Danskcolin: Sunday, September 9 2018

10:00 Lois and I have not heard anything again from Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia. She has the habit of calling us on whatsapp every Sunday morning at around 10 o'clock, but some weeks she and her little family are away from home on a trip somewhere. There is just a short time window before Lily and Jessica, Sarah's 5-year-old twins get too tired or sent on their way to bed.

I recall a local mother, Pam Westin, who nearly two years ago hit the headlines when she drew the world's attention to the great time differences that could exist between her holiday cottage in California and her own permanent home in Connecticut (source: Onion News ).

As she pointed out to the world's press, she had in fact spent most of her first day in her family's 1-week California vacation marvelling about the time difference compared to where she normally lived in Connecticut.

"Wow, we're just sitting down to dinner here, but back in Hartford it's already 9:30pm," said Westin, reportedly adding that if they were in the family's primary residence they would have eaten their meal and be finished washing all the dishes hours ago.

"If we were not on vacation right now, we would pretty soon be getting ready for bed. In the meantime, it is still nice and sunny here." At Onion news press time, Westin was heard giving reporters a list of the different grocery stores they had in California, compared to Connecticut.

I sympathize with Pam - all those time differences have unfortunately become just one more part of modern life's complexities and all the other technical challenges that older people like me and Lois are having such trouble keeping track of. What a crazy world we live in !

Beam us up, Scottie!

10:30 Lois calls Bill, our elderly neighbor on the left. His wife, Mary, tripped over their front doorstep a week ago while their daughter Debbie and Debbie's husband Clyde were visiting from New Zealand. Mary broke her left elbow and has not yet been discharged from hospital. She suffers from mild dementia and is currently feeling even more confused than usual - poor Mary.

11:00 Lois has to go out. She wants to attend her sect's 2 worship services taking place today in the town of Tewkesbury's library in the middle of the town.

I have a little alone time and get going on one of the many tasks on my to-do list - I dig out the ironing board and iron my shirts, underwear, t-shirts, and shorts. After lunch and a gigantic afternoon nap, I go out into the backyard and cut back the hedge that grows along the garden path at the bottom of the garden. We have a deadline for clearing up the house and the garden because Sylvia, Lois's cousin from Melbourne, and her new partner, Rod, are coming on the 17th and staying with us for a week.

I take a little look at my smartphone and I see that Alison, our daughter in Haslemere, Surrey, has posted a couple of charming pictures of Josie, her eldest child, on a family trip today in London. Josie turned 12 years old on Thursday, and has had a traumatic week - she started her new English high school on Wednesday after 6 years of schooling in Denmark. And on Thursday, her beloved Danish ex-alley-cat, Albus, was run over and killed in front of the family's house. Poor Josie. Hopefully, the birthday, plus all her birthday gifts and today's outing will have done something to cheer her up.

Josie, our 12 year old granddaughter, on a family trip today in London,

by the river Thames and at Hotel Chocolat - yum yum!

Cool hat !!!!

16:00 Lois comes back from her worship service and we relax with a cup of tea on the couch.

18:00 We have dinner and afterwards watch a bit of television. An interesting documentary is on, all about the unusually hot, dry summer this year, and the resulting cropmarks, which can only be seen for a very short period of time from aircraft or drones. The host of the program is the charming Tony Robinson.

Old ditches that have been dug in the past contain more water, and long-buried walls contain less water, than any surrounding soil that has not been disturbed in the same way. This phenomenon causes the crops on top to grow either better or worse, and become either higher or shorter than the surrounding ground. These effects are called crop marks.

These become visible especially during periods of drought, as do the patches of ground where organic material from prehistoric remains provide additional nutrition to today's crops.

An interesting documentary, although it's a bit of a shame that many of this year's drone-discoveries are so recent that archaeologists have not had enough time yet to investigate them thoroughly.

At least one myth has already been exploded however - the myth that the Celtic tribes in northwest Wales, especially on the Lleyn peninsula, were so strong and warlike that the Roman army did not dare to approach the area, and no Roman remains had ever been dug up there.

In July, however, evidence was discovered of a Roman military base in the area, and excavation is going to go ahead this winter. The archaeologist who spotted the remains has described the experience as "the find of a lifetime".

a Roman military base,

discovered by a drone during the recent heat wave

Perhaps the most interesting discovery to me is of a massive Neolithic monument, a double circle spotted by an amateur archeologist in the Bru na Boinne area of Ireland when he got his drone to fly over the area: the monument forms a circle of diameter about 575 feet (175m).

It is incredible but true that this massive prehistoric monument had never been discovered before, and the amateur enthusiast who found it could not believe his eyes, to put it mildly. The site is now awaiting professional excavation at which time we will hopefully be able to find out more about this astonishing monument.

A massive Neolithic monument, discovered by an amateur Irish

archaeologist and drone-owner in the Bru na Boinne area

How fascinating! The last heat wave to have achieved this level of success in the archaeological world was in the hot summer of 1976, which Lois and I remember well.

Flashback to the hot summer of 1976: Lois and me in Minehead, Somerset,

with our first child, Alison, who was just about to turn 1 year old.

