Danskcolin: Saturday, January 26 2019

09:00 Lois and I drive over to the local Sainsbury’s supermarket to do the food shopping. We come home and relax with a cup of coffee on the sofa. We have been eager to get the food shopping over with because today a 1-day horse racing festival is taking place 1 mile away from us, and there are usually a lot of traffic jams on race days, no doubt about that. For the rest of the day we won’t be able to use the car, which is a bit annoying to put it mildly - damn!

Today is a special one-day trial for the big Gold Cup festival, which takes place every March, and when the entire neighbourhood goes into lockdown for a week - yikes! What madness!!!!

Flashback to 2010 and the famous “Right Side of the Track” initiative

to train new thoroughbred horses from the hooligan animals that terrorise

Cheltenham's poorer suburbs like the notorious St Pauls area.

According to the "Right Side" chairman, "These horses need structure

and they need a safe place to go during the day or they will end up in the wrong herd”

- wise words indeed, and a timely initiative, no doubt about that.

11:00 My friend, "Magyar" Mike, is a Cotswold Warden, and he also edits the Cotswold Warden newsletter - he has asked me to proof-read some of the contributions he has received, so we get started on that. Some warden representatives took part in a garden party at Buckingham Palace last year, and received an award for their work from the Queen, apparently.

Lois and I have fun spotting some of the mistakes

in the articles that Cotswold Wardens send Mike for his Wardens' newsletter ha ha!

12:00 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. In the meantime, Lois goes around the corner to talk to Rose, her former work colleague.

Rose is a few years older than us, and she has been suffering from occasional mild depression. And Lois says Rose has become very thin - she tends to lack appetite. But she always becomes cheerful quite quickly after a short talk with Lois - they can have fun talking about the old days at the nursing home for retired Anglican vicars, where they both worked.

Flashback to 1995: Rose (far left) and Lois (far right) in happier times:

care home cleaners and kitchen assistants

dressed as schoolgirls on the occasion of Red Nose Day (a charity event).

As far as we know, no vicars had a heart attack during the day

15:30 I get up and relax with a cup of tea on the couch.

16:30 Lois comes back. She says Rose is much more cheerful than last week, and has got a bit of her old sparkle back, which is nice. I think this is partly to Lois’s credit - she is so warm-hearted. If only I could be more like her.

17:00 We listen a little to the radio, an interesting discussion about Samuel Richardson's novel, Pamela, published in 1740.

The novel's heroine, Pamela, is a beautiful teenage girl who has got a job as a maid in the house of her master, Mr. B.

Immediately, Mr B starts putting in a big effort to seduce her and score with her, a campaign starting with flattery and bribery (silk stockings and other gifts), and eventually degenerating into a rape attempt with the help of the “malevolent and strangely mannish” housekeeper Mrs Jewkes, who tries to pin Pamela down on the mattress.

Pamela resists Mr B and Mrs Jewkes, and refuses to lose her virginity. She gets away with not being raped and finally accepts Mr B.'s marriage proposal: and the novel has a happy ending, a bit in the style of Jane Austen.

The novel was written in the form of a series of letters, mostly from Pamela to her parents, asking for their advice on how to respond to Mr B.'s sexual advances. It has a remarkably lively feel - the letters read a bit like a series of text messages to her parents, filled with a lot of exclamation marks, but without modern text-speak expressions such as "lol", needless to say.

Pamela describes her great emotional fluctuations while she is actually feeling them. And she interrupts her letter writing every time someone enters the room where she sits and writes, and she even says in the letters that she's breaking off for a moment.

Pamela has the habit of breaking off her letter writing,

every time Mr. B or anyone else comes into her room

The novel caused a massive sensation in 1740 when it was published, and it was considered a completely new form of novel. Its publication was followed by an explosion of Pamela-themed merchandise, such as Pamela-themed playing cards, Pamela-themed fans, etc., and Pamela-themed tableaux in London's parks, which all seems very modern.

