Lois og jeg
vågner tidligt op. Denne er vores anden dag uden centralvarme: vi trænger til
at gå i bad, så vi tænder for vandvarmeren, men brusevandet begynder at køle
lidt af mod slutningen – pokkers!
Vi håber på,
at vores blikkenslager, Jeff, vil ringe os senere på dag for at fortælle os,
han har haft fat i et nyt kontrolsystem til vores centralvarmekedlen, der er
gået i stykker.
Men inderst
inde har jeg på fornemmelsen, at dette kommer til at være vores første jul uden
centralvarme siden vi giftede os i 1972. Brrrrrrr!!!!!
Heldigvis
siger vejrpigen, at julevejret vil være forholdsvis mildt, og temperaturer kan
nå 50 grader (F) / 10 (C) eller deromkring julen og nytåret over.
09:00 Jeg
smutter ind i køkkenet. Jeg sætter vores elektriske kedel til og tænder den. Vi
varmer os op med en kop te i sofaen.
Jeg irriterer
Lois ved at fortælle hende om historien af det engelske ord ”kettle”, der er
meget gammelt. Der er en lignende ord i det danske sprog, ”kedel”.
Alle de
germaniske sprog adopterede faktisk dette ord for ca. 2500 år siden, da de stadig
boede i skovene: dvs da de først kom i kontakt med de romerske samfund og
civilisation, og de for første gang blev imponeret af alle de moderne luksusartikler,
som romerne havde, og de germaniske folk
ikke havde: en
af disse ”luksusartikler” var en kedel (”catillus” på latinsk), som de kunne
bruge til at koge vand osv.
Der er kun en
håndfuld af ord, som de germaniske folk lånede af romerne på dette meget meget tidlige
tidspunkt, og for det meste handler de alle om handel. For eksempel, to af de meget
gamle engelske ord, der stammer fra latinske ord i denne meget tidlige periode
er ”pound” (vægten) og ”cheap”. Selv dengang var vores forfædre først og
fremmest interesserede i at få ting billigt, lader det til. Du godeste, sikke
et vanvid!!!!
en
typisk romersk kedel
De angelsakserne
kaldte den luksusartikel en ”chettle”,
men da vikingerne og de danske indvandringere ankom i de 9. og 10. århundreder
og bosatte sig i det østlige England, begyndte den danske udtalen ”kettle” at
synes mere trendy og federe, så det snart blev normen.
Nu er denne her fremlæggelse slut!! Tak fordi du
lyttede, Lois. (eller ikke lyttede: det er juryen stadig ude om ha ha
ha!). Jeg er for god for denne verden, ingen tvivl om det ha ha ha!!!!
10:00 Efter
morgenmad træder jeg ind i spisestuen og sætter jeg mig foran computeren. Jeg tænder
en af vores to elektriske varmeblæsere. Jeg kigger lidt på nettet, og jeg får lidt af en chok, det må jeg indrømme.
Briterne er tilsyneladende
mere besat med jul end alle andre lande i verden – du godeste, sikke et
vanvid!!!! Og på trods af, at der var her, at den fiktive figur Ebenezer
Scrooge blev opfundet, dvs den, der plejede at spotte jul med sit ”bah humbug” slagord.
Ifølge en ny Google-undersøgelse gør folk in Storbritannien flere søgninger om jul
end andre steder i verden.
I de seneste
fire år har Storbritannien vist den højeste interesse i julemner, og har
overhalet Irland, som var i top i 2012 og 2013. Og i november og december hvert
år siden 2010 er britisk interesse i julesøgninger steget. Du godeste, sikke et
vanvid !!!!
Populære
britiske Google-søgninger inkluderer mincepie-opskrifter og de perfekte
træornamenter for eksempel.
