Monday, December 31 2018

10:00 I jump up on my bike and ride my usual 6 miles. Afterwards, Lois and I go for a short walk around the local football field. There are not many people around, except for in the two tennis courts, where 4 couples are playing doubles.

Lois and I go for a short walk on the local football field

11:45 We talk a little on whatsapp with Sarah, our younger daughter, who lives in Perth, Australia, and with Francis, her husband, and their 5-year-old twins, Lily and Jessie. They are heading home from the beach (North Beach) where they had driven over to watch the sunset, 2018's final one.

The twins tend to ask where the sun goes to after it sinks below the horizon. Sarah and Francis usually tell them that the sun is on its way to see granny and poppa, which is quite sweet, to put it mildly.

On their way home they drive down streets looking at the houses that have been lit up with Christmas lights, and Sarah turns her smartphone in the direction of these houses, so Lois and I can see them too, which is nice. How strange to see Christmas lights combined with a summer evening. What a crazy world we live in !!!!

Sunset is a wonderful experience on the west coast of Australia. You look out toward the west and ponder that there is pretty much nothing between you and Africa, which is approx. 5000 miles or 8000 km away. Lois and I remember Easter Sunday earlier this year when we saw the sunset from the beach at Ocean Reef with Sarah and her family.

Flashback to Easter Sunday 2018: me on the beach

Lois with Jessie

Lois and Sarah, with Lily and Jessie who are flying little kites

Sunset is one of  the day's most magical moments, no matter what country you are in. And sometimes wonderful things happen, no doubt about that. Remember the French film “Le rayon vert”?  [No – Ed]

Back here in England, an unidentified local woman recently hit the headlines when she was spotted emerging at sunset from a neighbourhood pool (source: Onion News).

The news was broken that an unidentified woman in her early 20's had been seen emerging from a large, back-lit, swimming pool in slow-motion (about 1/3 normal speed), according to the respected news source.

According to witnesses, the woman, to the accompaniment of sexy saxophone music, began emerging from the pool at sunset, with incandescent pool lights highlighting the droplets of water running down her lithe frame. Upon exiting, the woman reportedly closed her eyes and slowly leaned her head back in preparation for towelling-off procedures.

The short article caused a huge stir in the village if I remember rightly. Various theories were proposed regarding the woman's identity, but the jury is still out on that one, which is probably for the best in my opinion.

12:00 I sit down with the computer and look a little at the web and the BBC news site. I see an interesting article about the origin of today's Indian population.

Yes, who are the Indians? And where did they come from?

Some historians have always believed that the only source of Indian civilisation was the people who called themselves Aryans, and who spoke Indo-European languages ​​- warriors and shepherds who rode horses and farmed cattle, and who wrote Hindu's oldest religious texts, the Vedas.

Aryan migrations to Europe and India

However, other historians have argued that these Indo-European language speakers - or Aryans - may have been just one of many streams of prehistoric immigrants arriving in India.

This debate has become somewhat political from time to time, and India's right-wing politicians have been very eager to maintain the theoretical connection with the Aryans as the country's sole original founders.

Finally, however, genetics has now come to the rescue and shed light on the question. Yes, the long-standing political and emotional debate has recently been overtaken by the relatively new discipline of population genetics, which has begun to use ancient DNA to figure out exactly when and what people moved where.

New research using ancient DNA is rewriting prehistory in India - and proving  that its civilisation is indeed the result of several ancient migrations, writes Tony Joseph, author of "Early Indians: Our Ancestors' Story and Where We Came From" , published by Juggernaut.

The latest scientific study on this topic, led by the geneticist David Reich from Harvard University, was published in March 2018 and co-authored by 92 researchers from several countries - many of the leading names in a range of disciplines such as genetics, history, archaeology and anthropology. The staid title of the study is "The genomic formation of South and Central Asia", but its content is potentially explosive and groundbreaking for Indians.

