We have to go out early today - we have our regular
6-monthly check-up at 9:30am at our dental clinic. We are examined by a dentist
we have not seen before: Daria. She has a Romanian last name and some foreign
accent or other, but she is very friendly and has a dazzling smile.
I tell her that a couple of days ago I had a bit of an
accident when I was demolishing a bowl of cherries. Daria examines me and tells
me that I have actually lost a very large filling in one of my upper teeth on
the right hand side. That tooth, I know very well, is my biggest problem -
there's not much left of it: it was mostly just the filling with a few little
pieces of tooth all around it.
She says she will try to put a new filling in there, but
if it does not hold, I will have to get the whole tooth removed. Damn!
She would also like to put small fillings in my 2 upper front
teeth, which she says are very worn - damn (again) !!!! She will at the same
time use an X-ray to examine one of my 2 crowns, that dates from 1985, just to
check it out to make sure it's in good condition. Damn (for the third time)
!!!!
The receptionist gives me another 2 appointments for next
month, in addition to my existing appointment with the clinic's hygienist,
Ursula.
What a morning
!!!!
12:30 Lunch and afterwards a giant afternoon nap. I get
up at 4pm and we relax with a cup of tea on the terrace.
18:00 Dinner and afterwards we spend the evening watching
television. An old episode of Top of the Pops is showing from January 16, 1986.
It's hard for Lois and me to believe, but the BBC channel first aired this program only 3 days before we moved into the house we still live in.
Lois and I were 39 years old, with 2 young daughters, Alison (10) and Sarah
(8). We had 5 months earlier moved back to England after 3 years' residence in
the United States.
Flashback to January 1986: Alison (10) and
Sarah (8) having fun
with their American sleds in our new back yard. We had just moved into the house,
and many of our garden furniture was also American,
purchased in Hechingers, and Bradlees, the
department store with a difference ha ha
Happy days !!!!
Nowadays Lois and I are just two old crows who spend
quiet peaceful evenings watching television and listening to the radio while
the clock on the wall is ticking tick tock tick tock. But sometimes I can still
hear our little daughters' laughter out there in the backyard. Yikes!
My god, take me away, ye men in white coats, it's finally
time for me to give up !!!
21:00 We continue to watch some television. An interesting documentary is on, (5th
part of 6) all about Africa's major civilizations. This 5th episode is about
the medieval empires on the west coast of the continent and the impact of the
slave trade. The host of the program is the charming black American, Henry
Louis Gates Jr.
It seems that Gates has in his approach a bit of an agenda
and subtext about Africa having been unfairly ignored by the world's historians
for many years. As a black American, Gates takes pride in celebrating the
continent's achievements - as a schoolboy he was constantly told that Africa
had no civilization before the arrival of the Europeans.
Lois and I are again amazed by Gates' historical
presentation, and amazed at how little we know about African history.
Who knew, for example, that the Portuguese navigator and
explorer Diogo Cao's ship arrived at the mouth of the Congo River in
present-day Angola in 1483?
Cao met the Congolese king and the two men exchanged
gifts and established trade agreements between Congo and Portugal. It was as if
two continents, who did not know each other, were meeting each other for the
first time, Gates says. In 1488, the two countries exchanged ambassadors. In
1491 the Congolese king, Nzinga Nkuwu, converted to Catholicism.
When the king died, his son Afonso continued the process
of spreading the religion and giving it a truly African flavor. He also
established a national school system: and religion was a major subject on the
schools' timetables, no doubt about that! Also a local cathedral was built. And
Afonso's son was named Africa's first bishop of Pope Leo X (in 1518).
a crucifix, created in the Congo, with an
African Jesus,
wearing a typical Congolese loincloth.
However, I suspect that all these developments in West Africa were overshadowed by Christopher Columbus' discovery of America in 1492,
and perhaps, that's why we, as
schoolchildren, did not hear anything about such events going on in Africa.
Gates then tells us the sad story of the slave trade, but
he is very fair. He does not absolve the African kings and rulers from
responsibility in the process. Both Europeans and Africans played a full part
in the trade, no doubt about that.
A commentator in the "Radio Times", the BBC's
magazine, says, it's a bit of shame that this excellent series has been buried
by the BBC and shown late at night, without much publicity, and that's a view Lois
and I totally agree with.
22:00 We go to bed - I read 12 pages of my bedtime book,
JD Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye" before I drift off to sleep -
zzzzzzz !!!!!
Danish translation
Vi skal
tidligt ud i dag – vi har vores regelmæssige halvårlige check-up kl 09:30 på
vores tandlægeklinik. Vi bliver undersøgt af en tandlæge, vi ikke har set før:
Daria. Hun har et rumænsk familienavn og en eller anden undenlandske accent,
men hun er meget venlig og har et blændende smil.
Jeg fortæller
hende, at jeg for et par dage siden havde lidt af en ulykke, da jeg var i gang
med at sætte en skål kirsebær til livs. Daria undersøger mig og fortæller mig,
at jeg faktisk har mistet en meget stor plombe i en af mine øverste tænder på
højre side. Den tand der, ved jeg godt, er mit største problem – der er ikke
ret meget tilbage af den: det var for det meste bare plomben med en lille
stykke af tand deromkring.
