Monday, July 30, 2018

09:00 Lois and I get up. After breakfast, I sit myself down in front of my laptop and study the 800-year-old poem, "Alysoun", which Lynda, our local U3A "Making of English" group leader, has assigned to me to read aloud, translate into modern English and talk about, at the group's next monthly meeting, which will take place on Friday in the bar of the town's Everyman Theater.

This medieval poem was preserved by chance, like many other such poems. It's an early love poem that the author wrote about a woman, Alysoun, whom he has fallen in love with. The feelings the poet writes about are timeless and they seem totally sincere, heartfelt and passionate. He would have been very surprised if he knew that his poem was still being read 800 years later - I'm sure about that.

I get going with investigating the interesting words. After having praised the woman's hair, eyebrows, eyes, neck and waist to the skies, the author called her the most beautiful girl in town ("fyrest may in toune"), he ends the poem with a 2-line bombshell:

Geynes under gore (= fairest under the skirt)

Herkne to my roun. (= listen to my song).

Apparently, skirts for women were the big new thing in the 13th century. The middle English word "gore" meant anything that had a triangular shape, originally, for example a triangular field or a triangular piece of chain mail, later a triangular piece of fabric in a garment. Breasts were often exposed in those times and narrow waists were fashionable: the poet's love had a narrow waist. The bottom of the skirts, however, were wide, so maybe that's why they were called a "gore" (because slightly triangular) - but I'm not entirely sure about that.

The poet calls his poem "my roun" ('my song' in modern English). That word "roun" is related to the modern English word "rune", which originally meant a "magic symbol", but also a quasi-alphabetical letter of the type found all across northern Europe. Runes were adapted from contact in the 2nd century with the Greek alphabet, with letters modified to make them easier to carve into wood or stone, which sounds sensible.

Writing had a magical aura in those distant times. But nobody is absolutely sure if the word's "magic" meaning was the original, or was secondary - that's something the jury is still out on.

The Middle English word "roun" died out in England in the mid 15th century. The word was reintroduced into the language in the form of "rune" in the 19th century after German philologists began studying runes especially in Scandinavia.

My god, what a crazy world we live in !!!

Flashback to May 2013: Lois and I visit the

Viking fortress at Trelleborg, Denmark, which dates back to the year 980,

and we see the fortress's famous runestone

Lois in the reconstructed Viking village

Lois dressed like a Viking maiden in the fortress's little museum

Happy Days!

13:00 Lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a huge afternoon nap. I get up at 3 o'clock and continue studying my Middle English poem. I'm also starting to look for a suitable Danish crime novella to be our next U3A Danish group's next project. It would have to be an e-book again, no doubt about that. It costs a fortune to order printed books by mail from Denmark - yikes, what madness!

18:30 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching television. The third episode of "Dicte" s new season is on, first broadcast on Friday on the More4 channel.

The series is about a crime reporter in Aarhus, Dicte Svendsen (played by Iben Hjejle). She is close friends with one of the female detectives in the city's police station and she uses her contacts to investigate various crimes simultaneously with the official police investigations: and she has a habit of finding the murderer before the police do (copyright Arthur Conan Doyle ha ha).

Each episode is very entertaining and engaging, although many of the plot details are a little hard to believe. It is strange how easy she finds it to get into official buildings without being checked by security staff, and even getting into private houses - yikes.

And what has happened to patient confidentiality? Are the patient's notes and other information not confidential? Dikte bursts into the local psychiatric hospital's canteen and puts personal questions about patients to the head of the department, who is sitting there eating his lunch. And he has no inhibitions about revealing a bunch of details about his patients' lives and case notes.

Good grief, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

Lois and I notice that more and more familiar faces are turning up each week in the series's cast: actors' faces we've seen before in other Danish TV shows. But Denmark is a small country, with a relatively small entertainment industry, so this is quite understandable. I am absolutely sure that American television or movie viewers who watch British programs and movies must be sick and tired of seeing for example Judi Dench or Emma Thompson turning up again and again. What madness !!!

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

Danish translation

09:00 Lois og jeg står op. Efter morgenmad sætter jeg mig foran min bærebare og studere den 800 år gamle digt, ”Alysoun”, som Lynda, vores lokal U3A ”Making of English” gruppes leder, har tildelt mig at læse op, oversætte til moderne engelsk og tale om i gruppens næste månedlige møde, der finder sted på fredag på baren af byens Everyman-teater.

Dette middelengelske digt blev bevaret tilfældigvis, som mange andre sådanne digte. Det er et tidligt kærlighedsdigt, som forfatteren har skrevet om en kvinde, Alysoun, som han er blevet forelsket i. Følelserne digteren skriver om, er tidløse, og de virker helt varmfølte, inderlige og passionerede. Han ville have været meget overrasket, hvis han vidste, at hans digt blev stadig læst 800 år senere – det er jeg helt sikker på.

Jeg går i gang med at undersøge de interessante ord. Forfatteren, efter at have rost kvindens hår, øjenbryn, øjne, nakke,  og talje til skyerne, og kaldet hende for den smukkeste pige i byen (”fyrest may in toune”) ender han digtet med et 2-linjes tordenslag: 

Geynes under gore (= fairest under the skirt)

Herkne to my roun. (= listen to my song).

Tilsyneladende var nederdele til kvinder den store nye ting i det 13. århundrede.      Det middelengelske ord ”gore” betød noget som helst, der havde en trekantet form, oprindeligt for eksempel en trekantet mark eller et trekantet stykke ringbrynje, senere et trekantet stykke stof i en beklædningsgenstand. Bryster var dengang ofte blottede, og smalle taljer var moderigtige: digterens forelskede havde en smal talje. Men nederdelenes bunde var brede, så måske derfor blev de kaldet ”gore” (fordi lidt trekantede) – men det er jeg ikke helt sikker på.

