Danskcolin: Friday, November 16, 2018

09:00 We get up and take a shower. Lois is feeling a little better today as regards her backache, but her back's not yet 100% back to normal.

10:30 After breakfast I go out to the garage to tidy up a bit - I manage to move the majority of the children's equipment, the strollers, the toys and the high chairs to the back of the garage and the majority of the do-it-yourself equipment, car tools and the car accessories to the left hand side of the garage. - This will make it all the easier when the time comes to pack them into the car boot and take them to a charity shop, or offer them to our neighbour Bob and his family and relatives, or take them to the Stoke Orchard Recycling Centre.

Our garage: broadly speaking, children's equipment is now at the back,

and the do-it-yourself equipment is on the left

The whole thing gives me a massive sense of achievement, I have to admit.

However, we are going to be kind of "trapped" in our homes today and tomorrow because of the 2-day racing festival that always brings massive traffic jams. Fortunately, we do not need to go food shopping, which is nice.

12:30 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a huge afternoon nap.

13:45 Lois has to go out. She walks around the corner to the local library to help library staff lead their weekly Baby Bounce & Rhyme session for young children and their mothers, including the occasional "pappa latte" (stay-at-home dad), grandfather or grandmother.

15:30 Lois comes back from the library and I get up. We relax with a cup of tea on the sofa. She says this week's Baby Bounce session was very lively, with 2 sets of twins and 1 set of triplets - my god, what madness - the neighbourhood's parents must all be going crazy!!!

16:00 We listen a little to the radio, an interesting program with the title "The Last Word". Lois and I have got in the habit of hearing this program every week because we want to find out if anyone has died or not over the past 1-2 weeks (I have noticed that most weeks exactly 5 deaths occur ).

Aubrey Manning, the famous British naturalist and biologist, who was also very interested in both geology and evolution generally, sadly died recently at 88. He was the host of many popular television and radio wildlife and geology documentaries, such as "Earth Story".

Aubrey Manning, who sadly died recently

We hear about him from Julian Hector, director of the BBC's Natural History Unit, and Stephanie Hillbourne, two of Aubrey's work colleagues.

In the Kalahari desert, Julian recalls how Aubrey was once "chased" by a sun-spider (solifugae) - which is not actually a true spider although it looks like a massive one, half the size of someone's hand. And the sun spider (as its Latin name suggests: solifugae) always tries to run away from the light.

a typical sun-spider (solifugae)

Aubrey was a tall, impressive man, says Julian, about 6 foot 2, and he was just about responsible for the biggest shadow between the Kalahari desert and the coast. That's why this sun-spider started chasing after him in the desert: it was only trying to get itself into Aubrey's shadow, while Aubrey himself was jumping up and down in an attempt to get away from it.

Two weeks before he died, Aubrey was speculating about whether if the earth lasted another 2 billion years, humanity would destroy itself before it destroyed everything else.

And if it did not destroy everything else, he wondered if it would be the octopus that would come to dominate the world. He used to comment on how it belonged to a group of species with particularly sophisticated intelligence and incredibly sophisticated eyes, better than human eyes apparently.

He recalled a recent film sequence that highlighted an octopus carrying a coconut shell around with him on the seabed, ready to cover himself over with it if a predator turned up. Aubrey used to imagine that the octopus one day could evolve, fight its way out of the sea, and run the planet a bit better than a humanity has done.

Aubrey loved spiders and octopi and, incidentally, Stan Lee also died this week, the man who created Spider-man, as well as other superheroes.

Stan Lee, who created Spider-man

He worked for 20 years on routine, bland cartoons he did not believe in and in around 1961 he was just about ready to quit and do something else, when his wife persuaded him to create the kind of comics he really wanted to create - she said, that if he got fired, at least he had nothing to lose, because he was intending to quite anyway. He gave it a go and it was at this time that he invented The Fantastic Four and other superheroes, and his career blossomed from that point on.

We hear a little about how he dreamt up the idea for Spider-man. He was trying at the time to create a new superhero with some unprecedented superpower, and he happened to see a fly crawling on the wall. He thought how cool it would be to have a character that could stick to the wall like an insect. He considered various names: Insect-man, Fly-man etc, until he finally chose the name Spider-man. But his publisher just said, "Stan, that's the worst idea I've ever heard.".

My god, what madness !!!!

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching television. Peter Jackson's interesting but harrowing documentary is on, all about the First World War, "They Shall Not Grow Old". It is so harrowing that Lois and I cannot bear to see more than about 40 minutes of it - yikes !!!!