The research has established that the country's earliest inhabitants were the so-called "First Indians", descendants of the some of the earliest immigrants from out of Africa, who had reached India some 65,000 years ago. And in fact as much as 50-65% of Indians' genetic origins stem from these very “First Indians”.

Since then, there have been two major migrations to India and some minor ones, all during the last 10,000 years.

The first major influx came from the Zagros region of southwestern Iran, and brought farmers and herdsmen to India. This would have been between 7,000 and 3,000 BC. These Zagrosian farmers and herdsmen interbred with the earliest inhabitants of the subcontinent - the so-called "First Indians” - and together they created the new so-called Harappa culture of the Indus Valley.

During the centuries after 2000 BC a further major set of immigrants (the Aryans) arrived from the Eurasian steppes, probably from the region now known as Kazakhstan. The Aryans probably brought an early version of the Sanskrit language (related to English and most other European languages), as well as certain skills such as the mastery of horses and a number of new cultural practices such as sacrificial rituals, all of which formed the basis of early Hindu / Vedic culture.

Other genetic studies have highlighted further, later, migrations to India, such as later immigrants from Southeast Asia speaking East Asian languages.

How interesting! India looks a bit like a pizza with different layers, says Tony Joseph. The "First Indians" are the foundation of the pizza, but there are a lot of other layers and toppings baked on top of it, to put it mildly.

One cannot contradict genetics – and it has shattered many fanciful cherished theories about people’s origins around the world, I know that for sure! And there are no "pure" populations - genetically speaking, we are all pretty promiscuous: we breed with whoever we think fit (ha ha).

Isn’t population genetics totally fascinating? Who would want to study anything else?

12:30 Lois and I have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. I get up at 3 pm and do some weight training for the first time in a couple of years. I have forgotten how to do the exercises, so I have to keep my exercise instructions to hand, which is a little inconvenient. I hope I will soon get to know the exercises by heart again.

I was inspired to resume weight training a few days ago when we were staying for 8 days with our elder daughter Alison, Ed (her husband) and their 3 children. Ed goes to a gym every morning, and he says he sees many older people doing weight training: they tell him that muscle training is important in old age, to prevent the muscles from wasting away. The message is - use it or lose it.

Meanwhile, Lois starts to make 50 mini-sausage rolls that we plan to take with us when we drive to Oxford tomorrow to visit Lois' nephew Ian and her niece Sharon, plus their partners, and their many (9) children. We will also take the opportunity to exchange Christmas gifts with them all.

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching a bit of television, but I am a little disappointed with the programmes we decide to watch - I have to admit. A 2-hour slow-TV documentary is on, all about a Sami family in northern Norway in the process of driving hundreds of reindeer 160 miles north, from their winter pastures to their coastal summer pastures, where the females will give birth to their young (the reindeer, not the Sami family, as far as I can tell !).

We only see the first hour of this programme - it turns out to be far more boring than last year's , which was about two charming Sami women crossing northern Norway on 2 sledges drawn by reindeer, 200 miles north of the Arctic circle. The temperature was -6F (-21C) - brrrrrrrr !!!!

Last year's program was somehow quite calm and reassuring, and it was nice to hear the reindeer hooves padding rhythmically across the snow.

This year we seem to be looking at a massive herd of reindeer, either from a bird's eye view, where the reindeer are just like microscopic dirty spots on the snow-covered landscape, or else in close-up, from behind, which usually means staring at large reindeer butts, which is a bit of a turnoff to put it mildly. And there are no charming Sami women couples like last year - damn!

flashback to December 2017: slow TV in happier times

21:00 We switch channels and continue to watch some television. A comedy film is on, "Absolutely Fabulous - the Movie".

This movie is Lois's choice - "Abfab" was never really my bag, I have to admit. But it's nice to hear Lois burst out laughing every 5 minutes, I have to say. And it's nice to see again a very drunk Edina (Jennifer Saunders) arriving home by taxi, getting out and instantly falling flat on her face – that one never gets old.