Digteren kalder sit digt ”my roun” (min sang på moderne engelsk). Detter ord ”roun” er beslægtet til det moderne engelske ord ”rune”, der oprindeligt betød både et eller andet ”magisk tegn”, men også et kvasi-alfabetisk bogstav af typen fundet over hele Nord-europa. Runer blev adapteret fra kontakt i den 2. århundrede med den græske alfabet, med bogstaver modificerede, så man ville have nemmere ved at indskære dem i træ eller sten, hvilket lyder fornuftigt.

Skriving havde en magisk aura i de der fjerne tider. Men ingen er helt sikker på, om ordets ”magiske” betydning var den oprindelige, eller var sekondær – det er juryen stadig ude om.

Det middelengelske ord ”roun” døde ud i midten af det 15. århundrede i   England.  Ordet i form af ”rune” blev genintroduceret i sproget i det 19. århundrede efter tyske filologer begyndte at studere runer især i Skandinavien.

Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!

tilbageblik til maj 2013: Lois og jeg besøger

vikingeborgen Trelleborg, Danmark, der daterer til år 980,

og ser borgens berømte runesten

Lois i den rekonstruerede vikingelandsby

Lois klædt ud som en vikingepige i borgens lille museum

- lykkelige dage!

13:00 Frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng og tager en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15 og fortsætter med at studere mit middelengelske digt. Jeg begynder også at lede efter en passende danske kriminovelle, som kan være vores U3A danske gruppes næste projekt. Det vil måtte være en e-bog igen, ingen tvivl om det. Det koster en formue at bestille printede bøger med post fra Danmark – yikes, sikke et vanvid!

18:30 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser det tredje afsnit af ”Dicte”s nye sæson, der først blev sendt i fredags på More4-kanalen.

Serien handler om en aarhusianske kriminelreporter, der hedder Dicte Svendsen (spillet af Iben Hjejle). Hun er tætte venner med en af de kvindelige detektiver i byens politistation og bruger sine kontakter for at undersøge forskellige forbrydelser, samtidig med de officielle politiefterforskninger: og hun har for vane at finde gerningsmanden før politiet gør det (copyright Arthur Conan Doyle ha ha).

Hvert afsnit er meget underholdende og begejstrende, selvom mange af plottets detaljer er lidt svært at tro. Det er underligt, hvor nemt hun har det ved at træde ind i officielle bygninger uden at blive tjekket af sikkerhedspersonale, også ved at træde ind i private huse – yikes.

Og hvor blev patienters fortrolighed af? Er patienternes  journaler og andre oplysninger ikke fortrolige? Dikte braser ind i det lokale psykiatriske hospitals restaurant og stille personlige spørgsmål om patienter  til afdelingens chef, der sidder og spiser sin frokost. Han har ikke nogle hæmninger om at afsløre mange detaljerne af sine patienters liv og journaler.

Du godeste, sikke et skør verden vi lever i !!!!

Lois og jeg bemærker, at mere og mere kendte ansigter hvert uge dykker op i seriens cast: ansigter vi har set før i andre danske tv-serier. Men Danmark er et lille land, med en forholdsvis lille underholdningsbranche, så dette er helt forståeligt. Jeg er helt sikker på, at amerikanske tv-seere eller filmseere, der ser britiske programmer og film, må være blevet godt trætte af at se eksempelvis Judi Dench eller Emma Thompson dykker op gang på gang. Sikke et vanvid!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzz!!!!

Sunday, July 29, 2018

08:00 We get up and go in the shower. Usually on Sundays, we expect to talk at around 10 o'clock on whatsapp or skype with Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia: due to the time difference between Britain and Australia, there is only a short time window to talk to our 5 year old grandchildren , Lily and Jessie. We have to catch them just before they have dinner and get ready to start on their evening routine, designed specifically to calm them down and send them to bed in the right mood.

Lois and I are doing essentially the same thing at the age of 72. We try to calm each other down before we hop into bed, but some of the tv programs do not help, which is a bit of a shame. 

Today, we have agreed with Sarah not to ring them. It was the twin's 5th birthday party, and both the children and both their parents will be very tired, no doubt about that. The theme of the party was based on "Frozen", the twins' favorite film franchise.

Later in the day Sarah puts a couple of charming pictures up on "Insta". The pictures show the Frozen-themed birthday cake and the special "entertainment" for the party: a visit from the Snow Queen.

The Frozen-themed birthday cake on Sarah's kitchen table

The Frozen-themed entertainment: a visit from the Snow Queen. Jessie

 (to the left of her) and Lily (to the right) are standing immediately next to

 her "majesty". Lily's face is almost invisible under all that fake snow - poor her !!!!

I bet that the twins were blown away by it all. How cute they are!

However, snow queens and similar icons may sometimes be a source of concern for parents. I recall a couple of years ago reading an interesting web article about the dangers of losing one's children as soon as they step through almost any portal that happens to lead to a fantastical world of some kind (report, Onion News July 1, 2016).

At that time FBI officials were giving parents and authorities a strong warning confirming that the first 48 hours were the most crucial for finding children who had disappeared through a portal to a fantastical world: immediate action was required, they stressed.