An extraordinary documentary film, by any standards ("if you see only one documentary this week, see this one" ha ha). And the way Jackson has added colour, sound and natural film speed to these old jerky black and white movie sequences completely transforms our image of life in trenches, that's for sure. For us they really bring the war back to life, we think.

And there is no doubt that the troops mostly enjoyed the experience despite the awful conditions and they were incredibly cheerful about it all. It was fun, it was exciting, they were surrounded by an atmosphere of camaraderie, and they considered their service as a job to be done, a mission that they had no doubts about the need for.

bad sight of the week: primitive toilet arrangements

21:00 We change TV channels, to see something a little more "uplifting" ha ha. Another interesting documentary, this time all about the the last century's classical music. The program's hosts are the charming Lenny Henry and Suzy Klein.

A very enjoyable program. I personally have always had an interest in the world's best laconic diary entries. "Forgot what did", as Katy wrote in one of Susan Coolidge's classic novels. That quote was also the English poet Philip Larkin's favourite diary entry.

Other short diary notes include one that Lois and I read in a Danish crime novella that was one of our U3A Danish group's projects: the diary entry read simply "Stuffed the girlfriend in freezer".

Tonight, I get a third to add to my collection. In 1916, Hubert Parry was asked to compose a melody for Blake's poem "Jerusalem" to boost the country's morale at a difficult time in the war, and Parry managed to compose a piece that has been called "the song of the century."

But in his diary on that day, Parry just wrote, "Wet and very cold, wrote a tune".

My god, what madness !!!!

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

Danish translation

09:00 Vi står op og tager et brusebad. Lois har det lidt bedre i dag, hvad angår hendes rygsmerter, men ryggen er endnu ikke vendt tilbage 100% til det normale.

10:30 Efter morgenmad går jeg ud i garagen for at ordne lidt – det lykkes mig at rykke hovedparten af børneudstyret, børnevognene, legetøjet og høstole til bunden af garagen og hovedparten af gør-de-selv udstyret, bilredskaber og biltilbehøret til garagens venstre side – dette vil gøre det hele meget nemmere, når tiden kommer til at pakke dem ind i bilens bagagerum og tage dem til en velgørenhedsbutikker, tilbyde dem til vores nabo Bob og hans familie og slægtninger eller tage dem til Stoke Orchard-genbrugscentret.

Vores garage: bredt set er børneudstyret nu i bunden,

og gør-det-selv udstyret er til venstre

Det hele giver mig en massiv følelse af bedrift, det må jeg indrømme.

Men vi bliver ligesom ”indspærret” i vores hjem i dag og i morgen, på grund af den 2-dages væddeløbsfestival, der forårsager massive trafikpropper. Heldigvis har vi ikke brug for at gå madindkøb, hvilket er rart.

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng og tager en gigantisk eftermiddagslur.

13:45 Lois skal ud. Hun går hen rundt om hjørnet til det lokale bibliotek for at hjælpe bibliotekets personale med at lede deres ugentlige Baby Bounce & Rhyme-session for små børn og deres mødre, også den lejlighedsvise "pappa latte", bedstefar og bedstemor.

15:30 Lois kommer tilbage fra biblioteket og jeg står op. Vi slapper af med en kop te i sofaen. Hun siger ugens Baby Bounce-sessionen var meget livlig, med 2 sæt tvillinger og 1 sæt trillinger – du godeste, sikke et vanvid – nabolagets forældre må været gået galde, det ved vi med sikkerhed !!!

16:00 Vi lytter lidt til radio, et interessant program med titlen ”Det sidste ord”. Lois og jeg er kommet i vane med at høre dette program hver uge, fordi vi ønsker at finde ud af, om nogen i de seneste 1-2 uger døde eller ej (jeg har bemærket, at der i de fleste uger sker nøjagtig 5 dødsfald).

Aubrey Manning, den berømte britiske naturalist og biolog, der også var meget interesseret også i både geologi og evolution, døde desværre for nylig på 88 år. Han var værten af mange populære tv og radio vildlivs- og geologi-dokumentarserier, for eksempel ”Earth Story”.

Aubrey Manning,, der desværre døde for nylig

Vi hører lidt om ham fra Julian Hector, direktøren af BBCs naturhistorie-enhed, og Stephanie Hillbourne, Aubreys arbejdskollegaer.

