far as I know. I have noticed that people who do not get married and people who do not have children remain in a strange way every inch their parents' children their whole lives, and have much closer ties with their parents than their married siblings do.

What a crazy world we live in !!!!!

18:00 We have dinner. Lois still has a bad cold. She is not sneezing and blowing her nose as much as before, but she has severe coughing fits, which make her back muscles hurt and she has various pains here and there throughout the body, the poor thing.

We spend the evening watching television, but I feel strangely restless for some reason. We remain faithful all evening to the BBC2 channel, but it's nagging at me a bit that I cannot see my favourite sitcom, Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm", on the paid Sky Atlantic channel. I think about possibly buying Amazon Prime, but would it be better to wait for the DVD box set? Decisions, decisions !!!

"Curb Your Enthusiasm" would have been the best kind of television programme to go to bed on. Unfortunately, the documentary "The Human Body" (2nd part of 3) is not a good programme to go to bed on because the programme's hosts, the wearisomely hyperactive Van Tulleken brothers, are eager to show us a string of unpleasant experiences in order to demonstrate the body's ability to overcome them.

For example, how the body copes with diving into ice cold water, or coming into contact with, for example, poisonous snakes and spiders, disgusting insects, rotten or disgusting food etc. Yuck, or rather yuck squared !!!!

The hyperactive Van Tulleken brothers are merciless and they do not spare us anything when it comes to the awful details. I feel that I'd like to ask them to “curb their enthusiasm” ha ha ha, but I imagine they cannot hear me - this is not a smart tv ha ha ha (again) !

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzz !!!!!!