Thursday October 11 2018

08:00 We get up early and miss out on our usual early shower so we can see our friend Mari-Ann on television, but it all turns out to be a bit disappointing - damn it!

We do not see Mari-Ann, but we see a rather distant shot of her sister in law: the one who apparently won a GMTV lottery early this year.

It comes just before the end of Lorraine Kelly's GMTV morning show that we see a less than 2-minute feature, in which Andi Peters, the nationally famous ex-children's tv-host, drives a bunch of former lottery winners (including Mari-Anne's sister-in-law) around the GMTV studio parking lot in some kind of huge golf buggy.

It is nevertheless interesting to be told that Mari-Ann's sister-in-law may have won perhaps as much as £100,000 plus a car: Mari-Ann has until now not shared this secret with us. It may be that her sister in law asked her to keep it all a secret, but that's something we are not entirely sure about.

Lorraine Kelly presents Andi Peter's feature about 

the program's past lottery winners

the Lorraine program's Lottery Screen

Andi drives a bunch of former GMTV lottery winners

(including Mari-Anne's sister-in-law) around the GMTV car park

in some kind of huge golf cart - what madness !!!!

Lois and I think that Mari-Ann is one of the group of attendees who sits watching the whole thing from a bench in the GMTV car park.

Later, Mari-Ann put some of her own photos up on Facebook.

Our friend Mari-Ann in the GMTV studio

Mari-Ann poses with Andi Peters

Andi's golf-buggy

10:00 Lois sits down in front of the computer and completes even more administrative tasks on behalf of her church.

Meanwhile, I sit down in front of my laptop and get started with something I have been postponing for a few weeks: an email to my Hungarian penfriend, Tünde. I started studying Hungarian about 25 years ago, but when our daughter Alison moved to Denmark in 2012 together with her family, I started to neglect my Hungarian and learn a little Danish instead.

I'm constantly trying to keep up my Hungarian, but I am finding it more and more difficult. And my friend, "Magyar" Mike, my study-mate, is 10 years older than me and has become a little forgetful, to put it mildly. He prefers us to study here at my house rather than at his, but he has recently become more nervous about driving over here. My god, what madness!

But I finally manage to write my email in Hungarian. Fortunately, I check it one more time before I send it off. I discover that I have used the Danish word "ikke" (meaning 'not') instead of the corresponding Hungarian word "nem". My god, I'm such an idiot sometimes.

That is just one of the many pitfalls threatening us brave bunch of multilingual idiots, that's for sure!

The start of my email in Hungarian to Tünde, which showcases

use of the Danish word "ikke": a typical mistake made by someone who is

trying to speak both Hungarian and Danish.

13:00 Lunch and afterwards a giant afternoon nap. I get up at 4pm and Lois and I relax with a cup of tea on the couch.

18:00 Dinner, and afterwards we spend the rest of the evening watching television. A documentary is on, "Eat Well For Less?".

Lois and I are not in the habit of watching this series. It's targeted towards the kind of busy family that routinely spends a lot of money buying expensive, high calorie, fatty ready-meals instead of making their own dishes. But we are watching it because the program tonight contains an interesting feature about gin distilleries and the methods they use to make gin (one of the program's two hosts visits Laverstoke Mill's Bombay Sapphire Distillery).

There is also a useful guide to what kind of proportion of a healthy meal should be made up of (a) carbohydrate sources, (b) vegetables and (c) protein sources, etc. The program's expert uses her hands to demonstrate:

carbohydrate components (pasta, rice, potatoes) should be just as big as your fist

the vegetable component should be the size of two of your handfuls

protein sources - think the palm of your hand

fat (butter etc): think the top of your thumb

21:00 We continue watching a bit of television. The last 2 episodes of Big Bang Theory's current season are on: the new season starts next Thursday.

It's always a bit embarrassing to see sitcoms' attempt to portray weddings between principal characters, and the Big Bang Theory is unfortunately no exception. The show, which is now in its 11th season, is still fun, but the humor began to get less sharp after the program's writers decided to make the show's star, Sheldon, a bit more of a human being, which was a bit of a shame.

Lois and I usually have a horror of sitcom wedding episodes in which long-forgotten relatives make an appearance, main characters or celebrities conduct the ceremony, heart-felt marriage vows are exchanged etc - yuk, vomit-worthy!