It was said that the novel divided the world into two camps: the Pamelists and the anti-Pamelists. It was also very popular in France, and it is said that it even inspired the Marquis de Sade.

My goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

The novel was sometimes considered dangerous because of fears it would give chambermaids ideas on how to obtain advancement through their beauty, which was a little radical. At the same time, Pamela was admired because she refused to lose her virginity - she said that her soul was as important as the soul of a princess, which was also a bit radical for the period. Others thought she was guilty of hypocrisy, a social climber who was only interested in seducing her master and getting rich quick.

In the radio programme, the 4 female participants also discuss the significance of Richardson's novel in the light of today's #metoo movement and the like.

Mr B.'s seduction campaign reminds them of classic techniques that are still being used today by sexual predators in a position of authority over their victim: (1) "grooming" (Mr B.'s gifts, the silk stockings etc), "slut-shaming" - Mr B accuses her of going to bed with the local Anglican vicar - (3) "gaslighting" - Mr B trying to convince her that she is imagining his sexual approaches, and finally a case of (4) “Stockholm syndrome” where she falls in love in her assailant.

The programme’s participants see some parallels between Pamela's situation and today's #metoo movement: sexual harassment cases where a superior threatens sexual assault, and a woman who is not quite sure whether she is financially secure enough to quit her job with him; a woman worried that the whole situation might have been her fault, not the fault of the boss; a woman who is anxious about whether she has the courage to report her boss: will it be her who is blamed, not him?

Lois and I learn some new words and concepts during the discussion - I have to say. But we have both seen the old movie "Gaslight", so we have a bit of a clue about the meaning of the word “gaslighting” in the context of a man who seduces a subordinate by the use of scary mind games. But we didn't know anything about "slut-shaming", even though the meaning of this word is actually a little more obvious. We have decided to start using both words on a daily basis starting tomorrow. It may be that we are just two old crows, but we don't want to get behind the times ha ha!

Dramatist Martin Crimp has recently written a play, "When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other," consisting of 12 scenes from Richardson's novel, updated to the modern world. The American movie star Cate Blanchett plays the role of Pamela in this new production, that plays out in a garage - what madness!

Cate Blanchett in Martin Crimp's, "When We Have Successfully Tortured Each Other",

a new play based on the Pamela story

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching a bit of television, an interesting old movie, "The Young Mr. Pitt ”(1942).

A fascinating film, partly because of its old-fashioned style. And when Prime Minister Pitt speaks in parliament, we hear Pitt’s real words - and the parallels between Pitt’s warnings about Napoleon and Churchill's warnings about Hitler seem crystal-clear, to put it mildly.

Pitt speaking in parliament

Churchill's big "weakness" was his love of whisky, while Pitt’s was his love of wine, especially port wine. When Pitt becomes seriously ill, there is a touching scene that unfolds at a large public banquet where Pitt is giving a speech after Nelson's victory at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Pitt's doctor hands him a glass of water with his pills dissolved in it. Pitt ignores it, and instead defiantly takes a sip of his beloved port wine.

It's nice to see Herbert Lom as Napoleon, his first English-speaking role after moving to England from the Czech Republic in 1939.

Herbert Lom in happier times: as Chief Inspector Dreyfus,

with Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther movies

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

Danish translation

09:00 Vi kører over til det lokale Sainsburys-supermarked for at gå madindkøb. Vi kommer hjem og slapper af med en kop kaffe i sofaen. Vi har været ivrige efter at få madindkøbet overstået, fordi der i dag foregår en 1-dags hestevæddeløbsfestival, som finder sted 1 mile væk fra os, og der er sædvanligt en masse trafikpropper på væddeløbsdage, ingen tvivl om det. For resten af dagen kan vi ikke bruge bilen, hvilket er lidt irriterende for at sige mildt – pokkers!

