08:30 Lois and I get up, and after breakfast Lois hurries
into the kitchen to make a packed lunch for her sect's visiting preacher. She
feels a little out of sorts - ache in the back from long hours in the kitchen,
digestion problems after yesterday's get-together at Andy and Angie's, and she
did not sleep well last night - at one point or another during the night she
crept out of our bed and hopped into the double bed in Sarah's old room so she
could read a bedside book without disturbing me. Poor Lois !!!
But she feels she must go to church today because of the
packed lunch for the preacher - on the local church's rota, it's her
responsibility today to make it. She asks me to drive her over to the town of
Tewkesbury and pick her up again after the first of today's 2 worship services.
10:00 We are half expecting to hear from Sarah, our
daughter in Perth, Australia, who often calls us on whatsapp around 10 o'clock,
but there is no call this morning - it could be that the family has gone on
some outing, but that's something we are not entirely sure about.
11:00 I drive Lois over to Tewkesbury, but on her way she
feels nauseous, so she decides to just swing by the church, hand the packed
lunch over to some church member, and then come home with me. She will be able to
listen to the church's second worship service this afternoon on the web.
12:00 I get going with reading the first 150 lines of a
medieval mystery play, "The Harrowing of Hell". I am a member of
Lynda's U3A "Making of English" group, and this mystery play is the
group's current project. The group is holding its regular monthly meeting on
Friday, and Lynda has asked me to chair the meeting on her behalf - she is on
vacation this week in the counties of Somerset and Dorset.
At group meetings we take turns to read approx. 20 lines
and translate them into modern English, and comment on interesting words and
grammar. This mystery play was written in the city of York in the 15th century,
so the language is Middle English, Northern dialect, which was significantly
influenced by Danish and the other Scandinavian languages, which from my point
of view is very interesting.
a typical medieval York mystery play underway
on the streets of York City
The play is about the soul of Jesus which, after the
body's death on the cross, decides to leave the body behind in the grave and
descend into the underworld to "save all the righteous people who have
died since the beginning of the world" including unborn children , also
Adam and Eve, and a bunch of other people.
However it's odd that the underworld is often described
as the place where the unrighteous are tortured forever, so some have wondered
if the underworld has actually been divided into two departments, the first being a massive
torture chamber, and the other being a kind of waiting room, not unlike the kind of
waiting room you come across in large city hospitals.
As I read the first 150 lines of this mystery play, I realise
that the lines are becoming not that hard to understand. Some dialogues I can just read
and instantly understand, without looking any words up in my online Middle
English dictionary, which is nice.
I have a sudden revelation. The text was written over 600
years ago, but here at last is our language.
This is now our language: English! It's finally arrived!
It has finally begun to emerge from the primeval swamp, leaving behind its
predecessors: Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse, and their predecessor Proto-Germanic,
and Proto-Germanic's predecessor, the Indo-European language that could be
heard six thousand years ago on the Eurasian Steps.
Finally, this is our
language, English,
After 6,000 years, it has at last emerged
from the primeval swamp - hurrah!
12:45 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a
huge afternoon nap. Lois in the meantime sits down with the computer, her
little piece of bread, and a drop of red wine in a small sherry glass - very
touching, I think.
16:00 I get up, and Lois and I relax with a cup of tea on
the couch. I take a little look online and I see that Ed, our son-in-law in
Haslemere, Surrey, has spent most of the day cutting one of his massive hedges.
Our daughter Alison has posted a charming picture of him on "Insta"
and Facebook. The picture reminds me that our own hedges badly need to be cut
back, no doubt about that.
While Ed is working on the gardening, our 10-year-old
grandchild Rosalind relaxes by keeping up with the news of the week - she is
currently browsing through the magazine "The Week"'s children's
edition. How charming!
18:00 Lois still has digestive problems so we decide not
to have a normal dinner. I hurry into the kitchen and make a snack - two
servings of fried egg on toast.
19:30 We spend the rest of the evening watching
television. Another concert is on in the BBC Proms summer series. The concert
showcases Elgar's cello concerto and the Vaughan Williams' cantata "Dona
Nobis Pacem". The host of the program is the charming Tom Service, who, to
our surprise, turns up unshaven at the BBC commentary box.
A touching performance of Elgar's cello concerto, with
its beautiful opening theme. Elgar was in his 60's when he scribbled the melody
down on the back of an envelope while lying in a hospital bed after a
tonsillectomy - poor Elgar!
Elgar said that if you ever hear anyone whistling the
melody around the Malvern Hills, it would be him. Lois and I agree to test out
Elgar's prediction next time we are on the hills over there.
