Thursday 28 June 2018

05:00 I get up early and take a little look online. I see that Alison, our daughter in Copenhagen, has posted a charming picture on Facebook. The picture shows her, with Ed (her husband), and another couple, two of their bestest friends, at a Michelin star restaurant that's within walking distance of their house in Gentofte, a small suburb of Copenhagen.

Ali and Ed (right) at their local Michelin-starred

restaurant in Gentofte, Copenhagen

Alison and Ed are so busy at the moment - they are preparing to leave Denmark tomorrow after almost 6 years over there, and last night they celebrated with their best friends. 

Ed was in England on Monday and Tuesday, monitoring the delivery of the family furniture and belongings to the family's old house in Haslemere, Surrey. He must have driven his English car back to Denmark on Tuesday via the overnight ferry and arrived back in Copenhagen some time on Wednesday. Good grief, busy busy busy - poor Ed! But he does not look in the least tired in the picture - I have to admit. It must be pure adrenaline.

I do not envy Ali and Ed having tomorrow to pack themselves, their belongings, 3 children, one dog and three cats into their Volvo estate car and start driving back to England, again via the overnight ferry (from Hook of Holland to Harwich, Lois and I believe, but we are not completely sure).

We assume that tomorrow they will be leaving early. As in many continental countries, school holidays begin on the same day all over the country, which leads to massive traffic jams on the roads the following day. It must have been Napoleon's fault! What madness !!!! In England, contrary-wise, school holidays depend on which county you live in.

I take a little look at the Danish media , and I see that the traffic jams tend to begin at the end of the day on the first Friday of the school holidays when motorists driving south towards the Mediterranean get mixed up with the evening's rush hour - yikes! But it is the following day (Saturday) when the worst traffic jams seem to occur.

the Danish traffic jams that follow the start of the school holidays

It must be a weird feeling for Ali and Ed to give up their lives in Denmark after almost 6 years, leaving the city, the restaurants, the parks, the beaches, etc. that they have come to know so well, not to mention their many close friends. The whole experience - living over there for 6 years - will be forever a massive part of their life stories and their memories, no doubt about it.

It is completely different, visiting a country as tourists compared to actually living there and leading the ordinary life: everyday routines, everyday situations - food shopping, schooling, etc. That's something Lois and I know for certain.

It was the same for Lois and me when we left the United States in 1985 after 3 years' residence over there. We moved back to a country (England) that had grown a bit like a foreign land: the roads seemed so narrow, the houses seemed so small etc etc .... And we remember many more details about our 3 year stay in the United States than any other 3 year periods in our lives. Sensibilities become more intense, I think when you are living abroad and experiencing so many interesting sights and events.

Flashback to August 1985: Lois and me with Alison (10) and Sarah (8)

leaving the US after 3 years residence over there

07:30 I hop back into bed with Lois and we drink our morning tea.

08:30 We go in the shower and get up. After breakfast we go out into the backyard and crawl between the fruit bushes to pick most of this year's gooseberries and blackcurrants.

There are some more fun things I'd rather spend the morning on, but I'm going to let that slide. My hands quickly come all over scratches. Ouch !!!!!!

I wouldn’t mind so much if I were not completely certain that Lois intends to give a lot of our gooseberries and blackcurrants away to neighbors or church members. These berries have been harvested with my blood! I'd rather buy these people a bag of blackcurrants at the supermarket, and keep all our home grown ones!

But Lois is so kind-hearted - if only I could be more like her !

11:00 We relax with a cold drink on the terrace.

12:30 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a huge afternoon nap. I get up at 3 o'clock and we drive over to the former art college to post some letters in the postbox outside. We come back home and relax with a Magnum ice cream and a cup of tea.

18:00 We have dinner and spend the evening watching television. A documentary film is on, first part of 3, all about Napoleon. The host of the program is the historian Andrew Roberts.

We have been looking forward to seeing this program, but we are very disappointed when we see it. We recall that Roberts first presented this analysis 3 years ago when he had just published a new book on the subject in connection with the 200th anniversary of the battle of Waterloo.

Everyone knows that one cannot sell a new popular history book without challenging the orthodox interpretation of the subject. Everyone knows that Napoleon was actually a merciless tyrant and war criminal who created a huge French empire on the continent, looting artistic treasures, etc., while pretending to liberate the people. What madness !!!!

But Roberts in his new book, and in this program, claims that Napoleon was in fact a nice, shy man. Not good enough, Andrew !!!

Pass the sickbag, Alice !!!!!

It is true that Napoleon was a brilliant general and strategist, although his skills in this direction also slowed towards the end of his career. His campaign in Egypt was a bit of a failure, and his Russian campaign was a total disaster, no doubt about that!

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

Danish translation

05:00 Jeg står tidligt op og kigger lidt på nettet. Jeg ser, at Alison, vores datter i København, har lagt et charmerende billede op på Facebook. Billedet viser hende, Ed (hendes mand), og et andet par, to af deres perlevenner, på en Michelin-stjernet restaurant, der ligger en spytklat fra deres hus i Gentofte, en lille forstad til København.