Jeg mindes, at
der for næsten præcis 1 år siden var en bølge sympati i landet efter et
amerikansk juletræ ramte overskrifterne og dominerede min blog i flere dage. Det
blev på det tidspunkt eller deromkring afsløret (rapport december 2016, kilde –
Onion News), at træets ejere havde dømt en brudt træornament til en ensom
eksistens på den side af træet, det står overfor væggen.
tilbageblik til december 2016 – et amerikansk juletræ
rammer
overskrifterne for alle de forkerte grunde
Vi briter er nu
og da ligeglade med andre mennesker, men vi har en svaghed for kæledyr og træornamenter:
dette er vores unike gave til verden, uden tvivl om det. Det er sgu en underlig
verden vi lever i!!!!!
15:00 Kl 15 kører
vi den 17-årige Minx, Alisons kat, over til dyrelægeklinikken ved indgangen til
den lokale væddeløbsbane, for at få hendes kløer klippet igen. Alison efterlod
Minx hos os, da hendes lille familie flyttede for 5 år siden til Danmark.
Minx’ kløer
vokser rigtig hurtigt og har tendens til at blive viklet ind i Lois’s sweatere
eller kjoler, når hun sætter sig på Lois’s skød.
En pæn irsk
pige, der ser ca. 12 år gammel, tager Minx med ind i et bagrum og klipper
hendes kløer. Hun siger, vi må hellere få Minx’ klør klippet en gang om
måneden, men det koster 16£, så 12 månedlige sessioner ville koste næsten 200£
om året – sikke et vanvid!!!!
Mens
den irske pige klipper Minx’ kløer, sidder Lois og jeg,
omgivede
af kæmpeposer Royal Canin tørfoder,
i
dyrelægeklinikkens ventesal og læser klinikkens aviserne.
På avisens venstre side, ser vi en reklame for en elektriske kedel,
hvilket beviser, at dette gamle romerske ord er levende og godt.
Det ville romerne have været meget glade for at se, ingen tvivl om det.
16:00 Vi
kommer hjem, men Jeff, vores blikkenslager har ikke ringet til os. Dårlige
udsigter for en hyggelig jul – pokkers (igen) !!!!
18:00 Vi spiser
aftensmad, og snakker lidt på Skype med Alison,
vores datter i København, og Ed, hendes mand. Det er rart at se familiens
juletræ og juledekorationer i baggrunden. Ed er stadig uklar over, hvor sit
næste job vil være – det kunne være hvor som helst i verden. Sit nuværende
stilling ophører ved slutningen af marts.
Før jul har familien planer
om at holde en kort ferie (2-3 nætter) i Båstad, en lille svenske badeby, der
ligger 70 miles nord for Malmø.
Alison,
vores datter i København, planlægger
at tilbringe 2-3
dage i Båstad, en lille svenske badeby, lidt nord for Malmø
21:00 Lois og
jeg ser lidt fjernsyn De viser en dokumentarfilm (3. del af 3), der handler om
alle de folk, der over årtusinderne har invaderet de britiske øer. Programmets
vært er den charmerende Sam Willis.
Desværre er
Lois og jeg lidt søvnige og vi sidder og glider ind og ud af søvnen under
programmet. Men programmet starter med at vise os en rekonstruktion af den sidste
nogensinde invasion af fremmede soldater, der foregik i 1797 under krigen mod
de revolutionariske franske regering i Paris.
Franske skibe,
der førte en amerikansk oberst, William Tate, og 1.500 franske soldater, ankom i
februar 1797 til kysten af det walesiske grevskab Pembrokeshire, 3 miles nord
for byen Fishguard. Det oprindelige mål var Bristol, men skibene desværre blev
ramt af stormigt vejr og landede i Pembrokeshire i stedet for.
Tate var en
god kommandør, men han blev tvunget at overgive sig efter et par dage, da han
så den lav kvalitet af soldaterne, som den franske regering havde givet ham: de
var for det meste undslippede fanger og desertere.
