Thursday 31 May 2018

05:00 Lois and I wake up early: it gets light very early now - midsummer's day is only 3 weeks away. However, we stay in bed. I read 10 pages of my bedtime book, "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", a novel by the Czech author Milan Kundera, a title that is very appropriate today, I feel. Our normal routine was interrupted by our recent 2-month stay in Australia, and I feel we both are a little restless and have not got back in our stride yet, even though a whole month has passed since we flew back to England.

10:00 I do a little tidying up and vacuuming throughout the house because our U3A Danish group will be holding its next meeting here this afternoon. Lois gets going with cleaning the bathrooms. "Danish days" are rather tiring: there is the physical work of getting the house in order, and then the brainwork involved in leading the meeting, and in reading the text out in Danish and translating it into English.

Alison, our elder daughter, and her family are moving back to England after a 5-year stay in Copenhagen, so in one way or another it does not make sense any more that Lois and I study the language. But if I gave up Danish, I would only to start on another language: languages fascinate me.

And I like Danish - since I started studying the language, I have become well aware of how much Danish influenced English 1000 years ago when the English language was not yet fully formed and tens of thousands of Danish immigrants settled in eastern England.

The Danish penetration of England

12:30 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a short afternoon nap. I get up at 1:30pm and prepare for our Danish group's meeting.

14:30 The group's members arrive and we get started on reading the first 10 pages of the Danish crime novella, "Line", which is the group's next project.

The novel is about a suicide (or a murder: that's something the jury is still out on, though not literally ha ha ha). A man is found dead just outside the tower of the famous sand-covered church in Skagen on the northern coast of Jutland. The tower is the only part of the church that can now be seen: the rest of the building has been completely buried in the sand.

Lois and I have not seen the sand-covered church in Skagen, but we have both come across such churches in Cornwall and in Southern Wales, and we imagine a delapidated building with crumbling stone walls. But after the meeting ends, I do some research online, and I find out that the church tower in fact has wooden walls that have been freshly painted red and white. Good grief, what madness !!!!

the abandoned church, Skagen.

It seems to me that it is quite useful for crime writers if a murder is initially regarded as suicide because the police then tend to show scant interest in the case. This leaves the way clear for others, so that all the local amateur detectives or the deceased's friends and relatives can solve the case.

16:00 The meeting ends and Lois and I relax with a cup of tea on the couch. We are exhausted, as usual, after a "Danish" day. We are getting old, no doubt about that.

19:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching television. An old episode of Top of the Pops is on, from October 1985.

I think Lois and I must have seen this episode, but we do not remember most of the songs in the program. We were struggling to get used to life in England again after 3 years of residence in the United States. We also had to get used again to our old English house, which was much smaller than our American house.

me, fourth from left in back row, back at work again

after 3 years' absence in USA

Tonight I'm struck by how terrible this episode's music is, and rather bland - no good melodies, just a lot of dance music with monotonous rhythms, so-called "house music".

"Colonel Abrams" in October 1985: Lois and I suspect he is not

a real colonel, but I'm going to let that one slide !!!!

I'm bored and start looking at my smartphone. It's fun while watching old music programs from 30 years back, to look the singers up on Wiki and read about their later lives. Unfortunately it is often also quite sad - my god!

I read that "Colonel Abrams" actually died in 2016, at 67 years of age. He was homeless, suffered from diabetes, and was not covered by any health insurance. Yikes!

Fortunately most of us do not get our own wikipedia article, and even if we do, we never get the dubious pleasure of reading our own sad "later life, and death" details - yikes (again) !!!!

I see that Colonel Abrams released a song entitled "Just Like Mathematics" in 2007 - an odd title. I do some research, and I'm a little disappointed to find out that the math in the text is quite basic: "Since you came my whole life has changed into so many different numbers. One and one is two equals me equals you. Just like mathematics we were just as one." But on the other hand, you could argue that true love is a 100% binary concept, so maybe Abram's got hold of something deep there, some insight or other - but that's something the jury is still out on, I think.