These are the Agency's top investigators, who have worked in numerous cases where children had been reported missing after crawling through a small hole in the fences, discovered an old cave hidden behind a waterfall, or walked through a magic gateway on some part of the family property that they were forbidden to visit. Officials stated that the chances of saving a child from an otherworldly empire of kaleidoscopic colors and imaginative creatures fall by almost 90 percent after the first two days.

"As soon as we learn a child has disappeared into a light pool under their stairs or through a strangely shaped attic door which they had never before noticed, we have to act quickly to assemble search parties and cover as much enchanted area as possible", said investigator Joe Phillippe, who urged parents to contact the authorities immediately if they thought their children had entered a shining world of crystal palaces or been transported back to the age of King Arthur.

"If the children are not saved in this critical 48-hour window, they typically become disoriented in the thick fog and dense forest in a country where it is always night, or are led astray by a well-dressed fox who promises to take them to a place where children can play any kind of game. By that time they will be almost impossible to find. "

Good grief, how worrying! I am very pleased that Lois and I no longer have parents' responsibilities today - we are too old to stand those kinds of crises, no doubt about that. What a crazy world we live in.

10:45 It's raining and it's windy again - it suddenly feels like autumn, which is a bit of a shock after 2-3 months of heat wave.

Lois has to go out, however. She wants to attend her sect's two worship services taking place today in the town of Tewkesbury. According to the church's rota, it is Lois's responsibility today to prepare the sacrament table: she takes along a loaf, plus milk for the church members' cups of tea.

I have a little bit of alone time, and do a few tasks on my to-do list. I wait for a short break in the rain and then go out into the backyard. I sort out the waste and recycled waste etc.

I also put new cat-litter in Minx's litter box, and collect the old litter in a huge black bag and throw it in the bin: good grief, it weighs a ton! There must be gallons of Minx's cat-pee in there, no doubt about that !!!!! If there are two more bags like that,weighing the same then the waste bin will become impossible to push out onto the sidewalk, I know that for sure! What madness !!!!

13:00 Lunch and afterwards a giant afternoon nap.

15:00 I get up and read the remaining pages of "Svigtet", the Danish crime novella, which is our U3A Danish group's current project.

"Svigtet", our U3A Danish group's current project.

In the final pages we get more of an idea of the events that led to a young female drug addict being killed and her body stuffed into the old chest freezer on an old farm where it lay for 12 months before being found by the farmer. Yuck, creepy!

There are no more of the frequent sex scenes involving detectives and forensic scientists, and the writer spares us the details of the necrophilia charge which the police have added to the murderer's charge-sheet - thank God (multiplied by a million) for that ha ha!

The novella is shorter than I expected. Now, as group leader, I must start searching for a suitable short story to be the group's next project. My god, busy, busy, busy!

15:30 Lynda, leader of the local U3A "Making of English" group has sent the group's members an email. She has assigned each member a Middle English poem to look at before the group's next monthly meeting, which takes place on Friday in the bar of the Everyman Theater. It's a bit of a shame that Lynda assigns us our homework so late in the month, which does not give us enough time for a serious study, but I'm going to let that one slide.

Lynda has assigned me "Alysoun", a poem written in the 13th century by an unknown author. I browse through the poem, which seems to be a love poem that the poet has written about a woman, Alysoun, that he has fallen in love with. He praises her beauty to the skies: eyes, eyebrows, smile, neck, waist, etc. It's a little bit of a shame that he does not stop at the waist, but unfortunately he works his way a bit lower down. Her most beautiful feature lies under her skirt, it seems. Damn, I've been awarded the most embarrassing poem, as usual! Just my luck!

He does not go on to describe her legs or feet, so perhaps they are not very nice. Too fat, too thin, varicose veins, maybe. But that's something I'm not 100% sure about. Boils? 

I browse through the poems that other members have been assigned, hoping that they are embarrasing too, but no dice: some of the other poems are quite religious: "Jesus, Swete Sone Dere" for example. Why couldn't I have been assigned something religious? Damn (again)! Just my luck (again) !!!!

18:00 We have dinner: our first roast dinner for a few months. During the recent heat wave we tended to avoid turning the oven on - the kitchen gets too hot.

Roast lamb and potatoes, carrots and home-grown green beans, with homemade mint sauce - yum yum! Strawberry and yogurt for dessert: yum yum (again) !!!

20:00 We talk a little on the phone with Alison, our oldest daughter, who recently moved back to the family's old house in Haslemere after approx. 6 years stay in Denmark. Lois and I would like to have the family to stay with us for a few days in August, but unfortunately they not only have a quite full calendar (a bunch of old friends would like to meet with them too) but also now a dog and two Danish (ex-stray) street cats, making it much harder for them to leave the house. Lois and I have a small problem too because we have to take care of our neighbor's house and garden for a week.

Lois and I decide to visit the family for a week starting August 13 or so. Our neighbors will be back from their vacation and we can also be there for Alison's 43th birthday. Yikes - you know you are old when your children become well and truly middle aged, no doubt about that! In 7 years she will turn 50 and we will be 79 (if we're lucky ha ha) Yikes (again) !!!!

21:00 We spend the rest of the evening watching television, an interesting documentary about Trump's supporters in the US's southern states. The host of the program is former Labour Party politician Ed Balls.

Balls proves to be a much better TV host than he was a politician. He is surprisingly sympathetic and friendly, but he nevertheless asks Trump's followers some hard questions without alienating them, so that viewers are rewarded with open-hearted, revealing insights into the world view of his supporters.

"He does what he says." ... "He does what he says." While the whole world criticizes Trump, his heartlands cheer.

