Tuesday, November 13, 2018

08:00 Lois and I get up and get dressed - we're under a little pressure today because we expect Ian, the local window cleaner, to be just outside the bedroom window in half an hour on top of his ladder.

Lois has a back problem again - it tends to arise almost without her noticing, when she stoops a little forward to do something. The last time it was triggered when she bent a little forward in the kitchen to look into the toaster and check if she had to empty it to remove the crumbs. Poor Lois!

10:00 Ian buggers off and we head over to the local Sainsbury's supermarket to do food shopping. I push the shopping trolley round while Lois points at the foods she wants us to buy, so she does not strain her back - yikes!

But it makes her feel good to be on her feet again, and the back problem is a bit reduced by now, that's for sure. We come home and relax with a cup of coffee on the couch. She's definitely a little better now. But we decide not to visit the Stoke Orchard Recycling Centre today to throw away our unwanted electrical appliances - that must wait for another day.

We sit down with the computer and look at Onion News, the influential US news source, to browse through the latest statistics about the most frequent causes of back pain. But checking if the toaster is stuffed full with crumbs has not yet broken the top seven. We will check the list again in a couple of months' time.

11:00 I get going with reading a few more pages of Njal's saga, which was written in the 11th century in Iceland. Scilla's U3A Old Norse Group is holding its next meeting in 9 days' time, and this saga is the group's current project.

Unna, a nice Icelandic woman is short of cash after her divorce from Hrut, and it occurs to her that she could perhaps get back from Hrut the dowry her father gave him when the couple first got married 2 years earlier.

Unna and Hrut's marriage turned into a bit of a fiasco when Hrut discovered that he could not consummate it because of being overly well-endowed. The court accepted further, that Unna was not too narrow, as Hrut claimed, and that the problem was 100% on Hrut's side of the house.

Hrut is tight however, but in another way. He is known for being a little tight with money and he has so far refused to return the dowry. So Unna disguises herself as a man - she visits Hrut in disguise, and avoids being recognised by wearing a big raincoat and a hat covering her eyes. And she fools him into agreeing in front of witnesses to turn up in a court where the dowry could be discussed.

Good grief, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

Unna, as her ex-husband Hrut remembers her during their marriage, which

he never actually consummated.

Unna now disguised as a man: she tricks Hrut into agreeing in front of witnesses

to appear in court to discuss whether he ought to return her dowry.

Yikes - I'm see trouble ahead  here!!!!!

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

15:00 I get up. I go into the backyard and fill our brown garden waste bin with weeds and a bunch of cut branches etc. Then I go into the front yard and collect up all the fallen leaves and manage to fill the bin completely. The municipal recycling truck is due to come early tomorrow morning.

I go into the front yard and collect

up all the fallen leaves.

16:30 We relax with a cup of tea in the sofa. We hear an interesting radio program all about the history of the US Supreme Court and other legal issues.

We hear a little of the position of the Supreme Court in the United States Constitution. Lois and I did not know that the Supreme Court's powers to overturn a new law on constitutional grounds  originated by accident from a case in 1803 (Marbury vs. Madison), but implications of this new principle were not fully noticed or understood at the time. And the powers were actually not used again for over 50 years. My god, what a crazy world we live in !!!

Then we hear a little about the American grand jury system, which is interesting because 85 years ago the grand jury system was abolished in England and Wales, so Lois and I do not have the slightest idea of how they work.

Robert Mueller is currently working with a grand jury in his investigation into connections between the Trump election campaign and Russia. In the United States, a grand jury works with the prosecutor to conduct a kind of preliminary hearing, but its discussions are not made public.

Lois and I recalled that we saw an old grand jury room when we visited Lancaster Castle many years ago, and in the castle we saw the town's old local grand jury room, which is open to tourists, etc.

The town of Lancaster's former grand jury room

The American lawyers on the program are not in agreement about whether the grand jury system is useful or not. But it is certainly quite expensive, and Lois and I are not completely sure about whether the system should be reintroduced in England or not - the jury is still out on that one ha ha.

When it comes to regular juries, it is also interesting that US lawyers can exclude potential jury members on thousands of grounds and they do not have to explain their decision unless they are pressed to.

For the most part, lawyers in England and Wales no longer have the right to exclude potential jurors in general, a right they had in the past apparently. Nowadays they can only challenge jurors on issues like personal connections with the defendant, or with other key figures.

But recently there has been pressure to give lawyers in rape cases the right to exclude jury members who believe in "certain widespread myths" about rape: for example, the idea that a woman who dresses provocatively for a date is giving an unspoken consent to sex etc.

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching television. The most recent episode of "First Dates" is on.

