Danskcolin: Onsdag den 1. november 2017

04:00 Jeg står tidligt op og kigger lidt på nettet. Jeg ser, at Ed, vores svigersøn i København har lagt en charmerende billede op på Facebook. Det er for nøjagtig 5 år siden, at familien flyttede fra England til Danmark. Hvor så børnene små ud, da de blev læsset ind i bilen!

Tilbageblik til den 31 oktober 2012,

dagen, Ali og Ed og deres 3 børn forlod England for at

flytte til København: Josie (6), Rosalind (4), og Isaac (2).

Hvor så børnene dog små ud – du godeste!!!

Tilbageblik til den 25 oktober 2012. Jeg tog dette billede

dagen, Josie og Rosalind for sidste gang gik i deres engelske skole.

Lykkelige tider!!!!!

Lykkelige dage! Jeg havde dengang (2012) tre søskende, men to af dem er desværre nu døde. Livet er skrøbeligt, men vi lever fra dag til dag som om det er det ikke – yikes !!

08:00 Jeg hopper tilbage op i sengen til Lois.

09:00 Vi går i bad og står op. Vi spiser morgenmad, og bagefter går jeg ud i baghaven for at klippe den hæk, der ligger ved siden af gangen i bunden af haven, der begynder at blive lidt ufarbar.

11:00 Jeg kommer tilbage ind i huset og sætter mig foran computeren. Vores U3A danske gruppe holder dens næste møde i morgen eftermiddag, så derfor giver jeg mig til udarbejde en ordforrådtest, jeg vil have dem til at forsøge sig med. De rigtige svar staver sætningen, ”en smuk ting er en evig glæde”, en dansk oversættelse af en velbekendt linje af John Keats, den engelske digter.

Dette citat er lidt kedeligt – det var okay, da Keats første fandt på den, men det er blevet til en slags kliché – det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl om. Men jeg kan være helt sikker på, at alle vores gruppes medlemmer vil forstå det. Og det betyder, mindre gene for mig – hurra! Ikke at jeg er doven eller noget ha ha ha.

I øvrigt er de rigtige svar på vores danske gruppes nye ordforrådtest tophemmelige indtil i morgen (fredag) kl 15, unødvendigt at sige ha ha ha!!!

Jeg håber på, at stemningen på morgendagens møde ikke er anspændt. Alle medlemmerne ved nu (fordi jeg advarede dem), at vi har en sex-scene forude (på sider 108-109 i Kindle-versionen) i den danske kriminovelle, som gruppen har valgt som sin nuværende projekt. Sexscenen udspiller sig i sengen af novellens helt, Per Jansson, landbetjent i en normalt stille og rolig dansk landsby, hvor en vanvittig massemorder er på fri fod i området.

Landbetjenten Jansson bliver overtalt af sin kone, Vivi, til at blive liggende lidt længere i sengen og give hende ”en omgang til” (han havde allerede nogle timer tidligere ordnede hende) - selvom han netop har fået et telefonopkald fra sin chef, bedende ham om at møde ind, fordi endnu 2 døde kroppe var blevet fundet, en mand og hans kusine.

Lois og jeg mener, at der er lidt for meget information i denne sexscene, herunder nogle fysiske tegn på parrets ophidselse, som vi hellere ville være gået glip af – du godeste, sikke et vanvid! Vi forstår ikke, hvorfor forfatteren gik i sådanne detaljer – er det vigtigt for plottet? Det er måske betydningsfuldt at de to døde kroppe blev fundet i samme stilling som Jansson og sin kone: de var i færd med et samleje med kusinen øverst, da de blev stukket ihjel. Yikes – uhyggeligt!!!

12:00 Vi spiser frokost: den borsjtj, som Lois lavede i går – nam nam! Bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage mig en gigantisk eftermiddagslur.

Margarite Pattens opskrift på borsjtj

15:00 Vi kører over til Wyevale-havecentret, den tidligere Blooms-havecentret. Vi køber nogle kodrivere og violer og bagefter smutter vi ind til butikkens café for at drikke en kop te og spiser et stykke kage. Vi har en noget svag start på vores spritnye slankekur – ingen tvivl om det!!!!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og ser lidt fjernsyn. De viser det seneste afsnit af ”Grand Designs”. Programmets vært er den charmerende Kevin McCloud.

GrandDesignsListing

”Grand Designs” er programmet jeg først og fremmest elsker at hade fordi jeg hader disse enorme grimme moderne huse med deres enorme ekkoende stuer, enorme hvide vægge og ukomfortable sofaer, og jeg er fristet til at hade også de par, der er så friske på at få disse slags huse bygget. Du godeste! Jeg er sikke et pivehoved – ingen tvivl om det!!!!

I aften er afsnittet lidt anderledes, end det normale. Manden er fuldstændigt besat af at bygge familiens nye hus ude på landet i grevskabet Herefordshire, og det tager ham en helvedes tid at gøre det (10 år, og stadig ikke 100% færdigt). Det hele virker meget meget egoistisk. Men af en eller anden grund generer det ikke hans kone eller hans 3 døtre, der var ganske små, da han begyndte på projektet.

Jeg kan godt lide udseendet af huset, der minder mig om et hus i et eventyr, selvom jeg hellere ville have set flere små vinduer i stedet for det store. Smukke udsigter er fine nok, men man bliver snart træt af samme udsigten, og til sidst bemærker man den ikke. Man kan ikke leve af smukke udsigter.