It is clear that, in his recent election campaign, Trump exploited widespread dissatisfaction among the American working class.

As long as Trump "does what he says," his followers will remain satisfied with him, no doubt about that. He gets his way in his business with the help of more than a little bullying and pressure here and there. Can he do the same in a society where the constitution has a lot of democratic protections against tyrannical behaviour?

And what if he actually fails to do what he says, especially with regard to highly visible and concrete ideas such as the wall along the Mexican border? Will it be enough to blame his opponents and ask the people to elect even more hardcore Trump politicians as congressmen? What if the economy does not look so great. Will his followers finally decide that he has made their world worse, not better? Or will it be his opponents' fault again? The jury is still out on that one.

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

Danish translation

08:00 Vi står op og går i bad. Sædvanligvis om søndagen forventer vi at tale ved 10-tiden på whatsapp eller skype med Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien: på grund af tidsforskellen mellem Storbritannien og Australia er der kun et kort tidsvindue til at kunne tale også med vores 5-årige børnebørn, Lily og Jessie. Vi må fange dem lige før de spiser aftensmad og forbereder sig på at starte deres aftenrutine, designet specielt til at berolige dem og sende dem i seng i det rigtige humør.

Lois og jeg gør stadig essentielt det samme på 72 år. Vi prøver vores bedste at berolige hinanden før vi hopper op i sengen,  men tv-programmerne ikke altid hjælper, hvilket er lidt af en skam.

I dag har vi aftalt med Sarah ikke at ringe til dem. Det var tvillingernes 5-års fødselsdagsfest, og både børnene og deres forældre vil være meget trætte, ingen tvivl om det. Festens tema er baseret på ”Frozen”, tvillingernes yndslingsfilmfranchise.

Senere på dagen lægger Sarah et par charmerende billede op på ”Insta”. Billederne viser den Frozen-tematiserede fødselsdagskage og den specielle ”underholdning” til festen: et besøg fra Snedronningen.

Den Frozen-tematiserede fødselsdagskage på Sarahs køkkenbord

Den Frozen-tematiserede underholding: et besøg fra Snedronningen.

Jessie (til venstre) og Lily (til højre) står umiddelbart ved siden af hendes majestæt.

Lilys ansigt er næsten usynligt under al den der imiterede sne, stakkels hende!!!!

Jeg vil vædde på, at tvillingerne blev blæst væk af det hele. Hvor er de dog søde!

Snedronninger og lignende ikoner kan imidlertid nogle gange være for forældre en kilde for bekymringer. Jeg mindes om, jeg for et par år siden læste en interessant webartikel om farerne for at miste ens børn, så snart de går ad en eller anden portal til en mystisk verden (rapport, Onion News den 1. juli 2016).

FBI embedsmænd gav dengang forældre og myndigheder en stærk advarsel, der bekræftede, at de første 48 timer er de mest afgørende for at finde børn, der var forsvundet gennem en portal til en fantastisk verden: øjeblikkelig handling er nødvendig.

Agenturets øverste efterforskere - som har arbejdet på talrige tilfælde, hvor børnene var blevet meldet savnede efter at have kravlet gennem et lille hul i hegnene, opdagede en gammel hule gemt bag et vandfald og vandrede gennem en magisk gateway på en del af familiens ejendom de var forbudt at besøge.  De oplyste, at chancerne for at bjærge et barn fra et overjordiske rige af kalejdoskopiske farver og fantasifulde væsner falder med næsten 90 procent efter de første to dage.

"Så snart vi lærer, har et barn forsvundet ned ind i en lysbassin under deres trappe eller gennem en mærkelig formet loftsdør, som de aldrig før havde lagt mærke til, skal vi handle hurtigt for at samle søgepartier og dække så meget fortryllende område som muligt", sagde efterforskeren Joe Phillippe, der opfordrede forældre til straks at kontakte myndighederne, hvis de troede, at deres barn var gået ind i en skinnende verden af ​​krystalpaladser eller blevet transporteret tilbage i tiden til King Arthurs alder. "Hvis de ikke bliver bjærget i det kritiske 48-timers vindue, bliver børn typisk desorienteret i den tyk tåge og tætte skov i et land, hvor det altid er nat, eller de bliver ført på vildspor af en velbeklædt ræv, som lover at tage dem til et sted hvor børn kan spille alle slags spil. På det tidspunkt bliver de næsten umulige at finde. "

Du godeste, bekymrende! Jeg er meget glad for, at Lois og jeg ikke har forældres ansvar i dag –  vi er alt for gamle til at udholde de slags kriser, ingen tvivl om det. Sikke en skør verden vi lever i.

10:45 Det regner og det blæser igen – det føles pludselig som efteråret, hvilket er lidt af et chok efter 2-3 måneders hedebølge.

Men Lois skal af sted. Hun ønsker at deltage i sin sekts to gudstjenester, der finder sted i dag i byen Tewkesbury. Ifølge kirkens turnus er det Lois’ ansvar i dag at forberede nadverbordet:  hun tager et brød med, også mælk til kirkemedlemmers kopper te.

Jeg har lidt alenetid, og klare et par opgaver på min gøremålsliste. Jeg venter på en kort pause i regnvejret og går så ud ind i baghaven. Jeg ordner affaldet og genbrugsaffaldet osv.

Jeg putter også nye kattegrus i Minx’ kattebakke, samler 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! Sikke et vanvid!!!!

13:00 Frokost og bagefter en gigantisk eftermiddagslur.

15:00 Jeg står op og læser de resterende sider af ”Svigtet”, den danske kriminovelle, der er vores U3A danske gruppes nuværende projekt.

