Sunday, July 22, 2018

08:00 We get up and after breakfast we talk on whatsapp with Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia, and with Jessie, one of Sarah's 2 little twins. Lily, the other twin, is in too bad a mood to talk to us: Sarah spoke sharply to her half an hour ago when Lily wanted to have dinner, and Sarah said it was too early. Good grief, what a sensitive soul Lily is ha ha!

Jessie tells us about the preparations for the twins' birthday (on Thursday) and their birthday party at the weekend, to which they have invited approx. 12 little friends, mostly, children from the twins' kindergarten.

Francis, Sarah's husband, is currently working hard on a project that one of his former clients in Britain has asked him to complete. Francis had an online business in England before the family moved to Australia in December 2015: his work was to produce computer-generated images of new houses, apartment blocks or the like, which construction companies wanted to get official approval for.

11:00 Lois has to go out. She wants to attend her sect's two worship services taking place today in the town of Tewkesbury.

I have a little alone time. I hop on my fitness bike for the first time in a month and ride 6 miles.

Afterwards, I watch a bit of television, a documentary film I recorded last night on our YouView device.

The program is all about the late satirist Peter Cook. I suspect there will be a lot of obscenities in the program, and later I am proved right ha ha! Tha's why it is probably a good idea to see it while Lois is not at home: I'm quite sure she would not want to see it, no doubt about that. Good grief, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

I did not know Cook (left) was close friends with some members

of the rock group the Rolling Stones, for instance

Before I watch the program today, I did not know that members of the Rolling Stones rock group were close friends with Cook, especially Keith Richard and Ronnie Wood, also that all 3 of them had an interest in cartography.

An old, fairly detailed map of Nigeria hung on the wall of the living room in Cook's old house at that time. In an old home-movie, we see Keith commenting on the map.

An old map of Nigeria, hanging on the wall of the living room in Cook's old house.

In fact it's still hanging there today, even though Cook and his wife, Lin, are both dead.

Keith Richard (left) comments on the map in admiring tones.

I suspect that Cook must have inherited the map from his father, who was a district officer in Nigeria in the 1930s.

When I was a student, I bought a map of British Eastern Africa - Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika - and I put it on the wall of my room as a conversation-starter or ice-breaker, but it was never 100% successful. I suspect the typeface on the map was a little too small to be easily readable.

Cook's most famous comedy sketch was perhaps the one he wrote when he was still only a student. It's about a theatrical agent (played by Cook) who is interviewing a bunch of hopeful candidates for the role of Tarzan. A one-legged man (played by Cook's collaborator, Dudley Moore) has applied for the job, and the sketch depicts the subsequent interview.

Perhaps Cook's most famous sketch, where he plays a theatrical agent

who has to interview a bunch of hopeful candidates

for the role of Tarzan, including this one-legged man (Dudley Moore).

Yesterday's documentary film also includes Hungarian TV's version of the sketch, which is very interesting to me because I am currently studying the Hungarian language with my friend, "Magyar" Mike.

We see scenes from the Hungarian versions of Cook's sketches, a delight for me,

because I am currently studying Hungarian

In the Hungarian version of the famous theatrical agent sketch, the one-legged candidate's right leg has been replaced by some kind of table-leg or chair-leg for some reason. Most of the sketch is nevertheless still quite funny in Hungarian.

In the English version, the most famous lines in the sketch turn up when Cook says to Moore in reassuring tones, "Your right leg, I like. I have nothing against your right leg. The problem is, neither have you". This line does not work well in the Hungarian version - I have to say. And this lack of humorous aspect is confirmed by the Hungarian audience's silence at this point in the sketch.

scenes from the Hungarian version of the famous sketch

However, Cook refused to be provoked by this fiasco in Hungary and was very generous to the unfortunate Hungarian director: and he later paid for a lunch with him at a good London restaurant.

Cook, however, did not bear any grudges against the unfortunate Hungarian director,

and invited him to lunch at a good restaurant in London

13:00 I have lunch and afterwards go to bed and take a huge afternoon nap. I get up at 3 o'clock and start preparing a Danish vocabulary test that I want our U3A Danish group members to attempt on Wednesday, when the next meeting of the group takes place here.

The correct answers spell out the sentence, "Love is blind, friendship closes its eyes" (a quotation from Nietzsche, perhaps a bit too intellectual, but I want to lift the tone of our meetings in view of all the sex scenes we have to cope with in our Danish crime-novella ha ha).

By the way, the correct answers to our Danish group's new vocabulary test are top secret until Thursday at 3pm, needless to say ha ha ha !!!

15:30 I decide to order online a box of 36 pints of beer from Abbey Ales, the city of Bath's oldest brewery, at £ 62.50, including delivery. Steve, my brother in law, has recommended that I try this attractive offer. We'll see if he's right – I suspect he is.

15:45 Lois comes back from Tewkesbury and we relax with a cup of tea on the couch.

18:30 We have dinner and afterwards we talk on the phone to Alison, our elder daughter, who returned to Haslemere, Surrey, 3 weeks ago, after almost 6 years of residence in Denmark. The family is in the process of sorting out their old house, which had been rented out during their absence abroad. 