But this Big Bang wedding episode has a number of pleasurable surprises: magician Teller, a former Latin teacher who plays Amy's downtrodden father (a non-speaking role ha ha); Amy and Sheldon using Amy's lipstick to write mathematical equations on the full-length mirror while the congregation is in the wedding hall waiting for the couple to appear; and best of all, at the very end of the episode, Barry Kripke, with a microphone in his hand at the back of the wedding hall, launching into the famous song "At wast my wove has come awong".

Magician Teller as Amy's downtrodden father (a non-speaking role)

Amy and Sheldon using her lipstick to write mathematical

equations on the full length mirror while the guests sit and wait in the wedding hall

Barry Kripke at the very end of the ceremony singing

the classic wedding song "At wast my wove has come awong"

We also notice how much the magician Teller resembles the famous English poet, Philip Larkin.

We wonder if they are perhaps related (?)

Philip Larkin, the English poet... 

... and Magician Teller: are they perhaps related ?

Also, we notice how much Amy's mother (played by Kathy Bates) resembles Sylvia, Lois' Australian cousin from Melbourne. Are they also related perhaps?

Amy's mother (Kathy Bates)

Sylvia, Lois' cousin from Melbourne

That, however, is something the jury is still out on.

22:00 We go to bed. I read about 10 pages of my bedtime book, "The Man Whom Women Loved (Bror Blixen's life)" by Ulf Aschan before I drift off to sleep - zzzzzzzzz !!!!!

Danish translation

08:00 Vi står tidligt op og går glip af vores sædvanlige tidlige brusebad, så vi kan se vores ven Mari-Ann på fjernsyn, men faktisk er det hele lidt skuffende – pokkers!

Vi ser ikke Mari-Ann, men vi ser et ganske fjernt skød af hendes svigersøster: den, der først i året tilsyneladende vandt en GMTV lotteri.

Lige før slutningen af Lorraine Kellys GMTV morgenshow, ser vi mindre end et 2 minutters indslag, hvor Andi Peters, den landskendte eks-børnetv-vært, kører en flok tidligere lotteri-vindere (inklusive Mari-Anns svigersøster) rundt omkring i GMTV-studiets parkeringsplads med en slags kæmpe golf-buggy.

Det er imidlertid interessant at få at vide, at MariAnnas svigersøster må have vundt måske så meget som 100.000£ plus en bil: Mari-Ann har hidtil ikke delt denne hemmelighed med os. Det kan være at hendes svigersøster bad hende om at holde det hele hemmeligt, men det er vi ikke helt sikre på.

Lorraine Kelly præsenterer Andi Peters indslæg om programmets lotterivindere

Lorraine-programmets lotteriskærm

Andi Peters kører en flok tidligere GMTV-lotteri vindere

(inklusive Mari-Anns svigersøster)  rundt omkring GMTV-parkeringsplads

med en slags kæmpe-golfbuggy – sikke et vanvid!!!!

Lois og jeg tror, at Mari-Ann er en af den gruppe tilseere, der sidder og kigger det hele fra en bænk på GMTV-parkeringspladsen.

Senere lagde Mari-Ann nogle af sine egne billeder op på Facebook.

Vores ven Mari-Ann i GMTV-studiet

Mari-Ann poserer sammen med Andi Peters

Andis golfbuggy

10:00 Lois sætter sig foran computeren og giver sig til at klare endnu mere administrative opgaver på sin kirkes vegne.

I mellemtiden sætter jeg foran min bærebare og går i gang med noget, jeg har udskudt i nogle uger: en email til min ungarske penven, Tünde. Jeg begyndte at studere ungarsk for ca. 25 år siden, men da vores datter Alison sidst i 2012 sammen med sin familie flyttede til Danmark, startede jeg at forsømme mit ungarsk og lære lidt dansk i stedet for.

Jeg prøver konstant at vedligeholde mit ungarsk, men jeg finder det mere og mere svært. Og min ven, ”Magyar” Mike, der er min studiekammerat, er 10 år ældre end mig, og er blevet lidt glemsom, for at sige mildt. Han foretrækker, at vi studerer hos mig, end hos ham, men han er for nylig blevet mere nervøs over at skulle køre herover. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!