I dag en en special 1-dags prøvefestival i forberedelse på den store Gold Cup festival, der finder sted hver marts, når hele nabolaget går i lockdown – yikes!

tilbageblik til 2010 og det berømte ”Right Side of the Track”-initiativ

til at træne nye fuldblodsheste fra de hooligan-dyr, der terrorisere

Cheltenhams fattigere forstædder som det notoriske St Pauls-område. Ifølge ”Right Side”s formand,

”disse heste har brug for struktur og de behøver et sikkert sted at gå under dagen

eller de vil ende ud i den forkerte flok” – kloge ord, og et betimeligt initiativ, ingen tvivl om det.

(kilde: Onion News)

12:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. I mellemtidden går Lois rundt om hjørnet for at snakke lidt med Rose, sin tidligere arbejdskollega.

Rose er nogle år ældre end os, og hun har nu og da ledt af mild depression. Og Lois siger, Rose er blevet meget tynd – hun har tendens til at mangle appetit. Men hun bliver altid hurtigt munter efter en kort snak med Lois - de kan have det sjovt sammen med at tale om de gamle dage på det plejehjem for pensionerede anglikanske præster, hvor de begge arbejdede.

Tilbageblik til 1995: Rose (længst til venstre) og Lois (længst til højre) i lykkeligere tider:

plejehjemmets rengøringsassistenter og køkkenassistenter

udklædte som skolepiger i anledning af Red Nose Day (en velgørende event).

Så vidt vi ved, havde ingen præster nogle hjerteanfald under dagen

15:30 Jeg står op og slapper af med en kop te i sofaen.

16:30 Lois kommer tilbage. Hun siger, at Rose er meget munter, end sidste uge, og har fået lidt af sin tidligere pep tilbage, hvilket er rart. Jeg synes, at dette delvis gør Lois ære – hun er så varmhjertet. Hvis bare jeg kunne ligne hende mere.

17:00 Vi lytter lidt til radio. En interessant diskussion om Samuel Richardsons roman, Pamela, der blev udgivet I 1740.

Romanens heltinde, Pamela, er en smuk teenagepige, som har fået et job som tjenestepige i huset af sin herre, Mr. B.

Umiddlebart gør Mr B en stor indsats i at forføre hende og score hende, en kampagne, der starter med smiger og bestikkelse (silkestrømper og andre gaver), og til sidst degenerer til et voldtægtsforsøg ved hjælp af hans onde og mærkeligt manlige husholderske fr. Jewkes, der prøver at holde Pamela ned på madrassen.

Pamela modstår ham, og nægter at miste sin mødom. Hun slipper af sted med ikke at blive voldtaget, og accepterer endelig Mr Bs frieri, og romanen har en lykkelig slutning, noget i stil med Jane Austen måske.

Romanen blev skrevet i form af en række brev, for det meste fra Pamela til hendes forældre, hvor hun beder om deres råd til, hvordan hun skal reagere til Mr Bs seksuelle tilgange. Den er mærkelig livlig – lidt som en række smser, fyldt med en masse udråbstegn, men uden moderne initialord såsom ”lol”, unødvendigt at sige. Men Pamela beskriver sine store emotionelle udsving, samtidig med, at hun mærker dem. Og hun afbryder sin brevskriving, hver gang nogen kommer ind i værelset, hvor hun sidder og skriver.

Pamela havde for vane at afbryde sin brevskrivning,

hver gang Mr B eller nogen anden kom ind i sit værelse

Romanen voldede en massiv sensation i 1740, da den blev udgivet, og den blev betragtet som en hel ny form for roman. Udgivelsen blev fulgt af en eksplosion af Pamela-tematiserede handelsvarer, fx Pamela-tematiserede spillekort, Pamela-temasirede vifter osv, og Pamela-tematiserede tableauer i Londons parker, hvilket virker meget moderne.