Ali og Ed (til højre) på deres lokale Michelin-stjernede

restaurant i Gentofte, Københavnalieddinner

Alison og Ed har så travlt for tiden – de forbereder sig på at forlade Danmark i morgen efter næsten 6 år derovre, og i går aftes fejrede de sig for sidste gang med deres perlevenner. Ed var i England i mandags og tirsdag, i gang med at overvåge leverancen af familiens møbler og ejendele til familiens gamle hus i Haslemere, Surrey. Han må i tirsdags have kørt sin engelske bil tilbage til Danmark med overnatningsfærgen og var ankom til København i løbet af onsdagen. Du godeste, travlt travlt travt – stakkels Ed! Men han ser ikke i det mindste træt i billedet – det må jeg indrømme. Det må være det rene adrenalin.

Jeg misunder Ali og Ed ikke, at de skal i morgen pakke sig selv, deres ejendele, 3 børn, en hund og tre katte ind i deres Volvo stationcar og begynde at køre tilbage til England, igen med overnatningsfærgen (fra Hoek van Holland til Harwich, tror Lois og jeg, men det er vi ikke helt sikre på).

Vi formoder, at de i morgen vil tage tidligt til af sted. Som i mange kontinentale lande begynder skoleferierne på samme dag over hele landet, hvilket den følgende dag fører til massive trafikpropper på vejene. Det må have været Napoleons skyld!  Sikke et vanvid!!!! I England tværtimod afhænger skoleferiers timing af, hvilket grevskab du bor i.

Jeg kigger lidt på de danske medier, og jeg ser, at trafikpropperne har tendens til at begynde sidst på dagen, den første fredag i skoleferierne, når bilister der kører sydpå mod  Middelhavet blander sig med aftenens myldretid – yikes! Men det er den følgende dag (lørdagen), når der forekommer de værste trafikpropper tilsyneladende.

Det må være en underlig følelse at opgive deres liv i Danmark efter næsten 6 år, og forlade byen, restauranterne, parkerne, strandene osv, de har lært så godt at kende, for ikke at nævne deres mange tætte venner. Hele oplevelsen – det, at bo derovre i 6 år – vil blive i evig tid en massiv del af deres livshistorier og deres minder, ingen tvivl om det.

Det er helt anderledes at besøge et land som turister, end at opholde sig der og leve det almindelige liv: hverdagens rutiner, hverdagssituationer – madindkøb, skolegang osv. Det ved Lois og jeg med sikkerhed.

Det var det samme for Lois og mig, da vi forlod USA i 1985 efter 3 års ophold derovre. Vi flyttede tilbage til et land (England), der var blevet lidt som et fremmed land: vejene virkede så smalle, husene virkede så små osv osv.... Og vi husker meget flere detaljer om vores 3 års ophold i USA, end nogle andre 3 års perioder i vores liv. Ens følsomheder bliver mere intense, synes jeg, når man bor i udlandet og oplever så mange interessante syn og begivenheder.

Tilbageblik til august 1985: Lois og jeg med Alison (10) og Sarah (8)

forlader USA efter 3 års ophold derovre

07:30 Jeg hopper tilbage op i sengen til Lois og vi drikker vores morgenté.

08:30 Vi går I bad og står op. Efter morgenmad går vi ud ind i baghaven, og kravler ind mellem frugtbuskene for at plukke størstedelen af årets  stikkelsbær og solbær.

Der er sjovere ting,  jeg hellere ville bruge formiddagen på, men det springer jeg over. Mine hænder får hurtigt en masse rifter. Av !!!!!! Dette ville ikke irritere mig, hvis jeg ikke var helt sikre på, at Lois har til hensigt at give en del af vores stikkelsbær og solbær bort til naboer eller kirkemedlemmer. Disse bær er blevet høstet med mit blod! Jeg vil hellere købe disse folk en pose solbær hos supermarkedet, og opbevare alle vores hjemmedyrkede !

Men Lois er så varmhjertet - hvis bare jeg lignede hende mere!

11:00 Vi slapper af med en kold drik på terrassen.

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng og tager en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15 og vi kører over til den tidligere kunstakademi for at lægge nogle breve i postkassen ved siden af. Vi kommer hjem igen og slapper af med en Magnum is og en kop te.

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en dokumentarfilm, 1. del af 3, der handler om Napoleon. Programmets vært er historikeren Andrew Roberts.

Vi har glædet os til at se dette program, men vi bliver meget skuffet, når vi ser det. Vi mindes om, at Roberts først fremlagde dette analyse for 3 år siden, da han lige havde udgivet en ny bog om emnet i forbindelse med 200. årsdagen for slaget ved Waterloo.

Alle ved, at man ikke kan sælge en populær historisk bog uden at man udfordrer de ortodoksiske fortolkning af emnet. Alle ved, at Napoleon var en ubarmhjertig tyran og krigkriminel, der skabte et enormt fransk imperium på kontinentet, plyndrende kunstneristiske skatte osv, mens han lod som om at han befriede folkene. Sikke et vanvid!!!!

Roberts i sin ny bog, og i dette program, påstår, at Napoleon i virkeligheden var en pæn, lidt genert, mand. Ikke godt nok, Andrew!!!

Ræk mig lige opkastningspose, Alice !!!!!

Det er sandt, at Napoleon var en brilliant general og strateg, selvom hans evner i denne retning også aftog mod slutningen af hans karriere. Hans felttog i Egypten var lidt af en fiasko, og hans russiske felttog var en total katastrofe, ingen tvivl om det!!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzz!!!