New Year's Day, and Sharon, Lois 'niece in Oxford, has
invited Lois and me for lunch to meet with her and her family, plus with Ian,
Lois' nephew, and his family (about 14 people in all - yikes!).
There is a slight problem in that Sharon wants us to rock up
there at 2 pm and eat at 3 pm or so, which does not fit our normal routine. Lois and I decide to stay in bed longer than usual, take an extended and leisurely shower, have breakfast late, and leave the house
at 12:30 pm.
Unfortunately, the morning lasts a little longer than
usual (Einstein proved that time is not linear) and we drink a lot of tea and
coffee between 10 and 12. No toilets out in the country, so we both have to
sneak behind a bush in a field on the way to Oxford to "take a leak",
which is fun and just like the old days.
Sharon's and Ian's families are both a bit of a disaster
area when it comes to health issues: Sharon has 4 children and Ian has 6, so
some child or other is always ill at any given moment, especially in winter.
When we arrive at Sharon's house, we find that all of Ian's family are sick and
cannot come to the lunch.
So we spend the day with just Sharon and Michael,
Sharon's partner, both of whom have colds, and 3 of their 4 children: Molly,
Sharon's adult daughter from a previous relationship, also Lily-Rose (11-12
years or so?) and "Little" Lois (8-9 years old).
games with the children, "Little" Lois and Lily-Rose
It’s a lot of fun talking to Molly (left),
Michael and Sharon, and the children
There's a lot of coughing and sneezing. Good grief, what madness! And Lois and I start to worry
about whether Sharon and Michael will infect us with their colds - yikes! Lois
and I are just two old crows, and we don’t usually come into contact with as
many bacteria as we did when we had our own children at home with us - yikes
(again) !!!!
Like every January, it's mine and Lois's destiny among
other things to start enthusiastically on some diet or other, and then almost
immediately afterwards drive to Oxford, visit Sharon and Ian and bring back
stacks of chocolates, biscuits and alcohol as Christmas gifts – my god, it's crazy!
And then we have the dilemma over whether we should eat
and drink the whole lot in one giant orgy, or try to ration ourselves to e.g. one
chocolate per week, one bottle of beer per week, etc., which is a bit silly
in my opinion.
Decisions, decisions !!!!
17:00 Eventually Lois and I drive back to Cheltenham with
a car-full of diet-busting Christmas gifts and spend the rest of the evening
watching some television. And I can't resist the temptation to drink one of the
bottles of beer that we brought home with us.
In any case I am more confused than ever over which sort
of diet is the best. Steve, our American brother-in-law, has sent us an email
about two major studies that "provided more fuel for a particularly
polarising topic” – i.e. exactly what role carbohydrates play in
making us fat.
The studies gave scientists some clues, according to
abcnews.go.com, but like other nutrition studies, they cannot say which diet -
if any - is best for everyone. My god, what a crazy world we live in !!!
20:00 We turn on the television and watch a documentary
film about June Whitfield's extraordinary 60-year career in radio, television
and movie comedies, starting from the radio sitcom "Take It From
Here" in the 1950's, and going up to the more recent "Absolutely Fabulous ”, where she played
Edina’s elderly kleptomaniac mother.
The documentary is actually a repeat transmission of an
earlier programme about June's life, which was included again unexpectedly in
yesterday's programmes because of the fact that June sadly died a few days ago, at 93 years of
age.
It seems that actress June chose a career in comedy
because she thought she wasn't good-looking enough to play serious roles. But
now, when she looks back, she says she realises she was actually quite
attractive - "but clouds got in my way" (copyright Joni Mitchell).
Lois and I heard June’s voice for the first time in the
1950's in the radio sitcom 'the Glums' in Take It From Here, where she played "Eth",
a young woman with a clueless, shiftless boyfriend, "Ron" Glum (Dick
Bentley). Eth was always trying to get Ron to propose to her, without success -
Ron was only really interested in kissing and cuddling with Eth in the evenings on his
father's sofa.