Men det lykkes mig at skrive Tünde min email på ungarsk. Heldigvis tjekker jeg min email en gang til, før jeg sender den af. Jeg opdager, at jeg har brugt det danske ord ”ikke” [’not’ på engelsk] i stedet af det tilsvarende ungarske ord ”nem”. Du godeste, jeg er sådan en idiot nogle gange.

Det der er kun en af de mange faldgruber, der truer os modig flok af flersprogede idioter: det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl om.

Starten på min email på ungarsk til Tünde, der fremviser

brugen af det danske ord ”ikke”: en typisk fejl begået af en, der

forsøger at tale både ungarsk og dansk.

13:00 Frokost og bagefter en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 16 og Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop te i sofaen.

18:00 Aftensmad, og bagefter bruger vi resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en dokumentarfilm, ”Eat Well For Less”.

Lois og jeg har ikke for vane at se denne serie. Den er mårettet mod den slags travlt familie, der bruger en masse penge på at købe dyre, højkalorier, fedtrige færdigretter i stedet for at lave sin egen mad. Men programmet indeholder et interessant indslag, der handler om ginfabrikker, og de metoder, de bruger for at fremstille gin (en af programmets to værter besøger Laverstoke Mills Bombay Sapphire-fabrikken.

Der er også en nyttig guide til hvilken slags andel af et sundt måltid skal bestå af henholdsvis kulhydratkilder, grøntsager og proteinkilder osv. Programmets ekspert bruger sine hænder for at demonstrere:

kulhydratkilder (pasta, ris, kartofler): lige så stor som din næve

grøntsager: to håndfulde

proteinkilder – en håndflade

fedt (smør osv): en tommelfingerspids

21:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser de sidste 2 afsnit i Big Bang Theorys nuværende sæson: den nye starter næste torsdag.

Det er altid lidt pinligt at se sitcoms' forsøg på at skildre hovedfigurernes bryllupper, og Big Bang Theory er desværre ikke nogen undtagelse. Showet, der nu er i sin 11. sæson, er stadig morsomt, men humoren begyndte at blive mindre skarp, efter programmets forfattere besluttede at gøre showets stjerne, Sheldon, til at blive lidt mere menneskelig, hvilket var lidt af en skam.

Lois og jeg ræddes normalt for sitcom-bryllupsafsnit, når langglemte slægtninger dukker op, hovedfigurer eller berømtheder forretter vielser, hjertelig ægteskabsløfter bliver udvekslet osv – yuk, opkastningsværdigt!

Men dette Big Bang bryllupsafsnit har en række fornøjelige overraskelser:  tryllekunstneren Teller, en tidligere latinlærer, der spiller Amys  tøffelhelte far (en ikke talende rolle ha ha); Amy og Sheldon, der bruger Amys læbestift til at skrive matematiske ligninger på spejlet i fuld længde, mens  forsamlingen sidder i bryllupssalen og venter på, at parret dukker op; og mest af alt, i selve slutningen af afsnittet, Barry Kripke, der står med en mikrofon i hånden  i bunden af bryllupssalen og begynder at synge den berømte sang ”At wast my wove has come awong”.

Tryllekunstneren Teller som Amys tøffelhelte far (en ikke talende rolle)

Amy og Sheldon bruger hendes læbestift til at skrive matematiske

ligninger på spejlet i fuld længe, mens gæsterne sidder og venter i bryllupssalen

Barry Kripke ved selve slutningen af ceremoniet synger

den klassiske bryllupssang ”At wast my wove has come awong”

Vi bemærker i øvrigt hvor meget tryllekunstneren Teller ligner den berømte engelske digter, Philip Larkin.

Vi undrer os over, om de er måske beslægtede med hinanden (?)

Philip Larkin

Kunstneren Teller: er de måske beslægtede med hinanden?

Også, vi bemærker hvor meget Amys mor (spillet af Kathy Bates) ligner Lois’ australske kusine fra Melbourne, Sylvia.  Er de måske også beslægtede med hinanden?

Amys mor (Kathy Bates)

Sylvia, Lois’ kusine fra Melbourne

Men det er juryen stadig ude om.

22:00 Vi går i seng.Jeg læser ca 10 sider af min sengetidbog, ”Den mand, som kvinder elskede (Bror Blixens liv)" af Ulf Aschan, inden jeg glider over i søvnen – zzzzzzzzz!!!!!