Happy days!

20:00 Our neighbor, Frances, pops in and we talk a little about our local medical clinic's plans to sell the clinic, and to move to Bishops Cleece, 5 miles away. Doctors want the council's permission to have 6 new houses built where the clinic stands now.

Lois and I have no grounds to object to the plans, but the eastern wall of Francis's house is only 4 feet (or so) away from one of the 6 new houses according to the plans, and she intends to communicate her objections to the council, due to the fact that the new house will take away most of the daylight coming through her windows on that side of the house.

It seems nobody has an absolute right to a view, but everyone has an absolute right to the same amount of daylight that they have had in the past, as long as this amount of daylight has existed for at least 20 years - my god! How complicated!

21:00 Frances goes home and Lois and I watch a bit more television. The 3rd part of a new classic drama series is on, based on Thackeray's famous novel, "Vanity Fair".

Another very enjoyable episode that focuses on Becky Sharp's efforts to find some rich man to marry and thereby improve her social status.

Becky's mission to get rich has unfortunately not been worked out as yet. She makes the mistake of marrying a handsome young army officer, Rawdon Crawley - but if she had only waited a couple of months, she could have married Rawdon Crawley's father, Sir Pitt Crawley, the local MP, who is much less sexy but much more wealthy than his son. Pitt tried to propose to Becky, unaware that she was already married to his son.

For Becky, money is much more important than sex - that's something Lois and I have little doubts about !!!! Poor Rawdon !!!!!

Becky Sharp in bed with Rawdon Crawley. But if she had just waited, she could

have had Rawdon's gray-haired father, Pitt, who is much richer than his son.

Poor Becky !!!!!

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

Danish translation

10:00 Lois og jeg har hørt ikke noget igen fra Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien. Hun har for vane at ringe til os på whatsapp hver søndag formiddag ved 10-tiden, men nogle uger er hun og hendes lille familie væk hjemmefra på udflugt et eller andet sted. Der er bare et kort vindue, før Lily og Jessica, Sarahs 5-årige tvillinger bliver for trætte eller er på vej i seng.

Jeg mindes om en lokale mor, Pam Westin, der for næsten nøjagtig 2 år siden, ramte overskrifterne, da hun henledte verdens opmærksomhed på de store tidsforskeller, der kan eksistere mellem sit feriehus i Californien og sit eget hjemme i Connecticut (kilde: Onion News).

Som hun påpegede til verdens presse, brugte hun faktisk det meste af sin første dag i sin families 1-uges Californienferie på at undre sig over tidsforskellen i forhold til hvor de normalt boede i Connecticut.

"Wow, vi sætter os netop nu her til aftensmad, men tilbage i Hartford er det allerede kl. 21:30", sagde Westin, der angiveligt tilføjede, at hvis de var i familiens primære bolig, ville de have spist deres måltid og være færdige med at vaske alle tallerkener længe siden. "Hvis vi ikke var på ferie lige nu, ville vi begynde temmelig snart at blive klar til sengen. I mellemtiden er det stadig dejligt og solrigt her." Da Onion-nyhedshjemmeside var ved at gå i trykket blev Westin blive hørt give journalister en liste over de forskellige købmandsforretninger, de havde i Californien sammenlignet med Connecticut.

Jeg sympatiserer med Pam – alle de der tidsforskelle er desværre blevet kun endnu en del af det moderne livs kompleksiteter og alle de andre tekniske udfordringer, som ældre mennesker som mig og Lois har så svært ved at holde styr på.

Beam os op, Scottie!

10:30 Lois ringer til Bill, vores ældre nabo på venstre hånd. Hans kone, Mary, snublede over trappetrinet foran hoveddøren for en uge siden, mens deres datter Debbie og Debbies mand Clyde var på besøg fra New Zealand. Mary brækkede venstre albuen og er ikke blevet udskrevet fra hospitalet endnu. Hun lider af mild demens og er for tiden endnu mere forvirret, end normalt – stakkels Mary.

11:00 Lois skal ud. Hun ønsker at deltage i sin skets 2 gudstjenester, der finder sted i dag i byen Tewkesburys bibliotek midt i byen.

Jeg har lidt alenetid og går i gang med at klare en af de mange opgaver på min gøremålsliste – jeg graver strygebrættet frem og stryger mine skjorter, undertøj, t-shirts, og shorts. Efter frokost og en gigantisk eftermiddagslur går jeg ud ind i baghaven og klipper tilbage hækken, der vokser langs havegangen i bunden af haven. Vi har en frist til at rydde op i huset og haven, fordi Sylvia, Lois’s kusine fra Melbourne, og hendes nye partner, kommer den 17. og bor hos os i en uge.

Jeg kigger lidt på min smartphone og jeg ser, at Alison, vores datter i Haslemere, Surrey, har lagt et par charmerende billede af Josie, sin ældste barn, på en familieudflugt i dag i London. Josie fyldte 12 år i torsdags, og har haft en traumatisk uge – hun startede i sin nye engelske højskole i onsdags efter 6 års skolegang i Danmark. Og i torsdags blev sin elskede danske eks-gadekat, Albus, kørt over og slået ihjel foran familiens hus. Stakkels Josie. Forhåbentlig har fødselsdagen, alle hendes fødselsesdagsgaver og dagens udflygt gjort noget for at opmuntre hende.