The soloist, Frenchman Jean-Guihen Queyras (crazy name,
crazy guy) unfortunately seems to be tired, almost exhausted and ready to fall asleep at the
drop of a hat. At one point, Lois and I thought he was going to fall off his
chair.
The soloist, Frenchman Jean-Guihen
Queyras, looks tired
and half-asleep, which is a bit of a shame - poor Jean!
We are also a little surprised that the orchestra found a
Frenchman who was willing to play Elgar's masterpiece. Lois says that
continental musicians have mostly never heard of any English composers or
consider them "not real composers". Good grief, what a crazy world we
live in !!!!
After the performance, the soloist delights the Royal
Albert Hall audience with a couple of lighter encores: "Old MacDonald Had
A Farm" and "The Hokey-Cokey", both
played in the modern style.
21:00 We continue watching television, the 1st episode of
a new classic drama series, "Vanity Fair", based on Thackeray's
famous novel.
It is evident, despite what Alison Graham says in the
Radio Times magazine, that the program makers have decided to modernize the
story and the characters a little and jazz up the dialogues. I will be on the
look-out for anachronistic expressions as the series goes forward. ITV has been warned ha ha.
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz !!!!
Danish
translation
08:30 Lois og
jeg står op og efter morgenmad skynder Lois sig ind i køkkenet for at lave en
madpakke for sin sekts besøgende prædiker. Hun føler sig lidt dårligt tilpas –
ondt i ryggen fra lange timer i køkkenet, fordøjelsesproblemer efter gårsdagens
sammenkomst hos Andy og Angie, og hun sov ikke ret godt i nat – på ét eller
andet tidspunkt i løbet af natten krøb hun ud af sengen og hoppede op i
dobbeltsengen i Sarahs gamle værelse, så hun kunne læse en sengetidbog uden at
forstyrre mig. Stakkels Lois!!!
Men hun føler,
hun må gå i kirke i dag, på grund af madpakken til prædikeren – ifølge den
lokale kirkes turnus er det hendes ansvar i dag at lave den. Hun beder mig om
at køre hende over til byen Tewkesbury og hente hende efter den første af
dagens 2 gudstjenester.
10:00 Vi
forventer halvt om halvt at høre fra Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien,
der ofte ringer til os på whatsapp ved 10-tiden, men der er i formiddag ikke
nogen opkald – det kan være, at familien er taget på et eller andet udflugt,
men det er vi ikke helt sikre på.
11:00 Jeg
kører Lois over til Tewkesbury, men på vej får hun kvalme, så hun beslutter kun
at køre forbi kirken, række madpakken til et eller andet kirkemedlem, og så
komme hjem med mig. Hun vil kunne lytte til kirkens 2. gudstjeneste i
eftermiddag på nettet.
12:00 Jeg går
i gang med at læse de første 150 linjer af et middelengelsk mysteriespil, ”The
Harrowing of Hell”. Jeg er medlem af Lyndas U3A ”Making of English” gruppe, og
dette mysteriespil er gruppens nuværende projekt. Gruppen holder sit
regelmæssige månedlige møde på fredag, og Lynda har bedt mig om at lede mødet
på hendes vegne – hun er på ferie denne uge i grevskaberne Somerset og Dorset.
På gruppemøder
skiftes vi til at læse ca. 20 linjer og oversætte dem til moderne engelsk, og
kommentere interessante ord og grammatik. Mysteriespillet blev skrevet i byen
York i det 15. århundrede, så sproget er middelengelsk, nordlige dialekt, der i
en betydelig grad var påvirket af dansk og de andre skandinavske sprog, hvilket
for mit vedkommende er meget interessant.
et
typisk midalderligt York-mysteriespil, der er i gang med
at
blive opført på gaderne af byen York
Mysteriespillet
handler om Jesus’ sjæl, der efter kroppens død på korset, beslutter sig for at efterlade
kroppen i graven og stige ned i underverden for at ”frelse alle de retfærdige
folk, der var død siden begyndelsen af verden”, herunder for eksempel ufødte
børn, også Adam og Eva, og en flok andre folk.
På den anden
side er underverden ofte beskrevet som stedet, hvor de uretfærdige blive
tortureret for evigt, så nogle har spekuleret på, om underverden faktisk er
blevet delt i to områder, det ene en massiv torturkammer, det andet en slags
masse ventesal, ikke ulig den slags ventesal man falder over i hospitaler – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!