June Whitfield (2nd from
right) and Dick Bentley (right)
in the BBC radio comedy "Take It From
Here" in the 1950's
June’s trademark in her interpretation of "Eth"
was her extraordinary high-pitched, monotonous, trembling voice. In fact, it
was June’s mother, herself an amateur actress, who gave June the idea of what
kind of voice she should use for the role of Eth.
They had a family friend, a ”Mrs. G”, who said everything
in the same tone of voice, regardless of whether she was talking about some
catastrophe, or about something nice that had happened.
21:00 A documentary starts (part 1 of 3) about the
world's greatest rivers. This first episode revolves around the Amazon.
This program is Lois's choice - this kind of documentary
is not really my bag, and I find the voice of the narrator (unlike Eth's voice
in "Take It From Here") a little too monotonous, and not in a good
way either ha ha.
The commentator's first sentence takes 53 seconds, including
its many dramatic pauses:
"Earth's great rivers ........ from
source to sea ....... make extraordinary journeys .... carving through
continents …….nurturing ancient civilisations ......feeding and connecting life
across our world ... ..from the mountains and deserts of the Nile …….to the
cities and mysterious swamps of the Mississippi….and the steaming waters and
the secret worlds…..of the tropical Amazon. ”
Fifty-three seconds to say just the above – good grief,
what madness !!!!
While Lois sits watching the program, I slip into the
dining room and turn on my laptop. I see that Lynda has sent me an email.
I am a member of Lynda’s U3A Middle English group and
the group will be holding its regular monthly meeting on Friday in the town’s
Everyman Theatre. She has today sent all group members an email, saying that
our next project is to be the "Ayenbyte of Inwyt", written by Dan
Michael of Northgate, Canterbury.
Dan Michael at work on his book,
"Ayenbyte of Inwyt"
The Ayenbite is a translation of the French work Somme le Roi (also known as The Book of
Vices and Virtues), a late 13th century treatise on Christian morality; the
work compares the seven deadly sins with the seven heads of the Beast of the
Apocalypse. And it showcases a lot of juicy details about typical medieval sins
and immorality, which will be nice, to put it mildly. Human nature doesn’t
change.
Some typical medieval deadly sins
All in all, the book is just a translation and not an
original work, and is generally considered more valuable as a record of Kentish
pronunciation in the mid-14th century than as a work of literature in itself. But it will
be nice to see the Kentish dialect in action: our group has studied all the other
dialects of Middle English, but not Kentish so far.
It was actually my suggestion that the group choose the Ayenbyte
as our next project. At December's monthly meeting, Lynda was not quite sure
what poems or works we should read next, so I suggested that we all send Lynda
emails with our ideas. Needless to say, it was only me who responded with any
suggestions or ideas at all - no surprise there !!!
Also, it's a little annoying that Lynda only announces
the topic of the group's new project at the last minute - the meeting is only 3
days away. Why does Lynda always leave it to the last minute to give us the
information we need? That means we members only have 3 days to prepare for the
group meeting and we all have other tasks on our plates to put it mildly! What madness
!!!!!
22:00 We go to bed. I read about 10 pages of my bedtime
book before I drift off to sleep - zzzzzzzzz !!!!!!
Danish translation
Nytårsdag, og Sharon,
Lois’ niece i Oxford, har inviteret Lois og mig til frokost for at mødes med
hende og hendes familie, plus Ian, Lois’ nevø, og hans familie.
Der er et
lille problem i, at hun vil have os til at ankomme hos dem ved 14-tiden, og
spise kl 15 eller deromkring, hvilket passer ikke med vores normale rutine. Vi
beslutter at blive liggende inde i sengen længere, end normalt, tage et
langvarigt og mageligt brusebad, spise sent morgenmad, og tage af sted kl
12:30.
