09:00 Lois and I talk a little on Skype with Alison, our
daughter in Copenhagen, and with her 3 children, Josie (11), Rosalind (9) and
Isaac (7). Ed, Alison's husband is this weekend on a mini-golf-break in Spain
(mini-vacation, not mini-golf ha ha).
We talk a little on Skype with Alison, our
daughter in Copenhagen
Lois and I discuss Ed's job situation with Alison, and we
now feel that we are once again in the loop. Ed's job in Copenhagen is over and
in the last 2 months he has been struggling to find a new one. Mitsubishi has
offered him a job at their Frankfurt office, but he is still negotiating with
them about pay and perks - he wants to be able to rent a nice house in the city
and send his children to private international schools, which would cost the
company a lot of money, no doubt about that, and they may not accept his
demands.
Even if he takes the job, it is probably too late to
arrange a rental house and a removal firm, so they will temporarily have to
move back to their old house in Haslemere before they can move to Germany.
Lois and I would not be too unhappy if the family moves
to Frankfurt because you can travel there by train. London to Frankfurt via
Brussels takes about 6 hours by train.
10:00 We then talk a little on whatsapp with Sarah, our daughter
in Perth, Australia, and her 4 year old twins, Lily and Jessie.
Francis, Sarah's husband, who has been the twin's pappa
latte ("stay-at-home dad") since the family moved to Australia 2 and a half
years ago, has just got a part-time job selling new houses: on weekends, and on
Mondays and Wednesdays. This is a perfect schedule because the twins go to the
kindergarten on Mondays and Wednesdays - kindergarten is over at 2:30pm, but
Sarah and Francis are planning to pay for extra childcare that will occupy the
twins until 4:30pm.
Francis will not receive a regular salary, but he will
get a very good commission if he succeeds in selling one of the company's newly
built houses. Lois and I think he will be very successful: he is genuinely
interested in new houses and modern styles and can be very persuasive.
12:00 We have lunch and afterwards we have to go out.
Lois wants to attend her church's Sunday service this afternoon, but she does
not want to drive a car because of her current back problems. I have offered to drive her over there.
13:15 I drop Lois off in front of the church and drive
over to a nearby parking lot, where I browse through the first 8 pages of a
Danish crime short story, "Line", because our U3A Danish group is
holding its next meeting at our house on Thursday and this story is the group's
next project. It's all about a young Dane who decides to investigate his
father's death - it looks like a suicide, but the young man is not so sure.
His father was found with a pair of scissors in the stomach
next to a church buried in the sand on the shores of Skagen in North Jutland -
yikes, spooky!
15:15 The church service is over and I pick Lois up in
front of the church. We drive home and relax with a cup of tea on the couch.
18:30 We have dinner, snuggle up on the couch and spend
the evening watching television. The final of "BBC Young Musician of the
Year" competition is on - there are 3 finalists, an 18-year-old cellist,
an 18-year-old saxophonist, and a 16-year-old pianist.
The host of the program
is the gorgeous Clemency Burton-Hill (crazy name, crazy gal!). Clemency is
famous for having given birth to a son in 2014 to the accompaniment of Bach's
"Das Wohltemperierte Klavier" (the Well-tempered Clavier) - well
chosen, very calming!
The perfect way to spend the evening - listening to the
music is the focus, so you can do other things at the same time - hurrah! But
now and then you have to look at the screen if you want to predict which
musician the jury is going to choose.
The jury has already made it clear to Clemency that they
want first and foremost be deeply moved and "touched" by the
competitors' performance. Young Max, the cellist, is very skilled at showing
his full range of faces: happy face, sad face, etc. etc. This is harder for the
saxophonist who has a big saxophone stuck in his mouth. The pianist is
oriental, with the typical oriental expressionless face, but she shows her
feelings by moving her body instead.
It's the pianist who wins - forget all that crap about
"ability to emote" - she's technically brilliant, and far better than
the other two. Lois and I have no doubts and we predict the correct result without any difficulty.
The winning pianist - technically brilliant despite
her expressionless face
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz !!!!!
Danish
translation
09:00 Lois og
jeg taler lidt på Skype med Alison, vores datter i København, og med hendes 3
børn, Josie (11), Rosalind (9) og Isaac (7). Ed, Alisons mand er i weekenden på
mini-golfferie i Spanien (mini-ferie, ikke mini-golf).
Vi
taler lidt på Skype med Alison, vores datter i København
Lois og jeg
diskuterer Eds jobsituation med Alison, og vi føler nu, at vi endnu engang er i
loopen. Eds job i København er til ende og i de seneste 2 måneder har han kæmpet hårdt for at finde et nyt.
