Saturday 2 June 2018

09:30 I take a little look online and I find out that the European crisis that hit Visa credit cards is now over, so we can do the shopping as usual, thank God! 

We head over to the local Sainsbury's supermarket to do our food shopping. Amongst other things we have to buy a lot of cans of luxury cat food for Minx. It has become clear that she cannot or will not eat anything that requires her to chew or bite it - poor Minx !!!!

a typical tin of luxury cat food – Minx’s favourite yum yum!

10:30 We drive home and relax with a cup of coffee on the couch. I sit myself in front of my laptop and key in vocabulary lists for the last approx. 15 pages of "Line", the Danish crime novella, which is our U3A Danish group's current project.

I also key in a Hungarian vocabulary test and send it to my friend, "Magyar" Mike. We have the habit of meeting here every Tuesday morning to study the language, but at the moment he cannot drive over here, due to extensive road works on the way from Nailsworth to Cheltenham. We have therefore decided to communicate only via email until the roadworks have finished.

I cannot study Old Norse for the time being, because Scilla, our teacher, who leads the local U3A Old Norse group, has health problems, and is staying temporarily with her son in Frome, Somerset.

Scilla's absence has left me with a gap in my intellectual life. I miss reading old-Icelandic sagas every other Wednesday with her and the other members of Scilla's group in the town's library. I miss all the sex and violence, including the sex and violence in the sagas ha ha ha - no doubt about that!

I have recently been thinking about whether I could take on a new language - something completely different, such as Sanskrit, India's classical and cultural language. Since English, Danish and Sanskrit all belong to the Indo-European language family, you can spot a lot of similarities. "to bear / at bære" is the Sanskrit bharati, "to eat / at æde" is the Sanskrit atti, "name / navn" is naman, "son / søn" is "sunu", "mother / moder" is "matr "and" daughter / datter" is "duhitr".

Swedish in particular has, via Romany, adopted a number of Indian words into its language. The Romany language takes its core vocabulary from a Northern Indian dialect related to Sanskrit, and Swedish expressions like kirra (from Sanskrit kər = "to do") and "at mucka" (from Sanskrit muc = "to leave") are borrowings from Romany. Tjej for "girl" is borrowed from Romany. 

Sweden's king, Carl Gustaf, had, as a child, the nickname "Tjabo", which again was a loan from Romany Tjavo (= child, from Sanskrit "sava").

Good grief, what a crazy world we live in !!!! I do a little research online, and I find out that there are also English words that originated from Romany, including "pal", "lollipop", and approx. 20 other words, which is a little surprising, to put it mildly.

The Swedish king Carl Gustaf's nickname "Tjabo" (child) is also reflected in the modern British slang word "chav", which means a young, antisocial working class person who shows a complete lack of good taste, and typically goes around in sportswear day in and day out - yikes! Poor Gustaf - I bet he didn't go around in sportswear, even as a young sprog ha ha!

Gustaf ("Tjabo") as a young sprog

A typical English male chav

the female of the species

11:00 Our friend Mari-Ann calls round. She and Lois get going discussing the coming get-together planned by their church at a hotel (Gupshill Manor) in the town of Tewkesbury. Lois and Mari-Ann have taken on responsibility for sending invitations out.

12:30 Mari-Ann has to leave. Lois and I have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and have a gigantic afternoon nap.

17:00 I take a little look online. I see that Alison, our daughter in Copenhagen, has posted a (not serious, I hope !!!!) "call for help" on Facebook. She bemoans the fact that she has only two and a half weeks left until the moving company's men come to pack up the family's furniture and belongings. Poor Ali. The worst thing is that Ed her husband will not be there part of the time because he has to get their old house ready in Haslemere, England so that they can move back in there next month.

19:00 Lois and I have dinner and afterwards we settle down in the living room with a cup of coffee. Lois wants to see a movie called "Ladies in Lavender".

At the start of the film, I am working on my laptop, and also stepping in and out of the living room a bit, so I miss some of the early scenes in the movie, but I soon get hooked by the action.

The movie is about two elderly unmarried sisters, Ursula and Janet, who live a quiet and peaceful life on the coast of Cornwall in the 1930s. But their peaceful lives are completely changed after they give shelter to a young castaway Polish violinist, Andrea, who does not understand English.

I find the movie quite touching. The two sisters have both missed out on love and sex during their lives. Ursula has never had a boyfriend, maybe because she had to care for sick parents - it is not entirely clear. Janet was, as a young woman, engaged to a man who sadly was killed in the First World War.

Ursula begins to fantasize about Andrea, the young Pole, and one night Janet catches her in Andrea's bedroom, bending over his sleeping body, just about to touch his hair - yikes!

Fortunately, Janet succeeds in persuading Ursula to go back to her own bed - good grief, what madness!

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

Danish translation

09:30 Jeg kigger lidt på nettet og jeg finder ud af, at den europæiske krise, der ramte Visa kreditkort, nu er slut, så derfor kan vi købe ind, som sædvanligt, gudskelov! Vi kører over til det lokale Sainsburys-supermarked for at gå madindkøb. Vi skal blandt andet købe en masse dåser luksus-kattemad til Minx. Det er blevet helt klart, at hun ikke kan, eller ikke vil, spise noget, der kræver, at hun tygger eller bider det – stakkels Minx!!!!

en typisk dåse luksuskattemad  – Minx’s favorit yum yum!