”Svigtet”, vores U3A danske  gruppes nuværende projekt.

I de sidste sider får vi får mere af en idé om begivenhederne, der førte til, at en kvinde blev dræbt og hendes lig proppet i den gammel kummefryser på en gammel gård, hvor det lå i 12 måneder, før det blev fundet af den gamle bondemand. Øv, uhyggeligt!

Der er ikke flere sexscener involverende kriminelfolk og retsmedicinere  gudskelov, og forfatteren sparer os for detaljerne af nekrofili-anklagen, som politiet har tilføjet til gerningsmandens anklageskrift, gudskelov ganget med en million ha ha!

Novellen er kortere, end jeg forventede. Jeg må nu, som gruppeleder, begynde at søge efter en passende novelle, der kan være gruppens næste projekt. Du godest, travlt, travlt, travlt!

15:30 Lynda, leder af den lokal U3A ”Making of English” gruppe har sendt gruppemedlemmerne en email. Hun har tildelt hvert medlem et eller andet middelengelske digt at kigge på før gruppens næste månedlige møde, der finder sted på fredag i baren af byens Everyman-teater. Det er lidt af en skam, at Lynda kun tildeler os vores opgaver så sent på måneden, hvilket ikke giver os nok tid til et alvorligt studium, men det springer jeg over.

Lynda har tildelt mig ”Alysoun”, der blev skrevet i det 13. århundrede af en ukendt forfatter. Jeg blader igennem digtet, der synes at være et kærlighedsdigt, som digteren har skrevet om en kvinde, Alysoun, som han er blevet forelsket i. Han roser hendes skønhed til skyerne: øjne, øjenbryn, smil, nakke, talje osv. Det er lidt af en skam, at han ikke stoppe med taljen, men desværre arbejder han sig lavere. Hendes smukkeste træk ligger under nederdelen, lader det til. Pokkers, jeg er blevet tildelt det pinligste digt, som sædvanligt! Bare mit held!

Forfatteren fortsætter ikke lavere, så det kan være at kvindens ben og fødder ikke er ret specielle: for tykke, for tynde, åreknuder måske, men det er jeg ikke helt sikker på.  Bylder?

Jeg blader igennem digtene, andre medlemmer er blevet tildelt, i håbet om, de også er pinlige, men det hjælper ikke: nogle af de andre digte er ganske religiøse: ”Jesu, Swete Sone Dere” for eksempel. Hvorfor kunne jeg ikke være blevet tildelt noget religiøst? Pokkers (igen) ! Bare mit held (igen) !!!!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad: vores første stegte middag i et par måneder. Under den nylige hedebølge havde vi tendens til at undgå at tænde ovnen –køkkenet bliver for varmt.

Stegte lammekød og kartofler, gulerødder og hjemmedyrkede grønne bønner, med hjemmedyrket myntesauce – yum yum! Jordbær og yoghurt til dessert: yum yum (igen) !!!

20:00 Vi  taler lidt i telefonen med Alison, vores ældste datter, der for nylig flyttede tilbage ind til deres gamle hus i Haslemere efter ca. 6 års ophold i Danmark. Lois og jeg vil meget gerne have familien til at bo hos os et par dage i august, men desværre har de ikke bare en ganske fuld kalender (en flok af gamle venner vil også gerne mødes med dem), men også nu en hund og to danske (eks-herreløse) gadekatte, hvilket gør det meget sværere at forlade huset. Lois og jeg har selv et lille problem også, fordi vi må passe på vores naboers hus og have i en uge.

Lois og jeg beslutter os på at besøge familien i en uge startende den 13. august eller deromkring. Vores naboer vil være tilbage fra deres ferie, og vi kan også deltage i Alisons 43. fødselsdag. Yikes – man ved, man er blevet gammel, når ens børn bliver godt og grundigt midaldrende, ingen tvivl om det! Om 7 år vil hun fylde 50 –og vi vil være 79 (hvis vi er heldige ha ha) Yikes (igen) !!!!

21:00 Vi bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn, en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om Trumps tilhængere i USAs sydstater. Programmets vært er den tidligere arbejdspartipolitiker Ed Balls.

Balls viser sig at være faktisk en meget bedre tv-vært, end han var politiker. Overraskende sympatisk og venlig, men han stiller Trumps tilhængere hårde spørgsmål, uden at fremmedgøre dem, så seerne bliver belønnet med åbenhjertige, afslørende indsigter i tilhængernes verdenssyn.

"Han gør, hvad han siger." ... "Han gør, hvad han siger." Mens hele verden kritiserer Trump, jubler hans bagland.

Det bliver klart, at Trump i sin nylige valgkampagne udnyttede udbredte utilfredsstillelse blandt den amerikanske arbejderklasse.

Så længe Trump ”gør hvad han siger”, vil hans tilhængere forblive tilfredse med ham, ingen tvivl om det. Han får sin vilje i sin forretning ved hjælp af mere end lidt mobning og pres her og der. Kan han gøre det samme i et samfund, hvor forfatningen har en masse demokratiske beskyttelser mod tyranniske adfærsel?

Og hvad så, hvis det faktisk mislykkes ham at gøre hvad han siger, især hvad angår meget synlige og konkrete idéer som for eksempel muren langs den mexicanske grænse? Vil det være tilstrækkeligt, hvis han bebrejder sine modstandere og beder folket om at vælge endnu flere hardcore Trump-politikere som kongresmedlemmer? Hvad hvis økonomien ser ikke ud ret flot. Vil hans tilhængere endelig beslutte, at han har gjort deres verden værre, ikke bedre? Og vil det hans modstanderes skyld igen? Det er juryen stadig ude om.