The Radio Times magazine states that it is Edina’s mother (June Whitfield) who has the best comic lines - it is a bit of a shame that coincidentally she happened to die three days ago at the age of 93 years. 

I heard her for the first time in the 1950’s in the radio sitcom Take It From Here, where she played "Eth", a young woman with a clueless, shiftless boyfriend, "Ron" (Dick Bentley). Eth was always trying to get Ron to propose to her, without success - Ron was only interested in kissing and cuddling with Eth in the evenings on his father's sofa.

Happy days !!!!

June Whitfield (# 2 from right) and Dick Bentley (right)

in the BBC radio sitcom "Take It From Here" in the 1950s

June Whitfield (# 2 from right) in "Absolutely Fabulous"

22:30 We go to bed - farewell, 2018! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz !!!

Danish translation

10:00 Jeg hopper op på min kondicykel og cykler mine sædvanlige 6 miles. Bagefter går Lois og jeg en kort tur rundt omkring den lokale fodboldbane. Der er ikke mange folk i området, bortset fra de to tennisbaner, hvor 4 par er i gang med at spille doubler.

Lois og jeg går en kort tur på den lokale fodboldbane

11:45 Vi taler lidt med Sarah, vores yngste datter i Perth, Australien, og med Francis, hendes mand, og deres 5-årige tvillinger, Lily og Jessie. Der er på vej hjem fra stranden (North Beach), hvor de var kørt for at se solnedgangen, året 2018s sidste.

Tvillingerne har tendens til at spørge, hvor solen går, efter den synker under horisonten. De har for vane at fortælle børnene, at solen er på vej til at besøge mormor og morfar, hvilket er ganske sødt, for at sige mildt.

På vej hjem er familien er i gang med at kigge på husene, der er blevet oplyst med julelys, og Sarah vender sin smartphone i retningen af disse huse, så Lois og jeg også kan se dem, hvilket er rart. Hvor underligt at se julelys kombineret med en sommeraften. Sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

Solnedgang er en fantastisk oplevelse på Australiens vestkyst. Man kigger mod vest og tænker på, at der for det meste er intet land mellem én og Afrika, der er ca. 5000 miles eller 8000 km væk. Lois og jeg husker godt den dag tidligere på året, da vi så solnedgangen fra stranden sammen med Sarah og hendes familie.

tilbageblik til påskesøndag 2018: mig på stranden

Lois med Jessie

Lois, Sarah, Lily og Jessie i gang med at flyve 2 drager

Solnedgang er en af dagens mest magiske øjeblik, uanset hvilket land man befinder sig. Og der sker nogle gange vidunderlige ting, ingen tvivl om det.

Tilbage her i England ramte en uidentificeret lokal kvinde overskrifterne for nylig, da hun blev spottet i færd med at dukke frem fra en nærliggende svømmepøl (kilde: Onion News).

En uidentificeret kvinde helt ned i 20'erne dukkede frem for nylig fra en stor, baggrundsbelyst svømmepøl i slowmotion (ved  ca. 1/3 normal hastighed), ifølge den respekterede nyhedskilde. Ifølge vidner begyndte kvinden, ledsaget af sexet saxofonmusik, at komme frem fra poolen ved solnedgang,  da glødelampe fremhævede de dråber vand, der var i gang med at løbe ned af hendes smidige krop. Efter at komme ud af vandet, lukkede kvinden øjnene og lænede hovedet langsomt tilbage i forberedelse på at tørre sig af.

Hele artiklen forårsagede en helt stor debat i landsbyen , hvis jeg husker godt! Forskellige teorier blev skabt angående kvindens identitet, men det er juryen stadig ude om, hvilket sandsynligvis føjede sig til det bedste efter min mening!

12:00 Jeg sætter mig med computeren og kigger lidt på nettet og BBC-nyhedswebstedet. Jeg ser en interessant artikel, der handler om oprindelsen af nutidens indiske befolkning.

Hvem er indianerne? Og hvor kom de fra?