Unødvendigt at
sige, men grevskabets landeværn, der boede og arbejde hundredvis af miles væk
fra den engelske kanal, forventede ikke
en invasion af 1.500 franskmænd: de havde i hvert fald kun 200 mænd og 3 runder
ammunition, hvoraf den første viste sig blank. Ifølge den lokale tradition var
det byens kvinder der spillede hovedrollen i at besejre franskmændene. Deres
mænd var for det meste fiskere, ofte væk hjemmefra, og kvinderne var blevet
vænnet til at styre ting i mændenes fravær. De invaderende soldater var sultne
og vandrede i små grupper over markene på jagt efter mad, og der var mange
borgerlige anholdelser, for det meste involverende lokale kvinder bevæbnede med
forke. Du godeste, sikke et skør verden vi lever i !!!!
den lokale pub, hvor en ”fredtraktat” blev underskrevet
mellem
Tate og franskmændene på den ene side, og de lokale kvinder
og
landeværnet på den anden. Du godeste – sikke et vanvid!!!!
i 1997 fejrede de lokale kvinder invasionens 200-års jubilæum
ved
at fremstille en lang vægtæppe, der skildre triumfen af deres ”formødre”
Det stemmer
overens med min egen oplevelse, at walesiske kvinder er utroligt formidable.
Min mor var født i Bridgend i det sydlige Wales, og hun havde 2 brødre og 6
søstre, og det var søstrene, der styrede familien, gaden og sandsynligivis også
landsbyen: hendes storsøster Kate var kendt lokalt, som ”Landbetjent Evans”.
22:00 Vi går i
seng – zzzzzzz!!!!
English translation
Lois and I wake up early. This is our second day without
central heating: we need to go in the shower, so we turn on the immersion
heater, but the shower water starts to cool down a bit towards the end - damn
it!
We are hoping that our plumber, Jeff, will call us later in the day to tell us he
has got hold of a new control system for our central heating boiler, which has
broken.
But deep down I have a feeling that this is going to be
our first Christmas without central heating since we got married in 1972.
Brrrrrrr !!!!!
Fortunately, the weather girl says the Christmas weather
will be relatively mild, and temperatures may reach 50 degrees (F) / 10 (C) or
so over Christmas and New Year.
09:00 I pop into the kitchen. I plug our electric kettle
in and turn it on. We warm ourselves up with a cup of tea on the couch.
I annoy Lois a bit by telling her about the history of
the English word "kettle", which is a very old word. There is a similar word
in the Danish language, "kedel".
All the Germanic languages actually adopted this word
about 2500 years ago when they were still living in the forests, ie when they
first came into contact with Roman society and civilization, and for the first
time they were impressed by all the modern luxury items that the Romans had, and which the Germanic peoples did not have: one of these "luxury items" was a
kettle ("catillus" in Latin) which they could use to boil water, etc.
There are only a handful of words that the Germanic
peoples borrowed from the Romans at this very very early moment in time, and
mostly they are all connected with trade. For example, two of the very old
English words that originate from Latin words in this very early period are
"pound" (the weight) and "cheap". Even back then, our ancestors
were primarily interested in getting things on the cheap, it seems.
The Anglo-Saxons called this luxury item a
"chettle", but when the Vikings and Danish immigrants arrived in the
9th and 10th centuries and settled in eastern England, the Danish pronunciation
"kettle" began to seem more trendy and cool so it soon became the
norm.
Now this presentation is over !! Thank you for listening,
Lois (or not listening: the jury is still out on that one ha ha ha!). I'm too
good for this world, no doubt about that ha ha ha !!!!
10:00 After breakfast, I step into the dining room and
sit down in front of the computer. I switch on one of our two electric
blow-heaters. I take a little look online, and I get a shock, I have to admit.
The British are apparently more obsessed with Christmas
than any other country in the world - my god, what madness !!!! And this is in
spite of the fact that it was here that the fictional character Ebenezer
Scrooge was invented, that is, the one who used to scoff at Christmas with his
"bah humbug" slogan. According to a new Google survey, people in
Britain make more Christmas-related searches than anywhere else in the world.
For the past four years, Britain has shown the highest
interest in Christmas topics and has surpassed Ireland, which was top in 2012
and 2013. And in November and December every year since 2010 British interest
in Christmas searches has risen.
Popular UK Google searches include mince-pie recipes and
the perfect tree ornaments for example.