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzz!!!!!

Saturday, July 28, 2018

08:00 Lois and I get up and after breakfast we head over to the local Sainsburys supermarket to do the food shopping. We come home and relax with a cup of coffee on the couch.

It rains on and off during the day, including a few claps of thunder, which is a bit of a relief after the recent heat wave. The temperature is lower also, thank god.

We know that both of our two daughters are busy this weekend, which always makes Lois feel a little lonely and restless. She does not like the feeling that she cannot talk to them and I know what she means. We feel a bit redundant, which is a little irrational, but we cannot help it. We sometimes feel that we no longer have any meaningful role, which is true from nature's point of view - we are too old to have more children so nature does not care if we get sick and / or die and so does not bother to update our bodies' physical defense mechanisms ha ha! Damn, also yikes - just our luck !!!

Sarah, our younger daughter, who lives in Perth, Australia is busy today preparing for her twins' 5th birthday party taking place tomorrow. They have invited about 12 of the twins' little friends from their kindergarten.

Alison, our elder daughter, and her family, are spending time with some of the many friends they got to know during their recent 6-year stay in Copenhagen. Alison was also busy last weekend when her parents-in-law were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary with their 5 children (and their partners) and some of their many grandchildren in a large holiday home in Bridgwater, Somerset.

Later in the day, I take a little look online, and I see that Alison has added a couple of charming photos to Facebook / Instagram, taken over last weekend:

Alison and Ed with their 3 children -

Josie (11), Isaac (8), and Rosalind (10)

Alison's parents-in-law celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last weekend

along with their 5 children (and their partners) and some of their many grandchildren

in a big house near Bridgwater, Somerset

11:30 I hop up on my exercise bike and cycle my usual 6 miles: easier today because of the cooler weather.

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 sit down in front of my laptop.

I read another roughly 10 pages of "Svigtet", the Danish crime novella which is our U3A Danish group's current project. As group leader, it is my responsibility to read the pages in advance and to make vocabulary lists at the bottom of each page, to save members having to look the harder words up in a dictionary - I am so considerate ha ha. It also enables me to find out in advance where the sex scenes are going to come, and mark the naughty passages with "skip over this during group meetings" - yikes!

The novella's heroine is Pia, a police forensics expert. She and her boyfriend, Lars, are both working on an creepy case: a year-old dead body has been found in an outhouse on an old farm far out into the country.

Pia Holm, Police Forensic Medicine expert

The conventional sexual stereotypes are reversed between Pia and Lars. Lars is a steady young man who is only interested in committed relationships, while Pia likes to sleep around. Pia makes use of a business trip to Copenhagen in connection with the current murder case, in order to have sex with Andreas, an old friend from her forensic training days, and a few days ago, unfortunately, I read all about this encounter and had to mark one whole long paragraph with "skip over this one".

And now today, I find out that when Pia returns home after her business trip, Lars, her boyfriend, discovers that she has been unfaithful to him and the couple end up by, firstly, quarrelling, and then afterwards having sex on the couch: he is angry and she wants to calm him down and get him thinking about something other than her unfaithfulness. Good grief, yet another 3 paragraphs to mark up with my legendary "blue pencil". What madness!

During our group meetings, we always take turns to each read a few paragraphs and then translate them into English. I think the most embarrassing descriptions are about people either taking their own underwear off or to pulling them off someone else, and what's worst of all are the descriptions of the body's physical signs of sexual arousal (male and female). These are all no-nos in a mixed sex group, I think: in England, at least ha ha! Maybe it's different on the continent, but that's something I'm not entirely sure about.

Probably in reality, the members of the group would not blink an eyelid, and actually not give a damn about whether Pia and Andreas, for example, let "their hungry bodies unite" or "go into a rocking-motion" etc or not. It may be that group members' own private lives are overflowing with sex scenes. But if not, it would expose me to possible criticism, because it was me who chose the novella as our project without really knowing the contents of the novella in detail. And what's the most important thing? That I avoid criticism ha ha ha (again).

My god, it's not easy to be a group leader. All of this sex keeps me busy and occupied, no doubt about that. Busy busy busy.

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching television. An interesting regular weekly program is on, all about the previous week's BBC Proms concerts. The host of the program is the charming Katie Derham. Lois and I are critical of her top again - too loose this week, and too big, we think. My god, we are so superficial.

Katie Derham, the program's charming host. Once again, Lois and I

do not like her attire – my god, we are so superficial.

An interesting program that shows another gender role reversal, because the work of the BBC's radiophonic workshop, that is, the creation of artificial, synthetic sound effects, might be thought to be more typically a male obsession. But in fact, it was women who organized it all, starting from the 1940s during the Second World War with Daphne Oram's groundbreaking projects. Oram's orchestral work, "Still Point" (composed in 1946), was performed as part of this past week's Proms concert program.

The workshop itself is a collection of equipment from the Radiophonic Workshop, and exhibited now at the Science Museum, London. It has made up one of the BBC's sound effect departments and was established in 1958 to produce sound effects and music for radio, and later on, television shows. The unit has been famous for its experimental and innovative work in electronic music and music technology. They created, for example, the famous signature tune for the BBC's sci-fi series Dr. Who.

Katie's guests listen to Dr. Whos's famous signature tune

Daphne Oram, responsible for much of the groundbreaking work

carried out in the field of synthetic music

21:00 We continue to watch a bit of television. An interesting documentary is on, all about the Swedish pop group Abba.