Josie, vores 12-årige barnebarn, på familieudflugt i dag i London,

ved siden af floden Thames og på Hotel Chocolat - yum yum!

16:00 Lois kommer tilbage fra sin gudstjeneste, og vi slapper af med en kop te i sofaen.

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bagefter ser lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om årets usædvanligt varme, tørre sommer, og de resulterende kornmærke, der kan ses kun i en meget kort periode fra fly eller fra droner. Programmets vært er den charmerende Tony Robinson.

Begravede grøfter indeholder mere vand og begravede mure indeholder mindre vand end den omkringliggende jord der ikke er blevet forstyrret på samme måde. Dette fænomen gør at korn kan gro bedre eller værre, og blive højere eller kortere end resten. Denne effekter kaldes kornmærker. Dette kan også komme ved udtryk under tørkeperioder, hvor det organiske materiale fra de forhistoriske levn vil give ekstra næring til afgrøderne.

Teorien af kornmærker

Et interessant dokumentarfilm, selvom det er lidt af en skam, at mange af dronernes opdagelser er meget nylige, og arkæologer har ikke haft nok til endnu til at undersøge dem grundigt.

Der er imidlertid endnu en myte som opdagelserne har lagt en bombe under – myten, at de keltiske stammer på det nordvestlige Wales, i sær påLleyn-halvøen, var så stærke og krigeriske, at den romerske hær ikke turde at nærme sig området: ingen romerske rester var aldrig blevet udgravet der.

I juli imidlertid var tegn opdaget på en romersk militær base i området, og udgravning vil nu starte til vinter. Den ærkæolog der spottede resterne har beskrevet oplevelsen som ”alle tiders fund”.

en romersk militær base,

opdaget af en drone under den nylige hedebølge

Måske den (for mig) mest interessante opdagelse i programmet er et massivt neolitisk monument, en dobbeltcirkel, der blev spottet af en amatør arkæolog i Bru na Boinne-området af Irland, da han fik sin drone til at flyve over området : cirklen danner en kreds med diameter omkring 575 fods (175m). Det er utroligt men sandt, at denne massiv forhistoriske monument var aldrig blevet opdaget før, og den pågældende amatør entusiast kunne ikke tro sine øjne, for at sige mildt. Stedet venter imidlertid professionel udgravning, før vi kan finde ud af mere om monumentet.

et massivt neolitisk monument, opdaget af en amatør irsk

arkæolog og drone-ejer i Bru na Boinne-området

Hvor fascinerende! Den seneste hedebølge, der opnåede dette niveau af succes i den arkæologiske verden var i den varme sommer af 1976, som Lois og jeg husker godt.

Tilbageblik til sommeren 1976: Lois og jeg i Minehead, Somerset,

sammen med vores første barn, Alison, der var ved at fylde 1 år.

Lykkelige dage

20:00 Vores nabo, Frances, smutter ind hos os og vi snakker lidt om vores lokale lægekliniks planer om at sælge jorden, klinikken er bygget på, og flytte til Bishops Cleece, 5 miles væk herfra. Lægerne ønsker af få kommunens tilladelse at få 6 nye huse, hvor klinikken står nu.

Lois og jeg har ikke nogle grunde til at indvende planerne, men den østlige mur af Francis’ hus ligger kun 4 fods (eller deromkring) væk fra et af de 6 nye huse ifølge planerne, og hun har til hensigt at udtrykke sin misbilligelse til kommunen på grund af, det nye hus vil fjerne det meste af daglyset, der kommer igennem sine vinduer på den side af huset. Det lader til, at ingen har en absolute ret til en udsigt, men alle har en absolut ret til samme beløb daglys, som de har haft før i tiden, så længe dette beløb dagslys har eksisteret i mindst 20 år – du godeste! Hvor kompliceret!

21:00 Frances skal hjem og Lois og jeg fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser den 3. del af en ny klassisk dramaserie, baseret på Thackerays berømte roman, ”Vanity Fair”.

Endnu et meget nydeligt afsnit, der sætter fokus på Becky Sharps indsats for at finde en eller anden rig mand at gifte sig med, og at forbedre sin sociale status.

Beckys mission for at blive rig er desværre hidtil ikke blevet til noget. Hun gør fejlen af at gifte sig med en smuk ung soldat, Rawdon Crawley – men hvis hun bare havde ventet endnu et par måneder, kunne hun have giftet sig med Rawdon Crawleys far, Sir Pitt Crawley, den lokale parlamentsmedlem, der er mindre sexet men meget rigere, end sin søn. Pitt prøved at fri til Becky, uvidende om, at hun allerede var gift me hans søn.

For Becky er penge meget mere vigtigt end sex – det har Lois og jeg ikke nogen tvivl om!!!! Stakkels Rawdon!!!!!