I Kalahari-ørkenen blev Aubrey engang jagtet af en valseedderkop (solifuger) – ikke en ægte edderkop men det ligner en massiv edderkop, halvt så stor som en hånd. Og valseedderkoppen (som dens latinske navn antyder: solifuger) prøver altid at løbe væk fra lyset.

en typisk valseedderkop

Aubrey var en høj, imponerende mand, omkring 6 fods 2, og han kastede den ene skygge mellem Kalahari-ørkenen og kysten. Derfor var denne solifuger i gang med at jagte efter ham i ørkenen og prøve at stå i Aubreys skygge, mens Aubrey selv hoppede op og ned i et forsøg på at undslippe den.

To uger før han døde, spekulerede han på, om hvis jorden varede endnu 2 milliærder år, så ville menneskeheden ødelægge sig selv, før den ødelagde alt andet. Og hvis den ikke ødelagde alt andet, spekulerede han om, om det vil være blæksprutten, der tilhører en gruppe med særligt sofistikeret intelligens og utrolig sofistikerede øjne, bedre end menneskelige øjne, som ville komme til at dominere verden.

Han mindedes om en nylige filmsekvens, der fremviste en blæksprutte, som plejede at bære en kokosnødeskal med rundt på havbunden , parat til at dække sig selv, hvis et eller andet rovdyr dukkede op: med andre ord var blæksprutten et utroligt sofistikerede dyr. Aubrey plejede at fantasere om, at blæksprutterne en dag kunne udvikle sig og komme ud af havet og styre planeten lidt bedre, end menneskeligheden har gjort.

Aubrey elskede edderkopper og blæksprutter, og tilfældigvis er Stan Lee også død i denne uge, manden der skabte Spider-man (Edderkoppermand), bortset fra andre superhelte.

Stan Lee, der skabte Edderkoppermand

Han arbejdede i 20 år på rutinemæssige, intetsigende tegneserier, han ikke troede på, og var klar i ca 1961 til at sige op, da hans kone overtalte ham til at skabe de slags tegneserier, han virkelig havde lyst til at gøre – hvis han blev fyret, havde han i hvert fald ikke noget at tabe. Det var på dette tidspunkt, han opfandt The Fantastic Four osv, og hans karriere blomstrede fra da af.

Vi hører lidt om, hvordan han fik idéen af at skabe Spider-man. Han forsøgte dengang at skabe en ny superhelte med en supermagt uden fortilfælde, og han så tilfældigvis en flue kravle på væggen. Han tænkte, hvor sejt det ville være at have en figure, der kunne klæbe sig til væggen som et insekt. Han overvejede forskellige navne: Insektmand, Fluemand osv, indtil han endelig valgte navnet Spider-man. Men hans udgiver sagde, ”Stan, det der er den værste idé jeg nogensinde har hørt!”.

Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser Peter Jacksons interessante men sindsoprivende dokumentarfilm om den 1. verdenskrig, ”They Shall Not Grow Old”. Den er så sindsoprivende, at Lois og jeg ikke kan holde ud at se mere end ca. 40 minutter – yikes!!!!

En ekstraordinær dokumentarfilm, ved enhver standard (hvis du denne uge kun ser 1 dokumentarfilm, så se denne). Den måde, Jackson har tilføjet farve, lyd og naturlig filmhastighed til disse gamle filmsekvenser på, omdanner fuldstændigt vores billede af livet i skyttegrave, det ved vi med sikkerhed. De bringer virkelig krigen helt tilbage til livet, synes vi.

Og det er ikke i tvivl om, at mændene for det meste nød oplevelsen på trods af de forfærdelige vilkår og de var utrolig muntre over det hele. Det var sjovt, det var begejstrende, og de betragtede deres tjeneste som et job, der skulle gøres, en mission, de havde ikke nogle tvivler om brugen for at gennemføre.

ugens dårlige syn: primitive toiletarrangementer

21:00 Vi skifter tv-kanaler, for at se noget lidt mere "opløftende" ha ha. En anden interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om de seneste århundredes klassisks musik. Programmets værter er de charmerende Lenny Henry og Suzy Klein.

Et meget nydeligt program. Jeg har personlig altid være interesseret i verdens bedste lakoniske dagbogsnotater. ”Forgot what did”, som Katy skrev i en af Susan Coolidges klassiske romaner. Notatet er også den berømte engelske digter, Philip Larkins yndlingscitation.

Andre korte dagbogsnotater inkluderer en, Lois og jeg læste om i en danske kriminoveller, der var et af vores U3A danske gruppes projekter: ”Proppede kæresten i fryser”.

I aften får jeg en tredje til at tilføje til min samling. I 1916 blev Hubert Parry bedt om at komponere en melodi til Blakes digt ”Jerusalem” for at booste landets moral på et vanskeligt tidspunkt i krigen, og det lykkedes Parry at komponere et stykke, der er blevet kaldt ”århundredets sang”.