10:30 Vi kører hjem og slapper af med en kop kaffe i sofaen. Jeg sætter mig foran min bærebare og indtaste ordforrådlister til de sidste ca. 15 sider af ”Line”, den danske kriminovelle, der er vores U3A danske gruppes nuværende projekt.

Jeg indtaster også en ungarsk ordforrådtest og sender det til min ven, ”Magyar” Mike. Vi har for vane at mødes her hver tirsdag formiddag for at studere sproget, men for tiden kan han ikke køre herover på grund af omfattende vejarbejde på vej fra Nailsworth til Cheltenham. Vi har derfor besluttet at kommunikere bare via email, indtil vejarbejdet er slut.

Jeg kan ikke studere oldnorsk for tiden, fordi Scilla, vores lærerinde, der leder den lokale U3A oldnorske gruppe, har sundhedsproblemer, og bor midlertidligt hos sin søn i Frome, Somerset.

Scillas fravær har efterladt mig med en kløft i mit intellektuelle liv. Jeg savner at læse oldislandske sagaer hver anden onsdag sammen med hende og de andre medlemmer af Scillas gruppe i byens bibliotek. Jeg savner alt det sex og vold, inklusive det sex og vold i sagaerne ha ha ha – ingen tvivl om det.

Jeg har for nylig overvejet, om jeg kunne påtage mig et nyt sprog – noget helt anderledes, som for eksempel sanskrit, Indiens klassiske kultursprog. Da både engelsk, dansk og sanskrit tilhører den indoeuropæiske sprogfamilie, kan man godt finde en del ligheder. "to bear / at bære" hedder på sanskrit  bharati, "to eat / at æde" hedder på sanskrit  atti, "name / navn" hedder naman, "son / søn" er "sunu", "mother / moder" er "matr" og "daughter / datter" er "duhitr".

Svensk har gennem romani fået en del indiske ord ind i sproget. Romaernes sprog romani har sit centrale ordforråd fra en nordindisk dialekt beslægtet med sanskrit, og svenske udtryk som att kirra (af sanskrit kər = "at gøre") og att mucka (af sanskrit muc = "at forlade") stammer fra gammelindisk. Tjej for "pige" er lånt fra romani. Sveriges konge, Carl Gustaf, havde som barn tilnavnet "Tjabo", der igen var et lån fra romani tjavo (= barn, af sanskrit sava).

Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!! Jeg forsker lidt på nettet, og jeg finder ud af, at der er også engelske ord, der stammede fra romani, inklusive ”pal”, ”lollipop”, og ca. 20 andre ord, hvilket er lidt overraskende, for at sige mildt.

Den svenske konge Carl Gustafs tilnavn ”Tjabo” (barn) bliver også afspejlet i det moderne britiske slangord ”chav”, der betyder et ungt, antisocialt underklassemenneske, som udviser en fuldstændig mangel på god smag, og typisk går i sportstøj dag ud dag ind – yikes! Stakkels Gustaf – jeg vil vædde på, at han dag ud dag ind ikke gik i sportstøj, selv som unge ha ha!

Gustaf (”Tjabo”) som barn

En typisk engelsk mandelig chav

hunnen af arten

11:00 Vores veninder Mari-Ann ringer på. Hun og Lois går i gang med at diskutere deres kirkes kommende sammenkomst på et hotel (Gupshill Manor) i byen Tewkesbury. De har påtaget sig ansvaret for at sende invitationerne ud.

12:30 Mari-Ann skal af sted. Lois og jeg spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur.

16:00 Jeg står op og Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop te og et stykke gulerodskage – yum yum!

17:00 Jeg kigger lidt på nettet. Jeg ser at Alison, vores datter i København, har lagt et (ikke alvorligt, håber jeg!!!!) ”råb om hjælp” op på Facebook. Hun begræder, at hun kun har to og en halv uger tilbage, indtil flyttefirmaets mænd kommer for at pakke familiens møbler og ejendele. Stakkels Ali. Det værste er, at Ed, hendes mand, ikke vil være der en del af tiden, fordi han skal forberede deres gamle hus i Haslemere, England, så de næste måned kan flytte derind.

19:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bagefter sætter vi os til rette i stuen med en kop kaffe. Lois vil gerne se en film, der hedder ”Ladies in Lavender”.

I starten af filmen arbejder jeg på min bærebare, og træder også lidt ind og ud af stuen, så jeg går glip af nogle af filmens tidlige scener, men jeg bliver snart involveret i handlingen.

Filmen handler om to ældre ugifte søstre, Ursula og Janet, der lever en stille og roligt liv på kysten af Cornwall i 1930’erne. Men deres fredelige liv bliver fuldstændigt ændret efter de giver husly til en ung skibbruden polsk violinist, Andrea, der ikke forstår engelsk.

Jeg finder filmen ganske rørende. De to søstre er begge to gået glip på kærlighed og sex i løbet af deres liv. Ursula har aldrig haft en kæreste, måske fordi hun måtte passe på syge forældre – det er ikke helt klart. Janet var, som ung kvinde, forlovet med en mand, der blev dræbt i den 1. verdenskrig.

Ursula begynder at fantasere om den unge mand, og en nat Janet fanger hende i Andreas soveværelse, bøjende sig over Andreas sovende krop, lige ved at røre ved hans hår – yikes!

Heldigvis lykker det Janet at overtale Ursula at gå tilbage til sin egen seng – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzz!!!!!