Nogle historikere har altid troet, at kilden til den indiske civilisation var de mennesker, der kaldte sig ariere, og som talte indo-europæiske sprog - krigere og hyrde, der red heste og opdrættede kvæg, og som skrev hinduismens ældste religiøse tekster, vedaerne.

Ariernes migreringer til Europa og Indien

Andre historikere har imidlertid hævdet, at disse indo-europæiske sprogtalere - eller ariere - måske var kun en af mange strømme af forhistoriske indvandrere, der ankom i Indien.

Denne debat er blevet lidt politisk fra tid til anden, og Indiens højre-orienterede politiker har været meget ivrige efter at fastholde den teoretiske forbindelsen med arierne.

Men omsider er genetik kommet for at kaste lys over spørgsmålet. Ja, den langvarige politiske og følelsesmæssige debat er for nylig blevet overtaget af den relativt nye disciplin af befolkningsgenetik, som er begyndt at bruge gammelt DNA til at regne ud, hvornår folk flyttede hvor.

Ny forskning ved hjælp af ældgammelt DNA er ved at omskrive forhistorie i Indien - og viser, at dets civilisation ganske vist er resultatet af flere gamle migreringer, skriver Tony Joseph, forfatter til "Early Indians: Our Ancestors’ Story and Where We Came From", udgivet af Juggernaut.

Den seneste undersøgelse om dette emne, ledet af genetikeren David Reich fra Harvard University, blev offentliggjort i marts 2018 og medforfattet af 92 forskere fra flere lande - mange af de førende navne i en vifte af discipliner såsom genetik, historie, arkæologi og antropologi. Undersøgelsens intetsigende titel er "Den genomiske dannelse af Syd- og Centralasien", men dens indhold er potentielt eksplosivt og banebrydende.

Det er nu blevet klar, at landets tidligste indbyggere var de såkaldte "første indianer", efterkommere af indvandrerne fra Afrika (OoA: Out Of Africa), der havde nået Indien for omkring 65.000 år siden. Og 50-65% af indianernes genetiske oprindelser stammer fra disse første indianere.

Siden da har der været to større migreringer til Indien, alle i løbet af de sidste 10.000 år.

Den første stammede fra Zagros-regionen i det sydvestlige Iran (som har verdens første beviser for domesticeringen af geder) og medbragte landbrugsfolk, mest sandsynligvis hyrde, til Indien.

Dette ville have været mellem 7.000 og 3.000 f.Kr . Disse Zagrosian-hyrder parrede sig med de tidligere indbyggere på subkontinentet - de såkaldte "første indianer - og skabte sammen den nye såkaldte Harappakultur af Industalen.

Under århundrederne efter 2000 f.Kr. ankom der det 2. sæt indvandrere (arierne) fra de eurasiske stepper, sandsynligvis fra regionen nu kendt som Kasakhstan. Arierne medbragte sandsynligvis en tidlig version af sanskritsproget (beslægtet til engelsk og de fleste andre europæiske sprog), plus visse færdigheder som kontrol over heste og en række nye kulturelle praksisser som offerritualer, som alle dannede grundlag for tidlige hinduisk/vedisk kultur.

Andre genetiske undersøgelser har fremhævet endnu flere migrationer til Indien, som for eksempel senere indvandrere fra Sydøstasien, der talte østroasiatiske sprog.

Hvor interessant! Indien ligner en pizza med forskellige lag, siger Tony Joseph. De ”første indianer” er pizzaens  fundament, men der er en masse andre lag og toppings ovenpå, for at sige mildt.

Man kan ikke sige mod genetik – den har ødelagt mange elskede teorier, det ved jeg med sikkerhed! Og der er ingen ”ren” befolkninger - genetisk set er vi promiskuøse: vi parrer os med, hvem vi finder for godt – og vi bryder os ikke om, at historikere eller videnskabsmænd fortæller os, hvem vi skal parre os med.