Desværre varer
formidddagen lidt længere, end normalt (Einstein beviste, at tiden er ikke lineær)
og vi drikker en masse te og kaffe mellem kl 10 og 12. Ingen toiletter ude på
landet, så vi begge to skal snige os bag en busk på en mark på vej til Oxford
for at ”slå en streg”, hvilket er sjovt og lige som i de gamle dage.
Sharons og
Ians familier er begge lidt af et katastrofeområde, når det kommer til
sundhedsproblemer: Sharon har 4 børn og Ian har 6, så et eller andet børn altid
er syg på et eller andet givent tidspunkt, især om vinteren. Da vi ankommer til
Sharons hus, finder vi ud af, at hele Ians familie er syg, og kan ikke komme.
Så derfor tilbringer vi dagen sammen med bare Sharon og Michael, Sharons
partner, der begge er forkølede, og 3 af deres 4 børn: Molly, Sharons voksne
datter fra et tidligere forhold, også Lily Rose (11-12 år eller deromkring?) og
”Lille” Lois (8-9 år gammel).
Det
er meget sjovt at snakke med Molly (til venstre), Michael og Sharon
Du godeste,
sikke et vanvid! Og Lois og jeg begynder at bekymre os over, om Sharon og
Michael kommer til at smitte os med deres forkølelser – yikes! Lois og jeg er
bare to gamle krager, og vi plejer ikke at blive udsat for at møde så mange
bakterier, som dengang, vi havde vores egne børn herhjemme – yikes (igen)!!!!
Som hvert
januar er det min og Lois’ skæbne blandt andet at starte på en eller anden
slankekur og næsten umiddelbart køre til Oxford, besøge Sharon og Ian og få en
masse chokolade, kiks og alkohol hjem som julegaver – du godeste, sikke et
vanvid! Og derefter har vi dilemmaet over, om vi skal spise og drikke det hele
i en kæmpe-orgie, eller prøve at rationere os selv til fx en chokolade pr uge,
en flaske øl pr uge, osv, hvilket er lidt dumt efter min mening. Beslutninger,
beslutninger!!!!
17:00 Lois og
jeg kører tilbage til Cheltenham med en bilfuld af slankekurbrydende julegaver
og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. Og jeg kan ikke modstå
fristelsen til at drikke en af de flasker øl vi har medbragt hjem.
Jeg er i hvert
fald blevet mere forvirret, end nogensinde, over hvilken slankekur er den
bedste. Steve, vores amerikanske svigerbror har sendt os en email, der handler
om to større undersøgelser, som sidste år ”gav mere brændstof til et særligt
polariserende emne” – præcis hvilken rolle
karbohydrater spiller i at gøre os fede.
Undersøgelserne
gav videnskabsmænd nogle spor ifølge abcnews.go.com, men som andre
ernæringsstudier kan de ikke sige hvilken kost - hvis nogen som helst - er
bedst for alle. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!
21:00 Vi
tænder for fjernsynet og ser en dokumentarfilm, der handler om June Whitfields
ekstraordinærre 60 årig karriere i radio-, tv- og film-komedier fra radio-sitcommen
”Take It From Here” i 1950’erne, indtil det nyligere ”Absolutely Fabulous”,
hvor hun spillede Edinas kleptomaniske mor.
Dokumentarfilmen
er faktisk en genudsendelse, der blev inkluderet uforventet i sidste øjeblik i
gårsdagens programmer på grund af, at June desværre døde for et par dage siden,
på 93 år.
Det lader til,
at skuespillerinden June valgte en karriere i komedie, fordi hun syntes, hun
ikke var smuk nok til at spille seriøse roller. Men nu, når hun kigger tilbage,
siger hun, at hun faktisk var ganske attraktiv – ”But clouds got in my way”
(copyright Joni Mitchell).
Lois og jeg
hørte Junes stemme 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.
