09:00 I get going with reading Chapter 2, Chapter 3 and
the first part of Chapter 4 of Njáls saga, an Icelandic saga, written in approx 1280AD. Scilla's U3A Old Icelandic/Norse Group is holding its regular meeting this
afternoon at 2pm and this saga is the group's current project.
The saga's story is set in Rangárvellir in southern
Iceland in approx. the years 950-1015 AD, and this chapter is about 2 brothers,
Höskuldr and Hrut.
Hrut, a shy young man, has with difficulty managed to get
engaged to Unnar, a nice Icelandic girl, and the wedding has been fixed for 2
weeks after midsummer. Then suddenly an unforeseen problem arises - Hrut's
brother Eyvind dies unexpectedly in Norway, and Eyvind has bequeathed all his
worldly goods to Hrut. The problem is that Hrut's enemies in Norway are trying
to steal his legacy.
Hrut, a shy young Icelander,
chooses Unnar
from a bunch of Icelandic girls as his
future wife.
The upshot is that Hrut must sail to Norway to claim his
inheritance, and leave Unnar, his fiancee, in Iceland, postponing the wedding
till later.
It is interesting that Gunnhilda, the Norwegian Queen
Mother, who is a well-known cougar, seems to be very keen to find out about
Hrut's arrival in Norway - why? Does she know for sure that Hrut is
good-looking?
She insists anyway that Hrut spends the winter in her
castle and wastes no time in sending one of her servants down the harbor to
invite him and his companion to come up to her place.
When Hrut arrives at Gunnhilda's castle, the Queen Mother
gets a massive megacrush on him, takes him up to her bedroom, locks the door from the inside, and the rest is
history. Yikes - poor Hrut !!!!
when Hrut arrives in Norway,
he becomes
Queen Gunnhilda's personal "winter
warmer" - poor Hrut !!!!
11:00 I chat a little with Lois about Gunnhilda's
passionate nature. We have never personally been invited to a Queen Mother's
bedroom in Norway, but we recall that we saw some Viking age beds in Norwegian
museums when we spent vacations there in 1970 and 1972. We were surprised at
how short the beds were (only 4 foot long). The museum's volunteer guide,
however, explained that the Vikings used to sleep half-seated, in case an enemy
burst in. Perhaps that's why Gunnhilda locked the bedroom door from the inside
for the two weeks Hrut spent with her, but we're not sure about that. My god,
what a crazy world we live in !!!
12:00 Lois and I have lunch and afterwards I go to bed
and take a short afternoon nap. I get up at 1:30pm and drive into town. I park
the car in the parking lot behind the library and I pay with my smartphone so I
can feel like a modern person ha ha ha.
14:00 Scilla's group meeting starts, but - quite typical
of Scilla - we do not look at the Njals saga at all, which is a bit of a
disappointment for the group members, including me. Not for the first time it
appears that Scilla has actually planned a completely different meeting than
the one she told us about in her email. She has apparently decided to discuss
today the role of magic and shamans in Nordic religion - good grief, what
madness!
Scilla's "lesson plans" tend to be a bit
chaotic in my opinion. She is not very good at the group's administrative side,
to put it mildly! All my work this week reading Njals saga is to no purpose -
damn it! But after I protest, she promises to cover Njals saga next time
(February 14th). I'm lucky to have filled my copy of the saga with my copious
neat red notes, which I can look back at in 2 weeks' time.
16:00 The meeting ends and I drive home. Lois and I relax
with a cup of tea and a piece of cake on the sofa.
18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening
listening to the radio and watching some television. First, we hear the
exciting and atmospheric 4th (and last) episode of a new crime series set in
Sweden (or perhaps Norway: that's something Lois and I are not completely sure
about).
In this episode Inspector Knut Angström and investigative
reporter Mina Oblong travel to Celibate Puffin Island (all one word in Swedish)
to investigate the connection between a string of murders and the spooky Bolax
Corporation.
The dialogue is as tight and direct as ever:
Mina: "We are
at the coldest point on the Njalsland peninsula, Celibate Puffin Island (all one word in Swedish). One can say that this is the end of the world
(which is also one word in Swedish). "
Knut: "I've
seen more welcoming islands, but that's not surprising. They were in a tourist
brochure for Hawaii. And Hawaii is known for being welcoming."