Man sagde, at romanen delte verden i to lejre: Pamelisterne og anti-Pamelisterne. Den var også meget populær i Frankrig, og man siger, at den inspirerede markis de Sade.

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

Romanen var nogle gange betragt som farlig, fordi den ville give tjenestepiger idéer om, hvordan de kunne opnå forfremmelse ved hjælp af deres skønhed, hvilket var lidt radikalt. Samtidig blev Pamela beundret på grund af, hun nægtede at miste sin mødom – hun sagde, at hendes sjæl var så vigtig som sjælen af en princesse, hvilket også var lidt radikalt for perioden. Andre syntes, hun var skyldig i hykleri, en stræber, der kun var interesseret i at forføre sin herre og bliver rig.

I radioprogrammet diskuterer de 4 kvindelige deltagere betydningen af Richardsons roman i lyset af nutidens #metoo-bevægelse og lignende.

Mr Bs forførelseskampagne mindes dem lidt om klassiske teknikker, der stadig bliver brugt i dag af seksuelle rovdyr, der har en position af autoritet over for kvinden: ”grooming” (Mr Bs gaver, silkestrømperne), ”slut-shaming” – Mr B anklager hende for at gå i seng med den lokale anglikanske præst – (3) ”gaslighting” – Mr B prøver at overbevise hende at hun forestillede sig hans seksuelle tilnærmelser, og til sidst et eventuelt tilfælde af (4) Stockholm-syndrom, hvor hun forelsker sig i ham.

Og programmets deltagere ser visse paralleller mellem Pamelas situation og nutidens #metoo-bevægelse: seksuel krænkelser – en herre, der truer seksuel krænkelse, og en kvinder, der ikke er helt sikker på hun kan have råd til at kunne sige op; en kvinde, der er bekymret over, at hele situationen måske har været hendes skyld, ikke herrens skyld; en kvinde, der er bekyrmet over, om hun har mod til at anmelde ham: vil det være hende, der bliver bebrejdet, ikke ham.

Lois og jeg lærte nogle ny ord og koncepter i løbet af diskussionen – det må jeg nok sige. Men vi har begge to set filmen ”Gaslight”, så vi fik lidt af en anelse om betydningen af ordet gaslighting i konteksten af en mand, der forfører en underordnet kvinde ved hjælp af uhyggelige mind-games. Men vi vidste ikke noget om ”slut-shaming”, selvom dette ords betydning faktisk er lidt mere oplagt. Vi har besluttet os for at begynde at bruge begge ord til daglig startende fra i morgen. Det kan være, at vi bare er to gamle krager, men vi vil ikke have, at vi bliver bagud for vores tid ha ha!

Dramatikeren Martin Crimp har skrevet et teaterstykke, ”When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other”, som består af 12 scener fra Richardsons roman, opdaterede til den moderne verden. Den amerikanske filmstjerne Cate Blanchett spiller rollen af Pamela i denne nye produktion, der spiller sig ud i en garage – sikke et vanvid!

Cate Blanchett i Martin Crimps

”When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other”, et nyt teaterstykke

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn, en interessant gammel film, ”The Young Mr. Pitt” (1942).

En fascinerende film, delvis på grund af sin gammeldags stil. Og når premierministeren Pitt holder tale i parlamentet, hører vi Pitts virkelige ord – og parallellerne mellem Pitts advarsler om Napoleon og Churchills advarsler om Hitler virker ekstremt klar, for at sige mildt.

Pitt holder tale i parlamentet

Churchills svaghed var sin kærlighed for whisky, mens Pitts var sin kærlighed for vin, især portvin. Da Pitt bliver alvorligt syg, er der en rørende scene, der udspiller sig til en stor offentlige middagsselskab, hvor Pitt holder tale efter Nelsons sejr i slaget ved Trafalgar i 1805. Pitts læge rækker ham et glas vand med sine piller opløst i det. Pitt ignorerer det, og i stedet for tager han en tår af sin elskede portvin.