I remember that almost exactly 1 year ago there was a
wave of sympathy in our country, after an American Christmas tree hit the
headlines and dominated my blog for several days. At that time or thereabouts it was
revealed (report December 2016, source - Onion News) that the tree's owners had sentenced a broken tree ornament to a lonely existence on the side of
the tree facing the wall.
flashback to December 2016 -
an American Christmas tree
hits the headlines for all the wrong
reasons!
We Brits may now and then seem indifferent to other people,
but we do have a weakness for pets and tree ornaments: this is our unique gift to
the world, without a doubt.
15:00 At 3pm we drive the 17-year-old Minx, Alison's cat,
to the animal clinic at the entrance to the local racecourse to get her claws
clipped again. Alison left Minx with us when her little family moved to Denmark
5 years ago.
Minx's claws grow very quickly and tend to get caught in
Lois's sweaters or dresses when she sits on Lois's lap.
A nice Irish girl who looks about 12 takes Minx into a
back room and clips her claws. She says we ought to get Minx's claws clipped
once a month, but it costs £16, so 12 monthly sessions would cost almost £200 a
year - what madness !!!!
While the Irish girl is cutting Minx's
claws, Lois and I sit,
surrounded by huge bags of Royal Canin dry
cat food,
in the dental clinic's waiting room and read
the clinic's newspapers.
On the paper's left hand page we see an advert for an electric kettle,
proving that this old Roman word is alive and well
The Romans would be pleased!!!
16:00 We come home, but Jeff, our plumber has not called
us. Not good prospects for a cosy Christmas - damn (again) !!!!
18:00 We have dinner and talk a little on Skype with
Alison, our daughter in Copenhagen, and with Ed her husband. It is nice to see
the family Christmas tree and Christmas decorations in the background. Ed is
still unclear where his next job will be - it could be anywhere in the world.
His current position will finish at the end of March.
Before Christmas, the family plans to take a short break
(2-3 nights) in Båstad, a small Swedish seaside resort 70 miles north of Malmö.
Alison, our daughter in
Copenhagen, is planning
to spend 2-3 days in Båstad, a small Swedish
seaside resort, just north of Malmö
21:00 Lois and I watch a bit of TV. A documentary is on
(3rd part of 3) dealing with all the peoples who have invaded the British Isles
over the millennia. The host of the program is the charming Sam Willis.
Unfortunately, Lois and I are a bit sleepy and we sit and
drift in and out of sleep during the program. But it starts by showing us a
reconstruction of the last ever invasion by foreign soldiers that took place in
1797 during the war against the revolutionary French government in Paris.
French ships carrying a US colonel, William Tate, and
1,500 French soldiers arrived in February 1797 on the coast of the Welsh county
of Pembrokeshire, 3 miles north of the town of Fishguard. The original goal was
Bristol, but unfortunately the ships were hit by stormy weather and landed in
Pembrokeshire instead.
Tate was a good commander, but he was forced to surrender
after a few days when he saw the low quality of the soldiers that the French
government had given him: they were mostly escaped prisoners and deserters.
Needless to say, the county militia, who lived and worked
hundreds of miles away from the English Channel, were not expecting an invasion
of 1,500 Frenchmen: they in any case had only 200 men and 3 rounds of
ammunition, the first of which turned out to be blank.
According to local
tradition, it was in any case the town's women who took the lead in defeating the French. Their menfolk were mostly fishermen, often away from home, and the women had become
accustomed to running things in the men's absence.
The invading soldiers
were hungry and wandered about in small groups across the fields in search of
food, and there were many citizen's arrests, mostly carried out by local women armed
with pitchforks. My goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!!
the local pub where a "peace
treaty" was signed
between Tate and the French on the one hand,
and the local women
and the county militia on the other.
in 1997 the local women celebrated the
invasion's 200th anniversary
by making a long tapestry depicting their
foremothers' triumph
It tallies with my own experience that Welsh women are
incredibly formidable. My mother was born in Bridgend in south Wales, and she
had 2 brothers and 6 sisters, and it was the sisters who ruled the family, the
street, and probably the village: her big sister Kate was known locally as
"Constable Evans."
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz !!!!
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