21:00 We continue to watch a bit of television. An interesting documentary film is on (2nd part of 3) all about Pompeii. We saw the first episode last night. The program's hosts are the charming Bettany Hughes, Raksha Dave and John Sergeant.

An interesting, moving film. The programme-makers were allowed to get some plastercasts "admitted" to the hospital so they could undergo a CT scan. And again tonight some previous theories get disproved.

Tonight, we see Pompeii's most famous plaster cast, the so-called muleteer, undergoing his first CT scan. The investigation confirms that he was a strong man, so it could well be that he was a muleteer (the remains of a mule had been found not very far from the man's "body").

But people in the past thought that the man had died with his arms lifted up to protect his face. The CT scan, however, discovers that the "arms" had been fabricated by researchers in the 1930s. The man's original arms had not actually survived. Good grief, what madness !!!!

Lois and I think the programme-makers have done a good job of producing a film that feels fresh, despite the fact that the subject has been handled many times in previous documentaries. But we are a little afraid that we will still see host Bettany Hughes' ubiquitous cleavage, as soon as we are closing our eyes and trying to fall asleep tonight - yikes !!!

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

Danish translation

05:00 Lois og jeg vågner tidligt: det bliver lyst meget tidligt nu – midsommerdag er kun 3 uge væk. Vi bliver imidlertid liggende inde i sengen. Jeg læser 10 sider af min sengetidbog, ”Tilværelsens ulidelige lethed”, en roman af den tjekkiske forfatter Milan Kundera, en titel, der er meget passende for tiden, føler jeg. Vores normale rutine blev afbrudt af vores nylige 2-måneders ophold i Australien, og jeg føler, vi begge to er lidt hvileløse, og har ikke kommet i sving endnu, selvom en hel måned er gået siden vi fløj tilbage til England.

10:00 Jeg går i gang med at rydde lidt og støvsuge overalt i huset, fordi vores U3A danske gruppe holder dens næste møde i eftermiddag hos os. Lois beskæftiger sig med at gøre rent i badeværelser. ”Danske dage” er temmelig trættende: der er det fysiske arbejde med at ordne huset, og derefter det hjernearbejde involveret i at lede mødet, og i at læse teksten op på dansk og oversætte den til engelsk.

Alison, vores ældste datter, og hendes familie flytter tilbage til England efter en 5-års ophold i København, så derfor giver det på en eller anden måde ikke mening længere, at Lois og jeg studerer sproget. Men hvis jeg opgav dansk, ville jeg bare i gang med et andet sprog: sprog fascinerer mig.

Og jeg kan godt lide dansk – siden jeg begyndte at studere sproget, er jeg blevet helt klar over, hvor meget dansk påvirkede engelsk for 1000 år siden, da det engelske sprog ikke endnu var fuldt formeret, og titusindvis af danske ”indvandrere” bosatte sig i det østlige England.

Det danske penetration af England

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng og tager en kort eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 13:30 og forbereder mig på vores danske gruppes møde.

14:30 Medlemmerne ankommer og vi går i gang med at læse de første 10 sider af den danske kriminovelle, ”Line”, der er gruppens næste projekt.

Novellen handler om et selvsmord (eller et mord: det er juryen er stadig ude om, selvom ikke bogstaveligt talt ha ha ha). En mand bliver fundet død lige udenfor tårnet af den berømte tilsandede kirke i Skagen på Jyllands nordiske kyste. Tårnet er den eneste del af kirken, der nu kan ses: resten af bygningen er blevet fuldstændigt dækket af sand.

Lois og jeg har ikke set den tilsandede kirke i Skagen, men vi er begge to faldet over sådanne kirker i Cornwall og i Syd-Wales, og vi forestiller os en faldefærdig bygning lavet af smuldrende stenmure. Men efter mødet slutter, gør jeg lidt forskning på nettet, og jeg finder ud af, at kirketårnet har mure af træ, og er blevet nymalet rødt og hvidt. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

den tilsandede kirke, Skagen.