Mens jeg læser
mystierspillets første 150 linjer, indser jeg, at linjerne er ikke ret svært at
forstå. Nogle stykker dialog kan jeg bare læse og umiddelbart forstå, uden at
slå nogle ord op i min online middelengelsk ordbog, hvilket er rart.
Jeg har en
pludselig åbenbaring. Teksten blev skrevet for over 600 år siden, men her
endelig er vores sprog.
Dette er nu vores
sprog: engelsk! Det er endelig ankommet! Det er endelig begyndt at titte frem
fra den forhistoriske sump, efterladende sine forgængere: angel-saksisk og
oldnorsk, og deres forgænger urgermansk, og urgermansks forgænger, det indoeuropåiske
sprog, man hørte for 6.000 år siden på den eurasiske stepper.
endelig er dette vores sprog, engelsk,
der
efter 6.000 år er tittet frem fra den forhistoriske sump – hurra!
12:45 Vi
spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng og tager en gigantisk
eftermiddagslur. Lois sætter sig i mellemtiden med computeren, sit stykke brød,
og en dråbe rødvin i et lille sherryglas – meget rørende, synes jeg.
16:00 Jeg står
op og Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop te i sofaen. Jeg kigger lidt på nettet,
og jeg ser, at Ed, vores svigersøn i Haslemere, Surrey, har bruget det meste af
dagen på at klippe en af sine massive hække. Vores datter Alison har lagt et
charmerende billede af ham op på ”Insta” og Facebook. Billedet minder mig om,
at vores egne hække trænge til at klippe tilbage, ingen tvivl om det.
Mens Ed beskæftiger
sig med havearbejde, slapper vores 10-årige barnebarn Rosalind ved at holde sig
ajour med ugens nyheder – hun er i gang med at blade igennem tidsskriftet ”The
Week”s børneudgave. Hvor charmerende!
18:00 Lois har
stadig fordøjelsesproblem, så vi beslutter os for ikke at spise en normal
aftensmad. Jeg skynder mig ind i køkkenet og laver en snack – to portioner spejlæg
på toast.
19:30 Vi
bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser endnu en koncert i
BBC Proms sommerserie. Koncerten fremviser Elgars cellokoncert og Vaughan
Williams’ kantate ”Dona Nobis Pacem”. Programmets vært er den charmerende Tom
Service, der til vores overraskelse dukker op
ubarberet til BBC-kommentarboks.
Programmets vært er den charmerende Tom Service, der til vores overraskelse
dukker op ubarberet til BBC-kommentarboks
En rørende
forestilling af Elgars cellokoncert, med dens smukke åbnende tema. Elgar var i
60’erne, da han kradsede melodien ned på bagsiden af en kuvert, mens han lå i
en hospitalseng efter en tonsillektomi – stakkels Elgar!
Han sagde, at
hvis man nogensinde hører nogen fløjte melodien omkring Malvern-bakkerne, så
vil det være mig. Lois og jeg aftaler der og da at prøve Elgars forudsigelse,
næste gang vi er på bakkerne derovre.
Solisten,
franskmanden Jean-Guihen Queyras (skørt navn, skør fyr), synes desværre at være
udmattet og ved at falde i søvn på en slip af en hat. På ét tidspunkt, troede
Lois og jeg, at han var nærmest ved at falde af sin stol.
Solisten, franskmanden Jean-Guihen Queyras, ser udmattet ud,
hvilket
er lidt af en skam – stakkels Jean!
Vi er også
lidt overrasket over, at orkestret fandt en franskmand, der var villig at
spille Elgars mesterværk. Lois siger, at kontinentale musikere for det meste enten
har aldrig hørt om nogle engelske komponister, eller betragter dem som ”ikke
rigtige komponister”. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!
Efter endt
forestilling henrykker solisten aftenens
publikum i Royal Albert Hall, London, med et par lettere ekstranumre: ”Old
MacDonald Had A Farm” og ”Hokey-cokey”
eller ”Hokey-Pokey”, begge spillet i den moderne stil.
21:00 Vi
fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn, det 1. afsnit af en ny klassisk dramaserie,
”Vanity Fair”, baseret på Thackerays berømte roman.
Det er åbenbart,
på trods af hvad Alison Graham siger i tidsskriftet Radio Times, at programmagerne
har besluttet at modernisere historien og figurerne lidt og fiffe op
dialogerne. Jeg vil være på udkig efter anakronistiske udtryk, som serien går
fremad. ITV-kanalen er blevet advaret ha ha.
22:00 Vi går i
seng – zzzzzzzzz!!!!
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