There are also many friends whom they got to know in Copenhagen, who now want to meet up with them again. The family is also planning a short vacation in Copenhagen in August to spend some time with their many friends over there. Busy, busy, busy!

The family keeps a dog and two coal-black Danish ex-street cats. They stopped the two cats from going out of the house for the first 2 weeks after they moved back, because they were afraid that cats could get confused and disappear. Now however the cats are free to wander wherever they want. The family has a massive backyard and there is plenty of countryside around them.

Josie, our 11 year old granddaughter, has posted these 2 charming pictures

of the family's 2 coal-black Danish ex-street cats on "Insta".

The cats are having fun exploring the family's massive (if parched) backyard.

21:00 We spend the rest of the evening watching television, an interesting documentary about the English stand-up comedian, Lee Mack's genealogical research, especially in relation to his great-grandfather, who was also a comedian, it seems.

An interesting saga, especially from Lois's point of view, given her interest in genealogical research. Lois also has vaudeville artists in her family tree, which is a bit surprising, to say the least.

Lee Mack's great-grandfather's career as a comedian / musician, lasted only 5 years or so, during and after the World War I. He was among the first to volunteer for military service in 1914, and soon became a member of a comic squad in uniform, "The Optimists" - good name! Or was it ironic? The jury is still out on that one.

It is interesting that one day near the Franco-Belgian border, Lee's great-grandfather took part in a battle in the morning and a concert in the afternoon. My goodness! It was no good being a wimp if you wanted to be a comedian in the old days, no doubt about that!

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

Danish translation

08:00 Vi står op og efter morgenmad taler vi lidt på whatsapp med Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien, og med Jessie, én af Sarahs 2 små tvillinger. Lily, den ande tvilling, er i for dårligt humør til at tale med os: Sarah irettesatte hende for en halv time siden, da Lily havde lyst til at spiser aftensmad, og Sarah sagde, det var for tidligt. Du godeste, hvor er Lily dog følsom ha ha!

Jessie fortæller os om forberedelserne på tvillingernes fødselsdag (på torsdag) og deres fødselsdagfest i weekenden, som de har inviteret ca. 12 små venner til, for det meste, elever på tvillingernes børnehave.

Francis, Sarahs mand, er for tiden i gang med at arbejde hårdt på et projekt, en af hans tidligere klienter i Storbritannien har bedt ham om at udrette. Francis havde en online forretning i England, før familien i december 2015 flyttede til Australien: hans  arbejde var at fremstille computer-generede billeder af nye huse, etageejendomme  eller lignende, som bygningsfirmaer ønskede at få officiel tilladelse til.

11:00 Lois skal ud. Hun ønsker at deltage i sin sekts to gudstjenester, der finder sted i dag i byen Tewkesbury.

Jeg har lidt alenetid. Jeg hopper op på min kondicykel for første gang i en måned. Jeg cykler 6 miles.

Bagefter ser jeg lidt fjernsyn, et dokumentarfilm, jeg i går aftes optog på vores YouView-enhed.

Programmet handler om den afdøde satirist Peter Cook. Jeg mistænker, at der vil være en masse obskøniteter i programmet, og det får jeg senere ret i ha ha! Derfor er det måske en meget god idé at se det, mens Lois ikke er herhjemme: jeg er helt sikker på, at hun ikke ville have lyst til at se det, ingen tvivl om det. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

jeg vidste ikke, at Cook (til venstre) var tætte venner med nogle medlemmer

af rock-gruppen Rolling Stones.

Før jeg i dag ser på programmet , vidste jeg ikke, at Rolling Stones-rockgruppens medlemmer var tætte venner med Cook, især Keith Richard og Ronnie Wood, også at de alle 3 interesserede sig meget for kartografi.

Et detaljeret gammelt kort over Nigeria hang dengang på væggen i stuen i Cooks gamle hus. I en gammel hjemmelavet film ser vi Keith kommentere på kortet.

et gamle kort over Nigeria, der hang på væggen i stuen i Cooks gamle hus.

Det hænger der faktisk stadig, selvom både Cook og hans kone, Lin, desværre er døde.

Keith Richard kommenterer kortet i beundrende toner.

Jeg mistænker, at Cook må have arvet kortet fra sin far, der som embedsmand var ”district officer” i Nigeria i 1930’erne.

Da jeg var studerende, købte jeg et kort over det britiske østlige Afrika – Kenya,Uganda, Tanganyika – og jeg stak det op på væggen som en samtale-starter eller is-brækker, men det var faktisk aldrig 100% succesfuldt. Jeg mistænker, at fonten på kortet var lidt for lille til at blive nemt læselig.

Måske Cooks mest berømte komedie-sketch var en, han skrev da han stadig var studerende. Den handler om en teatralsk agent (spillet af Cook) der er i gang med at interviewe en flok håbefulde kandidater  til rollen af Tarzan. En ét-benet mand (spillet af Cooks kollaboratør, Dudley Moore) har ansøgt om jobbet, og sketchen handler om  det efterfølgende interview.