Mitsubishi har tilbudt ham et job i deres Frankfurt kontor, men han er stadig i
gang med at forhandle med dem om løn og frynsegoder – han vil kunne låne et
pænt hus i byen og at sende sine børn til private internationale skoler,
hvilket ville koste selskabet en masse penge, ingen tvivl om det, og det er
ikke sikkert, at de vil acceptere hans anmodninger.
Selv hvis han tager jobbet,
er det sandsynligvis for sent til at arrangere et lejehus og et flyttefirma, så
derfor vil de midlertidigt måtte flytte tilbage til deres gamle hus i
Haslemere, før de kan flytte til Tyskland.
Lois og jeg ville ikke være
for ulykkelige, hvis familien flytter til Frankfurt, fordi man kan rejse med
tog derover. London til Frankfurt via Bruxelles tager ca 6 timer med tog.
10:00 Vi taler lidt på
whatsapp med Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien, og hendes 4-årige
tvillinger, Lily og Jessie.
Francis, Sarahs mand, der
har været tvillingernes pappaledig/pappa latte, siden familien for 2,5 år siden
flyttede til Australien, har fået et deltidsjob som sælger af nye huse: i
weekender, og om mandagen og onsdagen. Dette er en perfekt tidsplan, fordi
tvillingerne gå i børnehaven om mandagen og onsdagen – børnehave er slut kl
14:30, men Sarah og Francis planlægger at betale for ekstra børnepleje, der vil
beskæftige tvillingerne indtil 16:30.
Francis vil ikke modtage en
regelmæssig løn, men han vil få en meget anselig kommission, hvis det lykkes
ham at sælge et af selskabets nybyggede huse. Lois og jeg synes, han vil være meget
succesfuld: han er oprigtigt interesseret i nye huse og moderne stiler, og kan
være meget overbevisende.
12:00 Vi spiser frokost og
bagefter skal vi af sted. Lois vil gerne deltage i sin kirkes gudstjeneste i
eftermiddag, men hun har ikke lyst til at køre bil på grund af sine nuværende
rygproblemer. Jeg har tilbudt at køre hende derover.
13:15 Jeg sætter Lois af
foran kirken og kører over til en nærliggende parkeringsplads, hvor jeg blader
igennem de først 8 sider af en dansk kriminovelle, ”Line”, fordi vores U3A
danske gruppe holder sit næste møde på torsdag hos os, og denne novelle er
gruppens næste projekt. Historien handler om en ung dansker, der beslutter at
undersøge sin fars død – det ser ud som selvmord, men det er den unge mand ikke
helt sikker om.
Hans far blev fundet med en
saks i maven ved siden af en sanddækket kirke på stranden i Skagen i
Nord-Jylland – yikes, uhyggeligt!
15:15 Gudstjenesten er
forbi og jeg henter Lois foran kirken. Vi kører hjem og slapper af med en kop
te i sofaen.
18:30 Vi spiser aftensmad,
putter os til hinanden i sofaen og bruger aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De
viser finalen af ”Årets BBC unge musiker” konkurrencen – der er 3 konkurrenter,
en 18-årig cellist, en 18-årig saxofonist, og en 16-årig pianist. Programmets
vært er den pragtfulde Clemency Burton-Hill (skørt navn, skør kvinde!).
Clemency er berømt for, at have født en søn i 2014 til akkompagnement af Bachs ”Das
Wohltemperierte Klavier” – godt valgt, meget beroligende!
Den perfekte måde at bruge
aftenen på – det, at høre musikken er fokussen, så man kan gøre andre ting på
samme tid – hurra! Men nu og da må man kigge på skærmen, hvis man vil forudsige,
hvilken musiker juryen skal vælge.
Juryen har på forhånd
klargjort det til Clemency at de først
og fremmest vil blive dybt bevæget og ”rørt” af konkurrenternes
præstation. Unge Max, cellisten, er
meget dygtig til at vise sin fulde vifte af ansigter: lykkeligt ansigt, trist
ansigt osv osv. Dette er sværere for saxofonisten, der har en stor saxofon
stukket i munden. Pianisten er orientalsk, med den typiske orientalske udtryksløse
ansigt, men hun viser sine følelser ved at bevæge sin krop i stedet for.
Det er pianisten der vinder
– glem alt det der lort om ”evnen til at bevæge” – hun er teknisk brilliant, og
langt bedre, end de andre to. Lois og jeg har ingen tvivl og vi forudsiger
korrekt resultatet uden besvær.
den vindende pianist – teknisk
brilliant på trods af sin udtryksløse ansigt
22:00 Vi går i seng –
zzzzzzz!!!!!
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