Jeg kan godt lide udseendet af huset,

der minder mig om et hus i et eventyr

et typisk hus i et eventyr

jeg ville hellere have set flere små vinduer i stedet for det ene store.

Man kan ikke for eftertiden leve af smukke udsigter!!!

Jeg kan imidlertid ikke forstå, hvorfor manden, som så mange mennesker i dag, har lyst til at have en massiv stue med bare 2-3 ukomfortable sofaer her or der, og uden gulvtæppe, så akoustikken er elendig. Hvorfor???? Denne familien er ikke typen at holde massive middagsselskaber – de er alle 5 stærkt introverte. Sikke et vanvid!!!!

stuen er langt for stort og der er en massiv mangel på hygge.

Sikke et vanvid !!!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng. Jeg læser 10 sider af min sengetidbog, før jeg glider over i søvnen – zzzzzz!!!!!

English translation

04:00 I get up early and take a little look online. I see that Ed, our son-in-law in Copenhagen, has put a charming picture up on Facebook. It is exactly 5 years since the family moved from England to Denmark. How little the children looked when they were loaded into the car!

Flashback to Oct 31, 2012,the day, Ali and Ed

and their 3 children left England to

move to Copenhagen: Josie (6), Rosalind (4), and Isaac (2).

How little the children look - my god !!!

Flashback to October 25, 2012. I took this picture

the day Josie and Rosalind went to their English school for the last time.

Happy days!!!!!

Happy days! At that time, I had three siblings (2012), but sadly two of them are now dead. Life is fragile, but we live from day to day as if it isn't - yikes !!

08:00 I hop back into bed with Lois.

09:00 We go in the shower and get up. We have breakfast and afterwards I go out into the backyard to cut the hedge that runs along the path at the bottom of the garden, which is starting to become a bit impassable.

11:00 I come back in the house and sit down in front of the computer. Our U3A Danish group is holding its next meeting tomorrow afternoon, so I get started with preparing a vocabulary test I want them to try. The correct answers spell out the phrase, "en smuk ting er en evig glæde", a Danish translation of a well-known line of John Keats, the English poet (a thing of beauty is a joy for ever).

This quote is a bit boring - it was okay when Keats first thought of it, but it has become a kind of a cliché - I have no doubts on that score. But I can be sure that all our group members will understand it. And that means less bother for me - hurrah! Not that I'm lazy or anything ha ha ha.

By the way, the correct answers to our Danish group's new vocabulary test are top secret until tomorrow (Friday) at 3pm, needless to say ha ha ha !!!

I hope that the atmosphere of tomorrow's meeting will not be too tense. All members now know (because I warned them) that we have a sex-scene ahead (on pages 108-109 in the Kindle version) in the Danish crime novella the group has chosen as its current project. The sex scene takes place in the bed of the novella's hero, Per Jansson, who is employed as a constable in a normally quiet and peaceful Danish village where a crazy mass murderer is on the loose.

Constable Jansson is persuaded by his wife, Vivi, to stay a little longer in bed and give her another "go" (he had already seen to her a few hours earlier) - even though he had just received a phone call from his boss, asking him to report for duty because another 2 dead bodies had been found, a man and his cousin.

Lois and I think there is a little too much information in this sex scene, including some of the physical signs of the couple's arousal, which we would rather have missed out on - good grief, what madness! We do not understand why the author went into such detail - is it important for the plot? It may be significant that the two dead bodies were found in the same position as Jansson and his wife: they were having intercourse with the cousin on top when they were stabbed to death. Yikes - spooky !!!

12:00 We have lunch: the borshch that Lois made yesterday - yummy! Afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap.

Margarite Patten’s recipe for borshch

15:00 We drive over to the Wyevale Garden Center, the former Blooms Garden Center. We buy some polyanthus and violets and afterwards we pop into the shop's cafe to have a cup of tea and a piece of cake. A somewhat sluggish start to our shiny new diet - no doubt about that !!!!

18:00 We have dinner and watch a bit of television. The latest episode of "Grand Designs" is on. The host of the program is the charming Kevin McCloud.

"Grand Designs" is the program that I first and foremost love to hate because I detest these huge ugly modern houses with their huge living rooms, huge white walls and uncomfortable sofas, and I'm tempted to hate the couples who are so keen to get these kinds of houses built. My Goodness! I'm such a whinger - no doubt about that !!!!

Tonight the episode is a little different than normal. The man is completely obsessed with building the family's new house out in the country in Herefordshire, and it takes him a hell of time to do it (10 years, and still not 100% finished). It all seems very selfish. But for some reason, this does not bother his wife, or his 3 daughters, who were quite small when he started the project.

I like the look of the house - it reminds me of a house in a fairy tale, though I would rather have seen several little windows instead of the big one. Beautiful views are all very well, but you soon get tired of the same view, and in the end you do not notice it. You cannot live for ever off beautiful views.

I like the look of the house,

It reminds me of a house in a fairy tale

a typical house in a fairy tale

I would rather have seen several small windows instead of the big one.

You cannot live for ever off beautiful views !!!

Nevertheless, I cannot understand why the man, like so many people today, wants to have a massive living room with just 2-3 uncomfortable sofas dotted about here or there, and without a carpet, so the acoustics are lousy. Why???? This family is not the type to hold massive dinner parties - all 5 of them are highly introverted. What madness !!!!