June Whitfield (nr. 2 fra højre) og Dick Bentley (til højre)
i BBC-radiositommen ”Take It From Here” i
1950’erne
Junes
varemærke i hendes fortolkning af ”Eth” var hendes ekstraordinære skingre,
monotone, skælvende stemme. Det var faktisk Junes mor, selv en amatøragtig
skuespillerinde, der gav June idéen af hvilken slag stemme hun skal bruge i
rollen af Eth. Der var en familieven, ”Mrs. G”, der sagde alting i samme
tonefald, uanset hun talte om en eller anden katatstrofe, eller hun talte om
noget flot, der var sket.
21:00 De viser
en dokumentarfilm (1. del af 3), der handler om verdens største floder. Denne 1.
afsnit kredser om floden Amazon.
Dette program
er Lois’ valg – denne slags naturdokumentarfilm er ikke egentlig min ting, og
jeg finder kommentatorens stemme (ulig Eths stemme i ”Take It From Here”) lidt
for monoton, og ikke på en god måde.
Kommentatorens
1. sætning tager 53 sekunder, inklusive dens mange dramatiske pauser:”
Earth’s
great rivers........ from source to sea....... make extraordinary
journeys....carving through continents…….nurturing ancient civilisations…..feeding
and connecting life across our world…..from the mountains and deserts of the
Nile…….to the cities and mysterious swamps of the Mississippi….and the steaming
waters and the secret worlds…..of the tropical Amazon.”
Treoghalvtreds
sekunder – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!
Mens Lois
sidder og kigger på programmet, smutter jeg ind i spisestuen og tænder for min
bærebare. Jeg ser at Lynda har sendt mig
en email.
Jeg er medlem
af Lyndas U3A middelengelske gruppe, og gruppen skal holde sit regelmæssige
månedlige møde på fredag i byens Everyman-teater. Hun har i dag sendt alle
medlemmer en, hvor der står, at vores næste projekt skal være ”Ayenbyte of
Inwyt” – forfatteren var Dan Michael of Northgate,
Canterbury.
Dan
Michael i færd med at skrive sit værk ”Ayenbyte of Inwyt”
Ayenbite er en
oversættelse af det franske værk Somme le Roi (også kendt som The Book of Vices
and Virtues), en sene 13. århundredes afhandling om kristen moral; værket
sammenligner de syv dødssynder med de syv hoveder af apokalypsen. Og det
fremviser en masse saftige detaljer om typiske middelalderlige synder og umoralskab,
hvilket er rart, for at sige mildt! Man kan ikke ændre menneskets
natur!'
Nogle typiske middelalderlige
dødssynder
Bogen er alt i
alt bare en oversættelse og ikke et originalt værk, og det betragtes generelt
som mere værdifuldt som en rekord af Kentish-udtale i midten af det 14.
århundrede end rost som et litteraturværk. Men det vil være rart at se
Kentish-dialekten: vores gruppe har
studeret alle de andre dialekter af middel-engelsk, men ikke Kentish hidtil.
Det var
faktisk mit forslag, at gruppen vælger Ayenbyte som vores næste projekt. På decembers månedlige møde var Lynda ikke helt sikker
på, hvilke digt eller værk vi skulle læse næst, så jeg forslog, at vi alle sender
Lynda emails med vores idéer. Unødvendigt at sig, det var kun mig, der
reagerede med forslag og idéer – ingen overraskelse der!!!
Det er lidt
irriterende, at Lynda annoncerer kun i sidste øjeblik emnet af gruppens nye projekt
– mødet er kun 3 dage væk . Hvorfor overlader Lynda det altid til sidste
øjeblik for at give os de oplysninger vi har brug for? Det betyder, at vi
medlemmer kun har 3-4 dage til at forberede os til gruppemødet, og vi har andre
opgaver for, for at sige mildt! Sikke et
vanvid!!!!!
22:00 Vi går i
seng. Jeg læser ca 10 sider af min sengetidbog, før jeg glider over i søvnen –
zzzzzzzzz!!!!!!
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