I had low expectations about this program because Lois and I have seen a lot of documentaries about Abba before, but in fact it turns out to be an intelligent presentation. The program shows a lot of interviews with Björn Ulvæus, the group's keyboard player and co-songwriter (together with Benni Andersen). Björn is a very intelligent man, we think.

At the beginning Björn was every much inspired by English pop music in the 1950s and 1960s. In the late 1950s, his cousin traveled to England and saw the then skiffle craze, and his cousin's reaction suggested to Björn that anyone can learn to play music, and this inspired him to try it out. And when Björn heard the Beatles song "She Loves You", he also realized that singers could compose their own songs.

The Abba group had many hits on the continent, but Bjørn realized that they would have to get a breakthrough in the Anglo-Saxon music world to be considered a "proper" pop group. And only by winning the Eurovision Song Contest could they attract the necessary attention in Britain and Australia.

22:00 Lois has been feeling a little nostalgic today, mostly because she is sensing our isolation vis a vis our two daughters, both busy with their own families today. It's a bit of a shame, but also a little predictable that the Abba documentary film includes their song "Slipping Through My Fingers", which is about a parent's sadness at seeing her little daughter start school.

"Slipping Through My Fingers"

Lois says she wishes she could remember more than she does about our daughters' childhoods. But such is life, I think. When you're busy, you do not have time to store memories away, which is a bit of a shame. At least we have our photographs. "Time it was, and what a time it was, I have a photograph. Preserve your memories. They're all that's left you. "(Copyright Paul Simon).

But back to reality - hurrah! We hop into bed. I read 12 pages of my bedtime book, JD Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye", before I drift off to sleep - zzzzzzzz !!!!!

Danish  translation

08:00 Lois og jeg står op og efter morgenmad kører vi over til det lokale Sainsburys-supermarked for at købe ind. Vi kommer hjem og slapper af med en kop kaffe i sofaen.

Det regner af og til i løbet af dagen, inklusive et par tordenskrald, hvilket er lidt af en lettelse efter den nylige hedebølge. Temperaturen er lavere også gudskelov.

Vi ved godt, at begge vores to døtre har travlt denne weekend, hvilket altid gør Lois føle sig lidt ensom og hvileløs. Hun kan ikke lide følelsen, at hun ikke kan tale med dem, og jeg ved, hvad hun mener. Vi føler os lidt overflødige, hvilket er lidt irrationelt, men vi kan ikke gøre for det. Vi føler nogle gange, at vi ikke længere har en betydningsfuld rolle, hvilket er sandt fra naturens synspunkt – vi er for gamle til at få flere børn, så naturen er ligeglad med, at vi bliver syge og/eller dø og ikke gide at opdatere vores kroppes fysiske forsværmekanismer ha ha! Pokkers, også yikes – bare vores held!!!

Sarah, vores yngste datter, der bor i Perth, Australien har travlt i dag med forberedelserne på tvillingernes 5-års fødselsdagsfest, der finder sted i morgen. De har inviteret ca. 12 af tvillingernes små venner fra deres børnehave.

Alison, vores ældste dattter,  og hendes familie tilbringer tid med nogle af de mange venner, de lærte at kende under deres 6-års ophold i København. Hun havde travlt også sidste weekend, da hendes svigerforældre fejrede deres 50-års bryllupsdag sammen med deres 5 børn (og deres partnere), og nogle af deres mange børnebørn i et stort feriehus i Bridgwater, Somerset.

Senere på dagen kigger jeg lidt på nettet, og jeg ser, at Alison har lagt et par charmerende fotos op på Facebook/Instagram, der blev taget i løbet af weekenden:

Alison og Ed med deres 3 børn –

Josie (11), Rosalind (10) og Isaac (8)

Alisons svigerforældre fejrede sidste weekend deres 50-års bryllupsdag

sammen med deres 5 børn (og deres partnere), og nogle af deres mange børnebørn

i et stort feriehus i Bridgwater, Somerset

11:30 Jeg hopper op på min kondicykel og cykler mine sædvanlige 6 miles: lettere i dag på grund af det køligere vejr.

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng og tager en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15 og sætter mig foran min bærebare.

Jeg læser endnu ca. 10 sider af ”Svigtet”, den danske kriminovelle, der er vores U3A danske gruppes nuværende projekt. Som gruppeleder er det mit ansvar at læse siderne i forvejen og udfærdige ordforrådlister i bunden af hver side, for at spare medlemmer for at skulle slå de sværere ord op i en ordbog – jeg er så betænksom ha ha! Jeg kan også finde ud af på forhånd hvor sexscenerne dukker op, og mærke de frække passager ”til at springe over i gruppemøderne” – yikes! 

Novellens heltinde er Pia, retsmediciner. Hun og hendes kæreste, Lars arbejder begge to for tiden på en uhyggelig sag: et 1-år gammel lig er blevet fundet i et udhus på en gammel gård langt ude på landet.

Pia Holm, retsmediciner

De konventionelle seksuelle stereotyper er omvendt mellem Pia og Lars. Lars er en stabil ung mand, der bare interesser sig for faste forhold, mens Pia godt kan lide at bolle udenom. Pia udnytter en forretningsrejse til København i forbindelse med den nuværende drabssag til at have sex med Andreas, en gammel ven fra sin retsmedicinske uddannelse, og for et par dage siden måtte jeg desværre mærke et langt afsnit til at ”springe over”.

