Danskcolin: Thursday October 18 2018

09:00 Lois and I get up and after breakfast we start clearing up and vacuuming all over the house, because our U3A Danish group is holding its regular meeting here this afternoon at 2:30 pm .

We have decided today to skip the usual Danish vocabulary test that we normally start the meetings with - we will have to lose no time in reading the remaining pages of "Svigtet", the Danish crime novella which is the group's current project. We want to finish reading the novella this afternoon, because this group meeting will be our last in 2018 - we are going to resume the meetings in January with an completely new project - the crime novel "The Further You Fall" by Anna Grue.

11:00 My little sister Gill, who lives in Cambridge, has asked me to scan some photos of her as a baby and very young child onto my computer. She is currently writing the story of her childhood up to the age of 10 years, mainly for the benefit of her 3 grown-up daughters.

I find some good examples and send them to her via email.

flashback to 1958 - possibly the earliest photo ever taken

of Gill (with me), and with our brother Steve looking over my shoulder,

an early example of the "photobomb" before it became fashionable ha ha

All we four siblings (1959)

Gill with our sister Kathy and our mother (1959),

in front of the family house in Sale, a small suburb of Manchester

Me with Gill (1960) in the backyard of the family's new house in Bristol

12:30 Lois and I have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a short afternoon nap. I get up at 1:45pm and get ready for our Danish group's meeting.

14:30 Group members arrive and we study Danish for an hour and a half. We skip our usual Danish vocabulary test, but of course we do not skip the usual chit-chat that opens every meeting - talk about holidays, grandchildren, etc.

I show the group my current bedtime book "The Man Whom Women Loved" - the story of Bror Blixen, Karen's unfaithful husband - It was Karen Blixen who wrote the world-famous book, "Out of Africa". A few years ago Lois and I , and also our daughter Alison, visited Karen's house, located just north of Copenhagen.

Flashback to September: Lois and I visit a food festival in Lynton Town Hall.

I buy a bottle of "Wicked Wolf Exmoor Gin" and a second-hand book all about

the life of Bror Blixen, the Danish author, Karen Blixen's Swedish husband.

Members ask me if I am enjoying the book - I am currently halfway through it. I admit that I have been somewhat disappointed so far. Halfway through the book I still know almost nothing about the real man, his personality, etc. - although I do know how good he was at shooting elephants and crossing the Sahara desert in a regular vehicle and all that kind of thing.

But who was that man "whom women loved". Why did they love him? What was his secret? Exactly who did he go to bed with? Why was his marriage with Karen a failure? How did he infect his wife, Karen, with syphilis without infecting all the other women he went to bed with? The jury is still out of all those questions unfortunately.

The book mostly reflects the contents of Bror Blixen's diary, which is a good record of his adventures, safaris, etc., but unfortunately he does not reveal much in the way of details about his thoughts and feelings, so the reader feels he does not know the man himself.

15:00 The group now gets to work, taking turns to read a page (or so) of "Svigtet", the crime novella that is the group's current project, and translate it into English.

There are 2 sex scenes in these last 15 pages, but I've actually censored the naughtiest paragraphs. I allow them to read the two corresponding foreplay scenes, but I skip over the actual sex scenes. When we resume the story, we find that we are already in the midst of the so-called "after-play", which probably leaves them a little curious, frustrated, and hungry for more. But it's hard to be completely sure.

"Pia crawled to the end of the couch so she can pout at him" - these words are followed by approx. 20 blank lines that represent the lines I have censored. I suspect they now consider me a bit of a tease.

16:00 The meeting ends, but the members stay chatting for another 40 minutes - goo grief! But it's nice to see that they obviously feel very much at home with us.

18:00 Lois and I have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching television. We are exhausted, as usual after a "Danish" day - the physical efforts involved in preparing the house, combined with the mental excitement of leading the group meeting - oh der, we are getting old, that's for sure.

We see the first episode of the new (and final) season of the Big Bang Theory, our favorite sitcom.

The episode contains many fun ideas, for example, the fact that Sheldon and Amy spend their honeymoon in Legoland, and have their photo taken in front of the Statue of Liberty (the Lego version).

Sheldon and Amy choose to spend their wedding night in Legoland

It's very nice to see Amy's parents again. We see her mild-mannered father, (played by magician Teller) trying to hide in Amy's shower cubicle, to escape his "overbearing" wife (played by Kathy Bates). Unfortunately, Mrs Fowler can smell his Axe body spray - poor Mr. Fowler !!!!

Mr. Fowler tries to escape his wife, but his trademark

Axe body spray unfortunately betrays his presence in the apartment

- poor Mr. Fowler !!!

Penny tries to reassure Mrs Fowler

Penny and Leonard have a little chat about Mr. and Mrs Fowler

It is also nice to see Magician Teller again in the role of Amy's father, a role he has made very much his own.

We also notice how much the magician Teller resembles the late English humorist, Alan Melville.

We wonder if they are perhaps related (?)

Alan Melville, the English humorist

Magician Teller

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

Danish translation

09:00 Lois og jeg står op og efter morgenmad giver vi os at rydde op og støvsuge overalt i huset, fordi vores U3A danske gruppe holder sit regelmæssige møde i eftermidag kl 14:30 hos os.