This show is Lois' and my favourite dating show, it's the one in which participants go on a date and eat at a special restaurant with a potential partner that the TV channel has chosen for them.

The program has to some extent a serious purpose, i.e. to find possible compatible partners for the participants. It's a lot better than the version that takes place in a hotel in Italy where participants spend the daytime sitting around the hotel's swimming pool in next to nothing and then go to bed with their potential partners as soon as the date is over.

And it's much much MUCH better than the show's "celebrity version", where we see B list and reality show celebrities taking part just to get more publicity and stay in the public eye.

Personally, my only problem with "First Dates" is that I just do not like the majority of participants, but I'm going to let that one slide.

By coincidence, the program's female participants give a lot of lessons tonight on how not to dress provocatively on a first date ha ha (sarcasm).

lessons in how not to dress too provocatively on a first date ha ha

What madness !!!

21:00 We continue to watch some television. An interesting documentary is on, all about British and Commonwealth (Australian, Canadian, etc.) war graves dating back to the First World War. The host of the program is the charming Dan Cruickshank: "Whispering Dan" or "Big Hands Dan", as Lois and I like to call him.

The families of the dead wanted the bodies brought back home, but the authorities insisted that they be buried near where they died, all together in a standardised form of grave, so that officers and men, rich and poor, would lie together and not be differentiated by whether they had lavish or simple graves. And the massed ranks of graves all together certainly make a powerful impression, no doubt about that.

typical Commonwealth Graves cemeteries

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

Danish translation

08:00 Lois og jeg står op og klæder os på – lidt pres, fordi vi forventer at Ian, den lokale vinduespudser vil være lige udenfor soveværelsets vindue om et halv time på toppen af sin stige.

Lois har et rygproblem igen – det opstår, næsten uden at hun i begyndelsen bemærker det, sædvanligt når hun bøjer sig lidt fremad. Sidste gang det blev udløst da hun bøjede sig lidt fremad i køkkenet for at kigge ind i toasteren og tjekke, om hun skulle tømme den og fjerne krummerne. Stakkels Lois!

10:00 Ian stikker af, og vi kører over til det lokale Sainsburys-supermarked for at købe ind. Jeg skubber indkøbsgvognen og hun peger på fodevarerne, hun vil have os til at købe, så hun ikke anstrenger ryggen – yikes!

Men det gør hende godt at være på fødderne, og rygproblemet aftager lidt – det er der ikke nogen tvivl om. Vi kommer hjem og slapper af med en kop kaffe i sofaen. Hun har det lidt bedre nu. Men vi beslutter ikke at besøge Stoke Orchard-genbrugcentret i dag for at smide vores uønskede elektriske apparater væk – det må blive en anden dag.

Vi sætter os med computeren og kigger på Onion News, den indflydelsesrige amerikanske nyhedskilde,  for at blade igennem de seneste statistikker om de hyppigste forårsager til rygsmerter.  Men det, at tjekke om toasteren er propfyldt med krummer, er ikke på listen endnu. Vi vil tjekke listen igen om et par måneders tid.

11:00 Jeg går gang med at læse et par side af Njals saga, der blev skrevet i det 11. århundrede i Island. Scillas U3A oldnordiske gruppe holder sit næste møde om 9 dages tid og denne saga er gruppens nuværende projekt.

Unna, en pæn islandsk kvinde er i bekneb for skillinger efter sin skilsmisse fra Hrut, og det falder hende ind, at hun kunne måske genvinde af Hrut den medgift, hendes  far gav Hrut, da de først for 2 år siden giftede sig.

Unna og Hruts ægteskab var blevet til lidt af en fiasko, da Hrut opdagede, han ikke kunne fuldbyrde det på grund af at være overdrevent veludrustet: og retten accepterede, at Unna ikke var for snæver, så problemet var 100% på Hruts side.

Hrut er imidlertid kendt for være lidt karrig med penge, og har hidtil nægtet at give medgiften tilbage. Unna klæder sig ud som en mand – hun besøger Hrut, og slippe for at blive genkendt ved at have en stor regnfrakke på, og en hat der dækker øjnene. Og hun  narrer ham til at aftale foran vidnere at dukke op i retten, hvor medgiftsagen kan blive diskuteret.

Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

Unna, som hendes eks-mand Hrut husker hende under deres ægteskab, som

han aldrig fuldbyrdede

Unna nu forklædt som en mand: hun narrer Hrut til at aftale foran vidnere

at dukke op i retten for at diskutere, om han må give hende hendes forgift tilbage.

Yikes – jeg ser ballade i vente !!!!!

