Sunday 17 June 2018

08:00 Lois and I go in the showerr and get up. After breakfast, we talk a little bit with Sarah, our daughter in Australia. Francis, her husband, intends to resign his position as a seller of new houses after 3 weeks in this part-time job. He plans to visit the company's headquarters tomorrow morning and talk to the boss.

The snag with the work is that it is not salaried, although commissions for the sale of a house are generous. But unfortunately, it is the employee who first takes down the potential customer's details that gets the commission. The result is that if a customer's first approach is by phone or online (the majority), someone in the company's headquarters will scoop the money. Good grief, what madness!

The last straw came earlier in the week when Francis went to the company's regular social evening and all the other employees ignored him. Poor Francis!

But Lois and I think he has made some progress. For 15 years or so he has firstly been his own boss with his own online business, and later papa latte (stay-at-home dad) to the family's (soon to be) 5-year-old twins. So it was a big step for him to take the plunge and get involved in the job market after such a long time.

Now at least he has some recent experience with, for example, writing a resume, attending a job interview, and working for a manager: all that will be good experience when applying for his next job, no doubt about that.

Sarah says, however, that Francis has been a bit down this week because he thinks it's all been a failure so Sarah has had to cheer him up from time to time.

The twins have had bad colds again, but they are feeling better today, and Sarah thinks they can go to kindergarten tomorrow as usual.

Sarah herself has had a hard week at her own job. Her boss, Tim, has forced one of her best staff members to resign, because of a personality clash between himself and the woman concerned. Sarah says, however, that this woman is one of her best workers. My god, what a crazy world we live in !!!

Poor Sarah !!!! But Lois and I think it helps her a lot to talk over her problems with us.

11:00 I open my father's day presents: a bottle of gin and a bottle of tonic from Lois and 3 bottles of specialty beer from Alison in Copenhagen. Sarah says her father's day present to me should arrive in a couple of days - hurrah!

some of my father's day presents

11:45 Lois has to leave. She wants to attend her church's worship service today and for the first time in 4 months she has decided to drive herself over there: her back problems seem to have disappeared.

It's a good development, no doubt about it. It limits her a bit not being able to drive herself here and there without asking me to take her. She is still reluctant to tackle more complicated drives: on Tuesday she has to go to a funeral taking place way out in the country and she has asked me to drive her over there, attend the funeral and drive her home again after the get-together that follows service, a social event I'm not looking forward to - yikes, I'm such an unsociable whinger!

12:00 I have a little alone time: a rare thing since February, no doubt about that. I finally have the chance to take care of some tasks on my to-do list: ironing my shirts, pajamas and underwear, sorting out the trash and the recycling waste, etc.

I also put new cat litter into Minx's litter tray, collect the old litter in a huge black bag and throw it in the bin: my god, it's a lot! There must be gallons of Minx's cat-pee in there, no doubt about that !!!!! It only needs two more bags weighing the same and the waste bin will become impossible to push out on the sidewalk, that's something I know for sure!

13:45 I have lunch and afterwards go to bed and have a gigantic afternoon nap - zzzzzz !!!!!

16:00 Lois comes home and we relax with a cup of tea and some of the scones we got yesterday at the local village's street party. We happened to be sitting in the Women's Institute Hall when the cafe closed and the waitresses offered us some of the scones they had not been able to sell, which was lucky!

We eat them now with Lois's homemade apricot jam - yum yum!

17:00 I drink a glass of my birthday present from Lois: a strong gin and tonic. The gin is one I have not tried before - a Whitley Neill gin, made with rhubarb and ginger - yum yum (again))!

18:30 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching television. An interesting documentary film (3rd part of 3) all about American art. This episode revolves around the art of the country's small towns. The host of the program is the charming Waldemar Januszczak (crazy name, crazy guy).

Waldmar starts the program by examining the cliches about small towns: he talks about the many pop songs all about the singer's boredom as a youngster living in a small town and his overwhelming urge to leave it.

Waldemear talks about the clichés that revolve around

how boring it is to grow up in a small town.

But Waldemar explodes the myth that people in small towns have small minds, and that small towns hold you back and limit you. He reminds us that we also often hear it said that it is the US's small towns and their alleged small-minded mentality that are responsible for Trump becoming president, for example. However, Waldemar rejects most of these clichés.

Waldemar exploding some of the myths

He accepts that life in small towns (in all countries) can be hard and backward, and it certainly has its dark side. But his thesis is that if you look at the best evidence there is for human values, ie if you look at the art, you will see that the small American town has inspired wonderful works.

