Monday, August 6, 2018

08:00 Lois and I get up. The weather girl has again said it's going to be a hot day today and tomorrow - Lois wants to get an early start so she can go for her usual walk around the local football field before it gets too hot. And in her capacity as head gardener, she has asked me to do an extra, early morning, watering of the flower beds and vegetable garden.

Apart from that we would like to relax again today, but we cannot shuffle round the house in almost nothing yet, until our neighbor, Frances, or Stephen, her husband, have paid us a visit: they have to go off midday for a camping holiday in the Forest of Dean with their daughter Elizabeth and her family.

They have asked us to look after their house, flower beds and massive vegetable gardens during their absence and they have promised to drop in this morning to give us their usual 2 pages of instructions. So it's double gardening for us this week with mostly no prospect of rainfall. Damn! Just our luck !!!

10:00 Lois and I sit down in front of our respective computers. She is continuing her genealogical research while I read the first few pages of my Danish crime novel, "The Further You Fall", which has come in from saxo.com in the form of an e-book. Currently, I am considering the book as a potential candidate for our U3A Danish group's next project.

“The Further You Fall", a Danish crime novel, which could possibly be

our U3A Danish group's next project

The story begins one evening with an unknown "murderer" who plans to commit his murder in 2 hours' time. He has squeezed himself into a small cleaning closet in the kitchen of a large office building. He is waiting for all the staff, apart from his victim, to leave for the day, so he can jump out of the closet (ha ha) and kill his victim, Lilliana, with his little garrotte - yuck, creepy!

In the course of the day I get as far as page 7, where the killer is just about to jump out of the closet and commit the crime. The strange thing about the story is that the killer seems to be feeling sorry for his victim, a cleaning assistant routinely bullied, humiliated and cheated by her work-colleagues. Is the murder going to turn out to be a kind of mercy-killing, I wonder. I expect that sooner or later I will find out what the murderer's motives are: currently the author has not revealed them. But a good start to the story, I think.

12:00 Frances, our neighbor, swings by and gives us her usual 2 page instructions. We chat for a while - Frances is unfortunately one of those people who cannot tell you anything without going into the tiniest details, so the conversation lasts much longer than necessary, but I'm going to let that one slide. At last we say goodbye and have a good holiday. Now finally we can get out of our clothes and relax - hurrah, it is already getting very warm. Yikes!

13:00 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a huge afternoon nap. I get up at 3 o'clock and continue reading my new Danish crime novel.

We have not heard anything from our two daughters for a few days. Alison, our elder daughter, has been tied up with a weekend get-together in Northamptonshire with some of the British people she and her family met in Denmark during their recent 6-year residence over there.

Sarah, our younger daughter, who lives in Perth, Australia, has for some reason been out of touch with us for approx. a week - we do not know why. I sent her a text on Sunday, the day we usually talk to her on whatsapp or skype, but so far there has been no response - we have no idea why.

We sometimes feel a bit superfluous as grandparents, and especially Lois tends to get a little restless. Finally we understand what our own parents went through, especially when I was living as a student in Japan for a year and later when Lois and I lived in the USA for three years, together with our 2 little daughters. At that time there was no internet, no skype, no whatsapp, and phone calls were very expensive. We depended on the postman.

18:00 We have dinner and afterwards we start watering our own flower beds and vegetable garden, and then our neighbors'. It all takes a hell of time, no doubt about that. I just hope that the plants are happy ha ha. My god, what madness, all of it !!!!

20:00 We spend the rest of the evening watching television. An unusual documentary is on, all about the strange abduction of a young 13-year-old boy, Thomas Clifton, in 1600 towards the end of Elizabeth I.'s reign (1558-1603). The man behind the abduction was a theatrical impresario, Henry Evans.

Thomas Clifton was abducted in London on his way to school, and was forced to join a squad of boy actors who used to perform both in upscale theaters and in front of the queen in one of her royal palaces. And the abduction was perfectly legal and by the Queen’s authority. My god, what madness !!!

The queen herself was very into boy actors, it seems. In 1600 she was 67 years old, unmarried and childless, and historians wonder whether that was why she ensured that there were always a large number of young boy actors around, but that's something the jury is still out on.