Hun siger, hun
vil prøve at stikke en ny plombe derind, men hvis det ikke holder, vil jeg
måtte få hele tanden taget ud. Pokkers!
Hun vil gerne
også stikke små stykker plombe i mine 2 øverste fortænder, som hun siger, er
meget slidte – pokkers (igen) !!!! Samtidig vil hun, ved hjælp af et
røntgenfoto, undersøger en af mine 2 kroner, der daterer fra 1985, bare for at
tjekke op på den, for at sikre sig, at den er i god stand. Pokkers (for tredje
gang)!!!!
Receptionisten
giver mig endnu to aftaler for næste måned, udover min eksisterende aftale hos
klinikkens hygiejniske specialist, Ursula.
Sikke en formiddag!!!!
12:30 Frokost
og bagefter en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 16 og vi slapper af
med en kop te på terrassen.
18:00
Aftensmad og bagefter bruger vi aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser et
gamle afsnit af Top of the Pops fra den
16. januar 1986.
Det er svært
at tro, men BBC-kanalen sendte dette program først 3 dage før at vi flyttede
ind i det hus, vi i dag stadig bor i. Lois og jeg var dengang 39 år gammel, med
2 unge døtre, Alison (10) og Sarah (8). Vi var 5 måneder tidligere flyttet
tilbage til England efter 3 års ophold i USA.
Tilbageblik til januar 1986: Alison (10) og Sarah (8)
hygger
sig med deres amerikanske slæder i vores baghave.
Vi
var lige flyttet ind i huset, og mange af vores havemøbler var også
amerikanske,
købt i Hechingers, og Bradlees, stormagasinet med en forskel ha ha
Lykkelige
dage!!!!
Nutildags er
Lois og jeg bare to gamle krager, der bruger stille og rolige aftener på at se
fjernsyn og lytte til radio, mens uret tikker tik-tak. Men nogle gange kan jeg stadig
høre i min hjerne vores små døtres latter derude i baghaven. Yikes!
Du godeste,
tag mig væk, jer mænd i hvide kitler, jeg opgiver !!!
21:00 Vi
fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm (5.
del af 6) der handler om Afrikas store civilisationer. Dette 5. afsnit handler
om de middelalderlige riger, der lå på kontinentets vestlige kyst, og
indvirkningen af slavehandlen . Programmets vært er den charmerende sorte
amerikaner, Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Det føles som
om Gates har i sin tilgang lidt af en undertone af, at Afrika er for mange år
blevet uretfærdigt ignoreret af verdens historikere. Som en sort amerikaner
sætter Gates en ære i at fejre kontinentets bedrifter – som skoledreng blev han
konstant fortalt, at Afrika ikke havde nogen civilisation, før ankomsten af
europærerne.
Lois og jeg bliver
endnu en gang forbavset over Gates historiske fremlæggelse, og forbavset over,
hvor lidt vi kender til afrikansk historie.
Hvem vidste,
for eksempel, at den portugisiske navigatør og opdagelsesrejsende Diogo Caos
skib ankom i 1483 til munden af floden Kongo i nutidens Angola. Cao mødte Kongos
konge, og de to mænd udvekslede gaver og etablerede handelsaftaler mellem Kongo
og Portugal. Det var som om, to kontinenter, der ikke kendte hinanden, mødte
hinanden for første gang, siger Gates. I 1488 udvekslede de to lande
ambassadører. I 1491 konverterede den kongolesiske konge, Nzinga Nkuwu, til katolicismen.
Da kongen
døde, fortsatte hans søn Afonso processen af at brede religionen og give den en
ægte afrikanske smag. Han etablerede
også en national skolesystem: religion var en stor fag på skolernes skemaer,
ingen tvivl om det! Også en lokal katedral blev bygget. Og Afonsos søn blev
udpeget Afrikas første biskop af paven Leo X (i 1518).
et
korsfæste, skabt i Kongo, med en afrikansk Jesus,
iført
en typisk kongolesiske afrikansk lændeklæde.
Jeg mistænker
imidlertid, at alle disse udviklinger i det vestlige Afrika, blev overskygget
af Christoffer Columbus’ opdagelse af Amerika i 1492, og måske derfor hørte vi,
som skoleelever, intet om sådanne begivenheder
i Afrika.
Gates
fortæller os efterfølgende slavehandlens triste historie, men han er meget
retfærdig. Han løser ikke de afrikanske konger og herskere fra ansvar i
processen. Både europæerne og afrikanere
spillede en fuld rolle i handlen, ingen tvivl om det.
En kommentator
i ”Radio Times”, BBC kanalens tidsskrift
siger, det er lidt af en skam, at denne udmærkede serie er blevet gravet af BBC
og vist sent på natten, uden ret meget publicitet, og det er Lois og jeg enige
i.
22:00 Vi går i
seng – jeg læser 12 sider af min sengetid bog, JD Salingers ”Catcher in the Rye”,
inden jeg glider over i søvnen – zzzzzzz!!!!!
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