Vi har besluttet i dag at gå glip af den sædvanlige danske ordforråddtest, som vi plejer at starte møderne med – vi skal uden nogen forsinkelse gå i gang med at at læse de resterende sider af ”Svigtet”, den danske kriminoveller, der er gruppens nuværende projekt. Vi ønsker at læse novellen færdigt i eftermiddag, fordi dette gruppemøde skal være vores sidste i 2018 – vi vil genoptage møderne i januar med en helt ny krimiroman: ”Dybt at Falde” af Anna Grue.

11:00 Min lillesøster Gill, der bor i Cambridge, har bedt mig om at scanne nogle fotoer af hendes babydom og tidligste barndom ind på computeren. Hun er for tiden i gang med at skrive historien af hendes barndom op til alderen af 10 år, først og fremmest til fordel for sine 3 voksne døtre.

Jeg finder nogle gode eksemplarer og afsender dem til hende via email.

tilbageblik til 1958 - muligvis det tidligste foto nogensinde taget

af Gill (sammen med mig) og vores bror Steve, der kigger over min skulder,

et tidligt eksempel af ”fotobomben”, før det blev moderigtigt ha ha

os fire søskende (1959)

GkathyNana: Gill med vores søster Kathy og vores mor (1959),

foran familiens hus i Sale, en lille forstad til Manchester

Mig med Gill (1960) i baghaven af familiens nye hus i byen Bristol

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng og tager en kort eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 13:45 og forbereder mig på vores danske gruppes møde.

14:30 Gruppemedlemmer ankommer og vi studere dansk i en time og en halv. Vi går glip af vores sædvanlige danske ordforrådtest, men selvfølgelig går vi ikke glip af det sædvanlige snik-snak, der åbner hvert møde – snik-snak om ferier, børnebørn osv.

Jeg viser gruppen min nuværende sengetidbog ”Manden som kvinder elskede” – historien af Bror Blixen, Karens utro ægtemand – det var Karen Blixen, der skrev den verdensberømte bog, ”Out of Africa”. For nogle år siden besøgte Lois og jeg, og også vores datter Alison, Karens hus, der ligger lige nord for København.

Tilbageblik til september: Lois og jeg besøger en madfestival i Lyntons byrådhus.

Jeg køber en flaske ”Wicked Wolf Exmoor Gin” og en antikvarist bog, der handler om

livet af Bror Blixen, den danske forfatterinde Karen Blixens svenske ægtemand.

De spørger mig, om jeg nyder bogen - jeg er for tiden halvvejs igennem den. Jeg indrømmer, at jeg er hidtil lidt skuffet. Halvvejs igennem bogen ved jeg desværre stadig næsten intet om den sande mand, hans personlighed osv – selvom jeg ved godt hvor dygtig han var til at skyde elefanter og krydse Sahara-ørkenen med en almindelig køretøj og alt den slags.

Men hvem var den mand ”som kvinder elskede”. Hvorfor elskede de ham? Hvad var hans hemmelighed? Præcis hvem gik han i seng med? Hvorfor blev hans ægteskab med Karen til en fiasko? Hvordan inficerede han sin kone, Karen, med syfilis, uden at inficere alle de andre kvinder han gik i seng med? Juryen er stadig ude om alle disse spørgsmål desværre.

Bogen genspejler for det meste indholdene af Bror Blixens dagbog, der er en god rekord af hans eventyre, safarier osv, men han afslører desværre ikke ret mange detaljer om sine tanker og følelser, så læseren føler, han ikke kender selve manden.

15:00 Gruppen går i gang med at skiftes til at læse en side (eller deromkring) af Svigtet, kriminovellen der er gruppens nuværende projekt, og oversætte den til engelsk.

Der er 2 sex-scenere i disse sidste 15 sider, men jeg har faktisk censureret de frækkeste afsnit. Jeg tillader dem at læse de to tilsvarende forspil-scener, men jeg springer over de selve sex-scener. Når vi genoptage historien, finder vi, at vi allerede er midt i det såkaldte ”efterspil”, hvilket måske efterlader dem lidt nysgerrige, frustrerede, og hungrende efter mere. Men det er det svært at være helt sikker på.

”Pia kravlede hen i enden af sofaen så hun kunne stikke en trutmund frem mod ham” ordene, bliver fulgt af ca. 20 blanke linjer, der repræsenterer de linjer, jeg har censureret. Jeg mistænker, at de nu betragter mig som lidt af en teaser.

16:00 Mødet slutter, men medlemmerner bliver snakkende i endnu 40 minutter – du godeste! Men det er rart at se, at de åbenbart føles sig meget hjemme hos os.

18:00 Lois og jeg spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. Vi er udmattede, som sædvanligt efter en ”dansk” dag – de fysiske indsatser, der er involveret i at forberede huset, kombineret af de mentale spænding af at lede selve gruppemødet – du godeste, vi bliver gamle, ingen tvivl om det.

De viser det første afsnit af den nye (og sidste) sæson af Big Bang Theory, vores yndlingssitcom.

Afsnittet indeholder mange morsomme idéer, for eksempel, at Sheldon og Amy tilbringer deres hvedebrødsdagene i Legoland, og får deres foto taget foran Frihedsgudinden (Lego-versionen).

Sheldon og Amy vælger at tilbringe bryllupsnatten i Legoland

Det er meget rart at se Amys forældre igen. Vi ser hendes far, med hans mild væsen, (spillet af tryllekunstneren Teller) prøver at gemme sig i Amys brusekabine, for at undslippe sin ”overlegne” kone (spillet af Kathy Bates). Desværre kan fru Fowler lugte til hans Axe kropspray – stakkels hr Fowler!!!!