Det slår mig, at det er helt nyttigt for krimi-forfattere, hvis et mord i begyndelsen er betragtet som selvmord, fordi politiet så har tendens til at udvise besken interesse for sagen. Dette baner vejen for andre, så de lokale amatørdetektiver eller den afdødes venner og slægtninge  kan opklare sagen.

16:00 Mødet slutter og Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop te i sofaen. Vi er udmattede, som sædvanligt, efter en ”dansk” dag. Vi bliver gamle, ingen tvivl om det.

19:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser et gamle afsnit af Top of the Pops fra oktober 1985.

Jeg tror, at Lois og jeg må have set dette afsnit, men vi husker ikke de fleste sange i programmet. Vi kæmpede dengang at vænne os til livet i England igen efter 3 års ophold i USA. Vi måtte også vænne os til vores gamle hus, der var meget mindre, end vores amerikanske hus.

mig, nr 4 fra venstre i den bageste række - tilbage 

på arbejde efter 3 års fravær i USA.

I aften er jeg overrumplet over, hvor frygtelig dette afsnits musik er, og temmelig intetsigende – ingen gode melodier, en masse dansmusik med monotone rytmer, den såkaldte ”husmusik”.

”Colonel Abrams” i oktober 1985: Lois og jeg mistænker, han ikke

er en ægte kolonel, men det springer jeg over!!!!

Jeg keder mig lidt og kigger på min smartphone. Det er sjovt, mens man kigger på gamle musikprogrammer fra 30 år tilbage, at slå sangerne op på Wiki og læse om deres senere liv. Ofte er det desværre helt trist – du godeste!

Jeg læser, at ”Colonel Abrams” faktisk døde i 2016, på 67 år. Han var hjemløs, led af diabetes, og var ikke dækket af helbredsforsikring.  Yikes!

Heldigvis får de fleste af os ikke vores egen wikipedia-artikel, og, selvom vi gør, får vi aldrig den tvivlsomme glæde ved at læse vores egne triste ”senere liv og død” detaljer – yikes (igen) !!!!

Jeg ser, at Colonel Abrams i 2007 udsendte en sang med titlen ”Just Like Mathematics” – en sær titel. Jeg gør lidt forskning, og jeg er lidt skuffet over at finde ud af, at matematikken i teksten er helt grundlæggende:  ”Since you came my whole life has changed into so many different numbers. One and one is two equals me equals you. Just like mathematics we were just as one.” Men på den anden side kunne man argumentere, at sand kærlighed er et 100% binært koncept, så måske havde Abrams fået fat i noget dybt der, en eller anden indsigt – men det er juryen stadig ude om, synes jeg.

21:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm (2. del af 3), der handler om Pompeii. Vi så det første afsnit i går aftes. Programmets værter er de charmerende Bettany Hughes, Raksha Dave og John Sergeant.

En interessant, rørende film – programmagerne fik lov til at få nogle af gipsafstøbninger ”indlagt” på hospitalet, så de kunne gennemgå en CT-scanning. Nogle tidligere teorier bliver modbevist.

I aften ser vi Pompeiis mest berømte gipsafstøbning, den så kaldte muldyrdriver, gennemgå sin første CT-scanning. Undersøgelsen bekræfter, at han var en stærk mand, så det kan godt være, at han var muldyrdriver  (resten af et muldyr var blevet fundet ikke ret langt fra mandens ”lig”).

Men folk før i tiden troede, at manden var død med sine arme løftet op for at beskytte sit ansigt. CT-scanningen opdager imidlertid, at ”armene” var blevet skabt af forskere i 1930’erne. Mandens oprindelige arme var faktisk ikke overlevet. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

Lois og jeg synes, programmagerne har gjort et godt stykke arbejde ved at producere et film der føles frisk, på trods af, at emnet er blevet vist mange mange gange i forrige dokumentarfilm. Men vi er lidt bange for, at vi begge vil stadig se værten Bettany Hughes allestedsnærværende ”modne” kavalergang, når vi lukke øjnene og prøver at falde i søvn i nat – yikes!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzz!!!!