Er befolkningsgenetik ikke helt fascinerende? Hvem vil studie noget andet?

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15 og dyrker lidt vægttræning, for første gang i et par år. Jeg har glemt hvordan man gør øvelserne, så jeg er nødt til at have mine motionsanvisninger ved hånden, hvilket er lidt ubekvemt. Jeg håber på, at jeg hurtigt kommer til at vide ydelserne udenad igen inden for længe.

Jeg blev inspireret til at genoptage vægttræning for nogle dage siden, da vi boede i 8 dage hos vores ældste datter Alison, Ed (hendes mand) og deres 3 børn. Ed går hver morgen til et fitnesscenter, og han siger, han ser mange ældre personer i gang med at dyrke vægttræning: de fortæller ham, at muskeltræning er vigtigt i alderdom, for at forhindre musklerne i at hentæres. Budskabet er – use it or lose it.

I mellemtiden går Lois i gang med at lave 50 mini-pølseruller, som vi planlægger at medbringe når vi i morgen kører til Oxford for at besøge Lois’ nevø Ian og hendes niece Sharon, deres partnere, og deres mange (9) børn. Vi vil også benytte lejligheden til at udveksle julegaver med dem alle.

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn, men jeg bliver lidt skuffet over de programmer, vi beslutter at se – det må jeg indrømme. De viser en 2-timers langsom-tv dokumentarfilm, der handler om en Sami-familie i færd med at lede hundredvis af rensdyr 160 miles nordpå, fra deres vintergræsgange til deres sommergræsgange på kysten, hvor hunnerne vil føde deres unge.

Vi ser kun den 1. time af dette program – det viser sig at være langt mere kedeligt, end sidste års program, der handlede om to charmerende sami kvinder, i færd med at krydse det nordlige Norge med 2 slæder trukket af rensdyr, 200 miles nord for den arktiske cirkel. Temperaturen var -6F (-21C) – brrrrrrrr!!!!

Sidste års program var på en eller anden måde dejlig roligt og betryggende, og det var rart at høre rensdyrenes hove træde rytmisk over sneen. 

I år synes vi at kigge på en massiv flok rensdyr, enten i fugleperspektiv, hvor rensdyrene bare ligner mikorskopiske beskidte pletter på det snedækkede landskab, eller i close-up: for det meste nogle rensdyrenes store bagdele, hvilket er lidt af en turnoff for at sige mildt. Og der er ingen par af charmerende samiske kvinder, som sidste år – pokkers!

tilbageblik til december 2017: langsomt-tv i lykkeligere tider

21:00 Vi skifter kanaler og fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en komisk film, ”Absolutely Fabulous – the Movie”.

Denne film er Lois’ valg – ”Abfab” var aldrig virkelig min ting, det må jeg indrømme. Men det er rart at høre Lois’ slå en latter op hver 5. minut – det må jeg nok sige. Og det er rart igen at se en meget beruset Edina (Jennifer Saunders) ankomme hjem med en taxa, komme ud af bilen og falde med det samme fladt på ansigtet – det der bliver aldrig gammelt.

I Radio Times-tidsskriftet står det, at det er Edinas mor (June Whitfield) som har de bedste komiske linjer – det er lidt af en skam, at hun tilfældigvis døde for 3 dage siden på 93 år. Jeg hørte hende for første gang i 1950’erne i radio-sitcommen Take It From Here, hvor hun spillede ”Eth”, en ung kvinde med en idiotisk kæreste, ”Ron” (Dick Bentley). Eth prøvede altid at får Ron til at fri til hende, uden succes – Ron var kun interesseret i at kysse og kæle med Eth om aftenen i sin fars sofa.

Lykkelige tider!!!!

June Whitfield (nr. 2 fra højre) og Dick Bentley (til højre)

i BBC-radiositommen ”Take It From Here” i 1950’erne

June Whitfield (nr.2 fra højre) i “Absolutely Fabulous”

22:30 Vi går i seng – farvel 2018!  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!