And, Lois and I, by chance, learned a little interesting fact that we did not have the slightest idea about: that the famous Ku Klux uniform with its ghostly white hoods was one of Hollywood's many inventions. The hoods first appeared in DW Griffith's film, "The Birth of a Nation" (1915), the first film to be shown in the White House. The spooky costume was apparently looselybased on the costumes that members of flagellant communities used to wear at Easter time in Southern Europe.

"Birth Of A Nation" (1915)

The Griffith's Look

Good grief, what a crazy world we live in !!!! Lois and I have never heard of either "The birth of a nation" or about flagellant societies in Southern Europe, so all this is a bit of a revelation to us, to put it mildly.

All in all, Waldemar has put together a very interesting program with a lot of beautiful paintings. In particular, we like the works of Alexandre Hogue. Hogue looked like (according to Waldemar) "a geography teacher at a parents meeting" or "the guy who ran the local hardware store" but in fact he was a brilliant painter.

Waldermar shows us Hogue's famous protest against erosion and overcultivation of the earth in Texas, "Mother Earth Laid Bare": the topsoil has disappeared, Mother Earth is personified as a dead woman buried in the sand, and in the foreground we see the plow that caused her death . The plow itself is portrayed a bit like the carcass of a dead steer - yikes, creepy !!!

Mother Earth is dead - yikes, creepy!

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

Danish translation

08:00 Lois og jeg går i bad og står op. Efter morgenmad snakker vi lidt med Sarah, vores datter i Australien. Francis, hendes mand, har til hensigt at takke af som sælger af nye huse efter 3 uger i dette deltidsjob. Han planlægger at besøge selskabets hovedkontor i morgen formiddag og tale med chefen.

Hagen ved jobbet er, at det ikke er lønnet, selvom kommissioner for sælg af et hus er generøse. Men desværre er det den ansatte, der først får den potentielle kundes detaljer, der modtager kommissionen. Resultatet er, at hvis en kunde først telefonerer eller tilmelder sig på nettet, så er det nogen i firmaets hovedkontor, der scorer pengene. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!

Det bragte bægeret til at flyde over tidligere på ugen, da han deltog i selskabets regelmæssige sociale aften, og alle de andre medarbejdere ignorerede ham. Stakkels Francis!

Men Lois og jeg synes, at han i hvert fald har gjort lidt fremskridt. Han har i 15 år eller deromkring været først sin egen chef med sin egen onlineforretning, og senere papa latte til familiens (snart) 5-årige tvillinger. Så var det en stor skridt for ham at vove springet og blive involveret i jobmarkedet efter en så lang tid.

Nu har han i det mindste lidt erfaring med for eksempel, at skrive en cv, deltage i en jobsamtale, og arbejder for en chef: alt det der vil være god erfaring, når han ansøger om sit næste job, ingen tvivl om det.

Sarah siger imidlertid, at Francis denne uge har været lidt deprimeret, fordi han tror, at det hele har været lidt af en fiasko, så Sarah blev nødt til at opmuntre ham af og til.

Tvillingerne har været meget forkølede igen, men de har det lidt bedre i dag, og Sarah mener, de kan gå i børnehave i morgen, som sædvanligt.

Selve Sarah har haft en vanskelig uge på sit egen job. Hendes boss, Tim, har tvunget en af hendes bedste medarbejdere til at takke af, på grund af en personlighedssammenskød mellem sig selv og kvinden. Sarah siger, imidlertid, at denne kvinde er en af sine bedste medarbejdere. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i!!!

Stakkels Sarah !!!!  Men Lois og jeg tror, at det hjælper hende meget at tale om sine problemer med os.

11:00 Jeg åbner mine farsdagsgaver: en flaske gin og en flaske tonik fra Lois og 3 flasker specialitetsøl fra Alison. Sarah siger, at hendes farsdagsgave til mig skal ankomme om et par dage – hurra!

nogle af mine farsdagsgaver

11:45 Lois skal af sted. Hun ønsker at deltage i sin kirkes gudstjeneste i dag og for første gang i 4 måneder har hun besluttet at køre selv derovre: sine rygsproblemer ser ud til at være forsvundet.

Det er en god udvikling, ingen tvivl om det. Det begrænser hende lidt, ikke at kunne køre sig selv her og der, uden at bade mig om at tage hende. Hun tøver stadig med at tage mere komplicerede kørsler: på tirsdag skal hun til en begravelse, der finder sted lang ude på landet, og hun har bedt mig om at køre hende derover, deltage i begravelsen og køre hende hjem igen efter sammenkomsten, der følger tjenesten, en social event, jeg ikke glæder mig til - yikes, jeg er sikke et usocialt pivehoved!