A bizarre story from a period when children apparently had no rights and were seen as a cheap workforce, always available. And it was legal to abduct them as long as you had an official "abduction warrant" from the authorities.

The story became a battle of the warrants. The impresario Henry Evans had got an abduction order from the authorities, and the young Thomas Clifton's father applied for a "release warrant" to try to free his son. The battle between the two men was resolved in the country's then Supreme Court, the so-called Star Chamber.

Thomas's father argued on technical grounds that Evans misussed his abduction warrant because it was stated in the text that the purpose of warrant was to recruit boy choristers, not boyactors. Thomas's father won the case and Evans had to pay costs plus a £100 fine, which in those days was a small fortune, no doubt about that. Good grief !!!

Lois and I like the program's presenter, Katherine Rundell, an academic and author of children's books. She is very charming and vivacious, to put it mildly. During the program, I do a little research about her on my smartphone.

Katherine's father was a diplomat and she spent her childhood in Zimbabwe and Brussels. Her hobbies include tightrope wallking and also walking on rooftops, and she claims that she starts every day by turning a few cartwheels because "reading is almost the same as doing cartwheels: it turns the world on its head and leaves you breathless". My god, what a woman !!!

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

Danish translation

08:00 Lois og jeg står op. Vejrpigen har igen sagt, det kommer til at være en varm dag i dag og i morgen – Lois har lyst til at få en tidlig start, så hun kan gå sin sædvanlige tur rundt på den lokale fodboldbane, før det bliver for varmt. Og hun har, i sin kapacitet som hovedgartner, bedt mig om at gøre en ekstra tidlig morgen vandning af blomsterbedene og grøntsagshaven.

Bortset fra det der har vi lyst til at slappe af igen i dag, men vi kan i ikke daske rundt i huset i næsten ingenting, indtil vores nabo, Frances, eller Stephen, hendes mand, har besøgt os: de skal til af sted midt på dagen på en campingferie i Dean-skoven med deres ældste datter Elizabeth og hendes familie.

De har bedt os om at passe på deres hus, blomsterbede og massive grøntsagshave i deres fravær og de har lovet at smutte ind i formiddag hos os for at give os deres sædvanlige 2 sider anvisninger. Så derfor er det fordoblet havearbejde denne uge uden udsigt til regnvejr for det meste. Pokkers! Bare vores held!!!

10:00 Lois og jeg sætter os foran vores henholdsvisse computerer. Hun går i gang med at fortsætte sin genealogiske forskning, mens jeg læser de første få sider af min danske krimiroman, ”Dybt at falde” (”The Further You Fall”), som jeg har modtaget fra saxo.com i form af en e-bog. For tiden betragter jeg bogen som en mulig kandidat til vores U3A danske gruppes næste projekt.

”Dybt at Fælde”, en dansk krimiroman, der muligvis kunne være

vores U3A danske gruppes næste projekt

Historien begynder en aften med en ukendt ”morder”, der planlægger at begå sit mord om 2 timers tid. Han har klemt sig ind i et lille rengøringsskab i køkkenet af en stor kontorbygning. Han venter på, at alle de ansatte, bortset fra sit offer (formentlig), er gået hjem, så han kan springer ud af skabet (ha ha) og dræbe sit offer, der hedder Lilliana, med sin lille garrotte – øv, uhyggeligt!

I løbet af dagen når jeg til side 7, hvor morderen skal lige til at springe ud af skabet og begå forbrydelsen. Det mærkelige ved historien er, at morderen synes at have ondt for sit offer, en rengøringsassistent, som alle de andre ansatte mobber / ydmyger / snyder. Kommer mordet til at være noget slags medlidenhedsdrab, undrer jeg mig. Jeg forventer at jeg før eller senere skal finde ud af, hvad morderens motiver er: i øjeblikket har forfatteren ikke afsløret dem. Men en god start på historien, synes jeg.

12:00 Frances, vores nabo, smutter ind hos os og giver os sin sædvanlige 2 sider anvisninger. Vi snakker lidt – Frances hører desværre til de slags personer, der ikke kan fortælle noget uden at inkludere de mindste detaljer, så samtalen varer langt længere, end nødvendigt, men det springer jeg over. Til sidste siger vi hende farvel og god rejse. Nu endelig kan vi komme af tøjet og slappe af – hurra, det bliver allerede meget varmt. Yikes!

13:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng og tager en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15 og fortsætter med at læse min nye danske krimiroman.

Vi har ikke hørt noget fra vores to døtre i et par dage. Alison, vores ældste datter, er blevet beskæftiget med en weekendsammenkomst i grevskabet Northamptonshire med nogle af de britiske mennesker, hun og hendes familie mødte i Danmark i løbet af deres nylige 6-års ophold derover.

Sarah, vores yngste datter, der bor i Perth, Australien, har af en eller anden grund været ude af kontakt med os i ca. en uge – vi ved ikke hvorfor. Jeg sendte hende en sms i søndags, dagen vi plejere at tale med hende på whatsapp eller skype, men det har hidtil ikke været noget svar – vi har ikke den fjerneste anelse om hvorfor.

Vi føler os nogle gange lidt overflødige som bedsteforældre, og især Lois har tendens til at føle sig lidt hvileløs. Til sidst forstår vi, hvad vores egne forældre, gik igennem, især da jeg som studerende boede i Japan i et år, og senere, da Lois og jeg boede i USA i tre år sammen med vores 2 små døtre. Dengang var der ingen internet, ingen skype, ingen whatsapp, og telefonopkald var meget dyre. Man afhang af postbudet.

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bagefter går i gang med at vande vores egne blomsterbede og grøntsagshave, og derefter vores naboers. Det hele tager en helvedes tid, ingen tvivl om det. Jeg håber bare på, at planterne er tilfredse ha ha. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid, det hele !!!!

20:00 Vi bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en usædvanlig dokumentarfilm, der handler om den mærkelige bortførelse af en ung 13-årig dreng, Thomas Clifton, i 1600 sidst i Elizabeth I. af Englands regeringstid (1558-1603). Manden bag bortførelsen var en teatrisk impresario, Henry Evans.

Thomas Clifton blev bortført i London på vej til skole, og blev tvunget til at slutte sig til en trup af drengeskuespillere, der plejede at optræde både i fornemme teatre og foran dronningen i et af sine kongelige paladser. Og bortførelsen var 100% lovligt på dronningens autoritet. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!

Selve dronningen var meget til drengeskuespillere, lader det til. Hun var i 1600 67 år gammel, ugift og barnløs, og historiker spekulere om, at derfor har hun sikret, at der altid var en rigelig antal unge drengeskuespillere, men det er juryen stadig ude om.

En bizar historie fra en periode, da børn tilsyneladende ikke havde ingen rettigheder, og var set som en billig arbejdsstyrke, der altid var til rådighed. Det var lovligt at bortføre dem, så længe man havde en officiel ”bortførelsesordre” fra myndighederne.

Historien blev til en kamp mellem ordrene. Impresarioen Henry Evans fik en bortførelsesordre fra myndighederne, og den unge Thomas Cliftons far ansøgte om en ”løsladelsesordre” for at forsøge at befrie sin søn. Kampen mellem de to mænd blev løst i landets daværende højesteret, den såkaldte Stjernekammer.

Thomas’ far argumenterede af tekniske grunde, at Evans misbrugte sin bortførelsesordre, fordi det stod i ordrets tekst, at formålet med bortførelsesordre skulle være at rekruttere kordrenge, ikke drengeskuespillere. Thomas’ far vandt retssagen og Evans skulle betale omkostninger plus en 100£ bøde, der dengang var en formue, ingen tvivl om det. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid, det hele!!!

Lois og jeg kan godt lide programmets vært, Katherine Rundell, en akademiker og forfatter af børnebøger. Hun er meget charmerende og livlig, for at sige mildt. Under programmet gør jeg lidt forskning om hende på min smartphone.

Katherines far var diplomat, og hun tilbragte barndommen i Zimbabwe og Bruxelles. Hendes hobbyer inkludere linedans og gåture på tage, og hun påstår, at hun starter hver dag med at slå et par vejrmøller, fordi "at læse er næsten nøjagtig det samme som at slå vejrmøller: det vender verden på hovedet og det tager vejret fra én". Du godeste, sikke en kvinde!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzz!!!!