Måske Cooks mest berømte sketch, hvor han spiller en teatralsk agent,

der interviewer håbefulde kandidater, inklusive denne ét-benede mand,

 til rollen af Tarzan.

Gårsdagens dokumentarfilm inkluderer også ungarsk tv’s version af sketchen, hvilket er meget interessant for mig, fordi jeg for tiden studerer det ungarske sprog sammen med min ven, ”Magyar” Mike.

vi ser ungarske versioner af Cooks sketches, en fryd for mig,

fordi jeg for tiden er i gang med at studere ungarsk

I sketchens ungarske version er den ét-bende kandidatens højre ben blevet udskiftet af en slags bordben eller stolben, af en eller anden grund. Sketchen er imidlertig stadig ganske morsom på ungarsk.

I den engelske version dukker sketchens mest berømte linjer op, når Cook siger til Moore, at ”din højre ben, kan jeg lide. Jeg har intet imod dit højre ben. Problemet er, heller ikke dig”.  Denne linje virker ikke ret godt i den ungarske version – det må jeg nok sige. Og denne mangel på morsomhed bliver bekræftet af det ungarske publikums tavshed på dette tidspunkt i sketchen.

scener fra den ungarske version af den berømte sketch

Cook nægtede imidlertid at blive provokeret af denne fiasko i Ungarn og var meget generøs overfor den uheldige ungarske instruktør: han betalte for frokost med ham i en god restaurant i London.

 Cook bærer imidlertid ikke nogen nag mod den ungarske instruktør,

og inviterer ham til frokost på en god restaurant i London

13:00 Jeg spiser frokost og bagefter går i seng og tager en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15 og går i gang med at udarbejde en danske ordforrådtest, som jeg vil have vores U3A danske gruppes medlemmer til at tage på onsdag, når gruppens næste møde finder sted hos os.

De rigtige svar staver sætningen, ”Kærlighed er blind, venskab lukker dens øjne” (en citation fra Nietzsche, måske lidt for intellektuel, men jeg har lyst til at løfte tonen af vores møder, i betragning af alle de sexscener vi er nødt til at takle i vores danske kriminovelle ha ha).

I øvrigt er de rigtige svar på vores danske gruppes nye ordforrådtest tophemmelige indtil torsdag kl 15, unødvendigt at sige ha ha ha!!!

15:30 Jeg beslutter at bestille på nettet en kasse med 36 pints øl fra Abbey Ales, byen Baths ældste bryggeri, på 62, 50£, inklusive leverance. Steve, min svigerbror, har anbefalet, at jeg afprøver dette attraktive tilbud. Vi får se, om han har ret  ; det har han, mistænker jeg.

15:45 Lois kommer tilbage fra Tewkesbury og vi slapper af med en kop te i sofaen.

18:30 Vi  spiser aftensmad, og bagefter taler vi lidt på telefonen med Alison, vores ældste datter, der 3 uger siden flyttede tilbage til Haslemere, Surrey, efter næsten 6 års ophold i Danmark. Familien er i gang med at ordne deres gamle hus, som var blevet udlejet under deres fravær i udlandet. Der er også mange venner, som de kendte i København at lære, som nu ville mødes med dem igen. Familien planlægger også en kort ferie i København i August for at tilbringe lidt tid med deres mange venner derovre. Travlt, travlt, travlt!

Familien holder en hund og to kulsorte danske eks-gadekatte. De forhindrede de to katte i at komme ud af huset i de første 2 uger, efter de flyttede tilbage, fordi de var bange for, at katte bliver forvirret og forsvinder. Nu står der kattene frit for at vandre hvor som helst de har lyst. Familien har en massive baghave, og der er masse af natur omkring dem.

Josie, vores 11-årige barnebarn, har lagt disse 2 charmerende billeder

af familiens kulsorte danske gadekatte op på ”Insta”.

Kattene hygger sig med at udforske familiens massive baghave.

21:00 Vi bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn, en interessant dokumentarfilm, der hanlder om den engelske stand-up komiker, Lee Macks genealogiske forskning, især i forhold til sin oldefar, der også var komiker, lader det til.

En interessant saga, især set ud fra Lois’ synspunkt i betragtning af hendes interesse i genealogisk forskning. Lois også har vaudeville-kunstnere i sit familietræ, hvilket er lidt overraskende, for at sige mildt.

Lee Macks oldefars karriere som komiker/musiker, varede kun 5 år eller deromkring, under og lige efter den 1. verdenskrig.  Han var blandt de første til at melde sig frivilligt til militær tjeneste i 1914, og han blev snart medlem af en komisk trup i uniform, ”The Optimists” – godt navn! Eller var det ironisk? Det er juryen stadig ude om.

Det er interessant, at en dag i nærheden af den fransk-belgisk grænse, deltog Lees oldfar i en slag om morgenen og en koncert om eftermiddagen. Du godeste! Man måtte ikke være en skvat for at være komiker i gamle dage, ingen tvivl om det!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzzzz!!!!