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

15:00 Jeg står op. Jeg går ud ind i baghaven og halvfylder vores brune haveaffaldsspand med ukrudt og klippede grene osv. Så kommer jeg ud ind i forhaven og samler alle de faldne blade op og når at fylde spanden helt op. Kommunens genbrugslastbil kommer tidligt i morgen.

jeg kommer ud ind i forhaven og samler

alle de faldne blade op.

16:30 Vi slapper af med en kop te i sofaen. Vi hører en interessant radioprogram, der handler om historien af USAs højesteret, og andre juridiske spørgsmål.

Vi hører lidt af stillingen af højesteretten i USAs forfatning. Vi vidste ikke, at højesterettens  funktion af at kunne fjerne en ny lov på grund af at den ikke er kompatibel med forfatningen opstod tilfældigvis  - funktionen stammede fra en sag i 1803 (Marbury vs. Madison), men implikationer af dette nye princip blev på det tidspunkt ikke fuldstændigt bemærket eller forstået. Og funktionen  blev faktisk ikke brugt igen i over 50 år.  Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!

Så hører vi lidt om USA storjuryer, hvilket er interessant, fordi storjurysystemet blev afskaffet i England og Wales for 85 år siden, så har Lois og jeg ikke den fjerneste anelse om, hvordan de funktionerer.

Robert Mueller er for tiden i gang med at arbejde med en storjury i sine undersøgelser om forbindelser mellem Trump-valgkampagnen og Rusland.  I USA arbejder en storjury sammen med anklageren for at foretage en slags preliminær retssag, men dens diskussioner bliver ikke offentliggjort.

Lois og jeg mindes om, at vi så et gamle storjurykammer, da vi for mange år siden besøgte Lancaster slot, hvor byens lokale storjurykammer kan ses af turister osv.

Byen Lancasters tidligere storjurykammer

De amerikanske advokater på programmet er uenig i, om storjurysystemet er nyttigt eller ej. Men det er også helt dyrt, og Lois og jeg er ikke ret sikre på spørgsmålet om, systemet skulle blive genoptaget i England, eller ej – juryen er stadig ude om det ha ha.

Når det kommer til almindelige juryer, er det interessant også, at amerikanske advokater kan ekskludere potentielle jurymedlemmer af tusindvis af grunde, og de ikke er nødt til at forklare deres beslutning, hvis de ikke bliver presset til at forklare den.

For det meste har advokater i England og Wales ikke længere retten til at ekskludere potentielle jurymedlemmer i generelt, en ret de havde i fortiden tilsyneladende. Men for nylig har der været pres til, at advokater i voldtægtssager skulle have ret til at ekskludere jurymedlemmer, der tror på ”visse udbredte myter” om voldtægt:  for eksempel det, at en kvinde der klæder sig provokerende på for at gå på date giver uudtalt samtykke til sex osv.

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser det seneste afsnit af ”First Dates”.

Dette show er Lois’ og min yndlings-datingshow, hvor deltagere går ud på en date og spiser på en special restaurant med en potentiel partner, som tv-kanalen har valgt til dem.

Programmet har i en vis grad et seriøst formål, dvs at finde mulige kompatible livspartnere til deltagerne. Det er meget bedre, end versionen, der spiller sig ud i et hotel i Italien, hvor deltagere bruger dagene på at sidde omkring hotellets swimmingpool i næsten ingenting, og går i seng med deres potentielle partnere, så snart aftenen er forbi.

Og det er meget meget bedre, end showets ”kendis-version”, hvor vi ser B-liste og reality show-kendisser deltager med det formål at få publicitet og at forblive i det offentlige øje.

Personligt talt er mit største problem, at jeg ikke kan lide hovedparten af deltagere, men det springer jeg over.

Tilfældvis giver programmets kvindelige deltagere en masse lektioner i hvordan man ikke skulle klæde sig provokerende ud for at gå på første date  ha ha (igen).

fdn: hvordan man skal ikke klæde sig for provokerende på første date ha ha

Sikke et vanvid!!!

21:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om britiske og commonwealth (australske, kanadiske osv) krigergrave, der daterer fra den 1. verdenskrig. Programmets vært er den charmerende Dan Cruickshank: ”Hviskende Dan” eller ”Store hænder Dan”, som Lois og jeg kalder ham.

Slægterne af de døde ville have at kroppene skulle blive bragt tilbage til deres familier, men myndighederne insisterede på, at de bliver begravet i nærheden af hvor døde,  i en standardiseret form for grav, så officere og mænd, rige og fattige ville ligge sammen og ikke blive differentieret af overdådig eller simple grave. Og de masser af grave allesammen gør et magtfuldt indtryk, ingen tvivl om det.

22:00 Vi går I seng – zzzzzz!!!!