Mina: "Almost
nothing lives here. Even the island's famous celibate puffins have died out.
And nobody seems to know why. "
Nail-biting stuff - no doubt about that!
20:00 We turn off the radio and watch some television. An
interesting documentary is on, all about getting fit.
An interesting program. It's nice to know that the famous
"10,000-Steps-a-Day" goal was just a Japanese advertising manager's
idea in 1964 and has no scientific basis. It's just a myth, like the famous
"idea" that we only use 10% of our brains - ha!
Some tests to determine whether you are fit or not: try
to get up 10 times from a sitting position (on an upright chair) without the
use of your hands: older men should take no more than 18 seconds, 19 for older
women.
Step up and down (for example, on the bottom step of a
staircase) for 3 minutes. Older men should have a pulse of 115 or less at the end of
the exercise and for women it is 120.
Some useful exercise ideas (for example): three 10
minute brisk walks a day. You should not be able to sing while walking - otherwise
you are going too slowly.
An alternative idea: 40 seconds of HIIT (high intensity)
fitness bike cycling, 3 times a week - a total of 2 minutes a week (plus
warming up and cooling down).
Weight training twice a week: surprisingly it is not
important whether you use a heavy weight or a light weight. The idea is to
carry on lifting the weights until you are exhausted. So it takes less time if
you use a heavy weight - ha!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz !!!!!!
Danish
translation
09:00 Jeg går
i gang med at læse kapitel 2, kapitel 3 og den første del af kapitel 4 af Njáls
saga, en islændingesaga, skrevet ca. 1280. Scillas U3A oldislandske gruppe
holder sit regelmæssige møde i eftermiddag kl 14 og denne saga er gruppens
nuværende projekt.
Sagas historie
foregår i Rangárvellir på det sydlige Island ca. år 950-1015, og denne kapitel
handler om 2 brødre, Höskuldr og Hrut.
Hrut, en
genert ung mand, er med besvær blevet forlovet med Unnar, en pæn islandsk pige,
og bryllupet er blevet bestemt til 2 uger efter midsommer. Så pludselig opstår
et uforudset problem – Hruts bror, Eyvind, dør uforventet i Norge, og Eyvind
har testamenteret al sit jordiske gods til Hrut. Problemet er, at Hruts fjender
i Norge prøver at nappe arven.
Hrut, en genert ung islænding, vælger Unnar
fra
en flok af islandske piger som sin kommende kone.
Resultatet er,
at Hrut må sejle til Norge for at fordre sin arv, efterlade Unnar, sin
forlovede, i Island, og udskyde brylluppet.
Det er
interessant, at Gunnhilda, den norske kongemor, der er en velbekendt cougar,
virker at være meget ivrig efter at få nys om Hruts ankomst til Norge –
hvorfor? Ved hun med sikkerhed, at Hrut er smuk?
Hun insisterer
i hvert fald på, at Hrut tilbringer vinteren i hendes slot, og hun sender
straks en af sine tjenestefolk ned ad havnen for at invitere ham og hans
kammerat til at komme til slottet.
Da Hrut
ankommer til Gunnhildas slot, får kongemore en massiv megacrush på ham, og tager
ham op på sit soveværelse, og resten er
historie. Yikes – stakkels Hrut!!!!
da Hrut ankommer til Norge, bliver han
kongemor
Gunnhildas personlige ”vintervarmer”– stakkels Hrut!!!!
11:00 Jeg
snakker lidt med Lois om Gunnhildas liderlighed. Vi har personligt aldrig
blevet inviteret på en norske kongemors soveværelset, men vi mindes, at vi så
nogle senge fra vikingetiden i norske museer, da vi holdt ferie derover i 1970
og 1972. Vi var dengang overrasket over, hvor korte sengene var (kun 4 fods
lange). Museets omviser forklarede imidlertid, at vikingerne plejede at sove
halv-siddende, for det tilfælde en fjende braser ind. Måske derfor låste
Gunnhilda soveværelsesdøren indefra i de to uger, Hrut tilbragte hos hende, men
det er vi ikke helt sikre på. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!