Nu i dag, finder jeg ud af, at da Pia kommer hjem efter sin forretningsrejse, opdager Lars hendes kæreste, at hun har været ham utro, og parret ender med først at skændes om hendes utroskab, og bagefter at have sex i sofaen: han er vred, og hun vil berolige ham og få ham på andre tanker. Du godeste, endnu 3 afsnit til at mærke med min legendariske ”blå blyant”. Sikke et vanvid!

Under vores gruppemøder, skiftes vi til at læse et par afsnit op og oversætte dem til engelsk. Jeg mener, de pinligste beskrivelser er dem om at tage tøj af eller at trække dem af nogen anden, og, hvilket er det værste, tegn på seksuelle ophidselse (mandlige eller kvindelige). Disse er alle no-nos i en gruppe af blandet køn, synes jeg: i England, i det mindste ha ha! Måske er det anderledes på kontinentet, men det er jeg ikke helt sikker på.

Sandsynligvis i virkeligheden ville gruppens medlemmer ikke løfte en øjenbryn, og faktisk skide det et stykke, om Pia og Andreas eksempelvis  lader ”deres hungrende kroppe forene sig” og indleder ”en vuggende dans” osv eller ej. Det kan være, at gruppemedlemmernes egne privatliv flyder over med sexscener ha ha. Men hvis ikke, ville det hele udsætte mig for mulig kritik, fordi det var mig, der valgte novellen, uden at kende på forhånd novellens indhold i detaljer. Dét er vigtigste, at jeg undgår kritik ha ha ha (igen)!

Du godeste, det er ikke nemt at være gruppeleder! Al denne sex holder mig meget travlt beskæftiget, ingen tvivl om det! Travlt travlt travlt ha ha!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant regelmæssig ugentlig program, der handler om den forgående uges BBC Proms koncerter. Programmets vært er den charmerende Katie Derham.  Lois og jeg kritiserer hendes top igen – for løs og for stor, synes vi. Du godeste, vi er så overfladiske!

Katie Derham, programmets charmerende vært. Engang til kan Lois og jeg

ikke lide hendes påklædning – vi er så overfladiske ha ha!!!

Et interessant program, der fremviser endnu en kønsrolleomvendelse, fordi arbejdet af BBCs radiofoniske værksted, dvs det, at skabe kunstige, syntetiske lydeffekter, ville man tro var mere en mandlig besattelse. Faktisk var det kvinder, der organiserede det hele, startende fra 1940’erne under den 2. verdenkrig med Daphne Orams banebrydende projekter. Orams orkesterarbejde, ”Still Point” (komponeret i 1946), blev opført som en del af denne forgående uges Proms koncertprogram.

Selve værkstedet en samling af udstyr fra Radiophonic Workshop, udstillet af Science Museum, London. Det har været en af BBCs lydeffektsafdelinger og blev oprettet i 1958 for at producere lydeffekter og musik til radio- og senere på tv-programmer. Enheden har været kendt for eksperimentelt og innovativt arbejde inden for elektronisk musik og musikteknologi. De skabte blandt andet BBCs sci-fi serien Dr Whos berømte kerningsmelodi.

Katies gæster lytter til Dr Whos berømte kerningsmelodi

Daphne Oram, ansvarlig for meget af det banebrydende arbejde

i feltet af syntetiske musik

21:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om den svenske popgruppe Abba.

Jeg havde lave forventninger om dette program, fordi Lois og jeg har set en masse dokumentarfilm om Abba før, men faktisk viser det sig at være en intelligent fremlæggelse. Programmet fremviser en masse interviews med Björn Ulvæus, gruppens tastaturspiller og sangskriver (sammen med Benni Andersen). Björn er en meget intelligent mand, synes vi.

Björn blev inspireret i begyndelsen af engelsk popmusik i 1950’erne og 1960’erne. Sidst i 1950’erne rejste hans fætter til England og så den daværende skiffle- dille, og hans fætters reaktion foreslog til Björn, at nogen som helst kan lære at spille musik, hvillket inspirerede ham til at prøve sig med det. Og da Björn hørte Beatles’ sangen ”She Loves You”, indså han også, at sangere kunne komponere deres egne sange.

Abba-gruppen havde mange hitsange på kontinentet, men Bjørn indså, at de ville blive nødt til at få et gennembrud i den angel-saksiske musikverden for at blive betragtet som en ”ordentlig” popgruppe. Og kun ved at vinde Eurovision Song Contest kunne de tiltrække den nødvendlige opmærksomhed i Storbritannien og Australien.

22:00 Lois har følt sig lidt nostalgisk i dag, for det meste fordi hun mærker vores isolation overfor vores to døtre, begge to beskæftigede med deres egne familier i dag. Det er lidt af en skam, men også lidt forudsigeligt, at Abba-dokumentarfilmen inkluderede deres sang ”Slipping Through My Fingers”, der handler om en forælders tristhed om at se sin lille datter starte i skole.

”Slipping Through My Fingers”

Lois siger, hun ønsker at hun kunne huske mere, end hun gør, om vores døtres barndom. Men sådan er livet, synes jeg. Når man har travlt, har man ikke tid at lagre minder væk, hvilket er lidt af en skam. I det mindste har vi vores fotos. ”Sikke en tid det var, sikke en tid det var, jeg har et fotografi. Har du bevaret dine minder? Nu er de alt du har tilbage.” (copyright Paul Simon ha ha ha).

Men tilbage til virkeligheden – hurra! Vi går i seng. Jeg læser 12 sider af min sengetidbog, JD Salingers ”Catcher in the Rye”, før jeg glider over i søvnen – zzzzzzzz!!!!!