12:00 Jeg har lidt alenetid: en sjælden ting siden februar måned, ingen tvivl om det. Jeg har endelig chancen for at klare nogle opgaver på min gøremålsliste:  at stryge mine skjorter, pajamas og undertøj, at ordne affaldet og genbrugsaffaldet osv.

Jeg skal også putte nye kattegrus i Minx’ kattebakke, samle det gamle i en enorme sort sæk og smide det i affaldsspanden: du godeste, det vejer en ton! Der må være gallons af Minx’ katteurin derinde, ingen tvivl om det!!!!! Kommer der endnu to sække, der vejer det samme, og affaldspanden bliver umulig at skubbe ud på fortovet, det ved jeg med sikkerhed!

13:45 Jeg spiser frokost og bagefter går i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur – zzzzzz!!!!!

16:00 Lois kommer hjem og vi slapper af med en kop te og nogle af de scones, vi igår skaffede på den lokale landsbys gadefest. Vi kom til at sidde i Women’s Institute-hallen, da caféen lukkede, og tjenerinderne tilbød os  nogle af de scones, de ikke har kunnet sælge, hvilket var heldigt! Vi spiser dem med Lois’s hjemmelavet abricos marmelade – yum yum!

17:00 Jeg drikker et glas af min farsdagsgave fra Lois: en stærk gin og tonik. Ginnen er en, jeg ikke har prøvet før – en Whitley Neill gin, lavet med rabarber og ingefær – yum yum!

18:30 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. En interessant dokumentarfilm (3. del af 3) der handler om amerikansk kunst. Dette afsnit kredser om den kunst, der stammede fra landets små byer. Programmets vært er den charmerende Waldemar Januszczak (skørt navn, skør fyr).

Waldmar starter programmet ved at undersøge klicheerne om små byer: han taler om de mange popsange, der handlede om sangerens kedelighed som unge i et lille by, og hans overvældende trang til at forlade det.

Waldemear taler om klicheerne, der kredser om hvor kedeligt det er,

at vokse op I et lille by i USA.

Han eksploderer den myte, at  folk i små byer har små syn, og at små byer holder dig tilbage, og begrænser dig. Han minder os om, at man nutildags også ofte hører meningen, at USAs småbyer og deres smålige mentalitet er ansvarlige for, at Trump er blevet præsident, for eksempel. Waldemar afviser imidlertid mange af disse klicheer.

Waldemar eksploderer nogle af disse myter

Han accepterer, at livet i små byer (i alle lande) kan være hårdt og tilbagestående, og det helt sikkert har sin mørke side. Men hans tese er, at hvis man kigger på det bedste bevis, der er på menneskelige værdier, dvs hvis du kigger på kunsten, vil du se, at den lille amerikanske by har inspireret vidunderlige værker.

Og Lois og jeg lærte tilfældigvis en lille interessant kendsgerning, vi ikke havde den fjerneste anelse om: at den berømte Ku Klux uniform med dens spøgelsesagtige hvide hætter var en af Hollywoods mange opfindelser. Hætterne dukkede først op i DW Griffiths’ film, ”Fødslen af en nation” (1915), den første film til at blive vist i det Hvide Hus. Kostumen var løst baseret på kostumerne, som medlemmer af flagellante samfunder dengang bar ved påsketiden i det sydlige Europa.

Birth Of A Nation (1915 film)

"Griffiths-looket"

Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!! Lois og jeg har aldrig hørt om enten ”Fødslen af en nation”, eller om flagellante samfunder i det sydlige Europa, så alt det her er lidt af en åbenbaring for os, for at sige mildt.

Alt i alt har Waldemar samlet et meget interessant program med en masse nydelige malerier. Vi kan i særdeleshed lide Alexandre Hogues værker. Hogue så ud som (ifølge Waldemar) ”en geograflærer på et forældremøde”, eller ”den der fyr, der drev den lokale isenkramforretning”, men var imidlertid en brilliant maler.

Waldermar viser os Hogues berømte protest mod erosion og overdyrkning af jorden i Texas, ”Mother Earth Laid Bare”: overgrunden er forsvundet, moder Jord er personificeret som en død kvinde, begravet i sandet, og i forgrunden ser vi ploven, der forårsagede hendes død. Selve ploven er skildret lidt som en død ung stud – yikes, uhyggeligt!!!

Moder Jord er død – yikes, uhyggeligt!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzz!!!