12:00 Lois og
jeg spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en kort
eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 13:30 og kører ind i byen. Jeg parkerer bilen i
parkeringspladsen bag biblioteket, og jeg betaler med min smartphone, så jeg
kan føle mig som et moderne menneske ha ha ha.
14:00 Scillas
gruppemøde starter, men - helt typisk for Scilla - kigger vi ikke på
Njals-saga, hvilket er lidt af en skuffelse for gruppens medlemmer, også mig.
Ikke for den første gang viser det sig, at Scilla faktisk har planlagt et helt
anderledes møde end det, hun fortalte os om i sin email. Hun har tilsyneladende
besluttet at diskutere i dag rollen af magi og åndemanere i den nordiske
religion – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!
Scillas
”lektionplaner” har tendens til at være lidt kaotiske efter min mening. Hun er
ikke særlig god til gruppens administrative side, for at sige mildt! Al mit
arbejde i denne uge på at læse Njals-saga tjener ikke til noget formål –
pokkers! Men efter jeg protesterer, lover hun at dække Njals-saga næste gang
(den 14. februar). Det er heldigt, at jeg har fyldt mit eksemplar af sagaen med
mine sirlige røde noter, som jeg kan kigge på igen om 2 ugers tid.
16:00 Mødet
slutter og jeg kører hjem. Vi slapper af med en kop te og et stykke kage i
sofaen.
18:00 Vi
spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at lytte til radio og se lidt
fjernsyn. Først hører vi det spændende
og stemningsskabende 4. (og sidste) afsnit af en ny krimiserie, der udspiller
sig i Sverige (eller måske Norge: det er Lois og jeg ikke helt sikre på).
I dette afsnit
rejser Inspektør Knut Angström og undersøger-reporteren Mina Oblong til
Celibate Puffin Island (ét ord på svensk) for at undersøge forbindelsen mellem en
stribe mord og den uhyggelige Bolax-selskab.
Dialogen er så
tæt og direkte som altid:
Mina: ”Vi er på det koldeste punkt på Njalslands
halvø, ”Celibate Puffin Island” (det er ét ord på svensk). Man kan sige, at her
er verdens ende (hvilket også er ét ord på svensk).”
Knut: ”Jeg har set mere indbydende øer, men det er
ikke overraskende. De var i en turistbrochure til Hawaii. Og Hawaii er kendt
for at være indbydende.”
Mina: ”Der er næsten ingen dyr her. Selve øens
berømte cølibatlunder er uddøde. Og ingen synes at vide hvorfor.”
Hårrejsende
uhyggeligt – ingen tvivl om det!
20:00 Vi
slukker for radioen og ser lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant
dokumentarfilm, der handler om at blive rask.
En interessant program. Det er rart at vide, at de berømte ”10.000 skridt om dagen” motto var bare
en japansk reklamechefs idé i 1964, og har ingen videnskabelig basis. Det er
kun en myte, ligesom den berømte idé, at vi kun bruger 10% af vores hjerner ha ha ha!
Nogle test for
at afgøre, om man er rask eller ej: prøv at stå op 10 gange fra en siddende
stilling (på en oprejst stol) uden brug af hænderne: ældre mænd skulle tage max
18 sekunder, 19 for ældre kvinder.
Træd op og ned
(for eksempel på en trappes nederste trin) i 3 minutter. Ældre mænd skulle har
en puls på 115 ved slutningen af øvelsen, og for kvinder er det 120.
Nogle nyttige
motion-idéer (for eksempel): 3 10-minutter raske gåture om dagen. Du skulle
ikke kunne synge mens du går – ellers går du for langsomt.
En alternativ
idé: 40 sekunders HIIT (høj intensitet) kondicykling 3 gange om ugen – alt i
alt 2 minutter om ugen (plus opvarmning og nedkøling).
Vægttræning to
gange om ugen: overraskende, men det er ikke vigtigt, om man bruger en tung
vægt eller en let vægt. Idéen er at fortsætte med at løfte vægterne, indtil man
er udmattet. Så derfor tager det mindre tid at bruge en tung vægt - ha!
22:00 Vi går i
seng – zzzzzzz!!!!!!
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