Wednesday, January 23 2019

08:30 Lois and I get up - today is Lois' annual homemade orange marmalade day, and her Seville oranges are waiting in a big bowl, cut into pieces ​​and in soak since last night.

flashback to last night: Lois's Seville oranges are waiting

in a large bowl, cut into pieces and in soak

After breakfast she starts making her jars of orange jam. Meanwhile, I jump up on my exercise bike and ride 9 miles. Afterwards I do a little light weight-training.

11:00 Lois continues making her orange marmalade in the kitchen. I am absolutely sure that the result is going to be as delicious as ever. The jars are also a useful gift when visiting friends. Both our son-in-laws Ed and Francis were always very pleased to receive a jar. Now Francis lives in Australia, so it's just Ed who gets the pleasure of them from time to time.

12:00 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a short afternoon nap. I get up at 1:15 pm and take the bus into town, because Scilla's U3A Old Norse group is holding its regular meeting at 2:30 pm in the bar of the town’s Everyman Theatre.

It is a bit of a shame, but today for the first time, two other U3A groups are gathering in the bar, a French group and a German group, and many of their members tend to talk very loudly for some reason, which is a little annoying to say the least. Scilla, Margaret, Kath and I all have very quiet voices, but today we have to shout, scream and roar like Vikings as we read out our Old Norse sagas and translate them into English. What madness !!!!

I shudder to think what the bar's regular customers think of us U3A members - yikes! In our Old Norse group, we tend to take the view that the local U3A‘s French and German groups have chosen the easy option, in comparison to tackling Old Norse, which is a far more difficult challenge to put it mildly ha ha.

We read chapters 30 and 31 of Njal's 13th century saga. Gunnar, the hero of this part of the saga, and his companions have been plundering here and there around the coasts of the Baltic Sea. He receives a tip that there is a lot of pirate treasure - gold and silver - "hidden" somewhere in a forest, but it turns out that the treasure is just covered with a pile of chopped wood, which seems a little naive, to put it mildly.

the pile of chopped wood in a forest on the coast of the Baltic Sea,

under which Gunnar discovers a lot of Viking treasure

The group members discuss the issue - we decide that if we were pirates, we would rather keep the treasure in our ship, but perhaps these particular pirates were a bit on the trusting side and they assumed that passers-by would not steal the treasure: it is possible that the pirates left a small note on the treasury - "do not touch, property of pirates". However, Kathy points out that the Vikings at that time did not have a writing system, so the jury is still out on that question. I like a good mystery!

16:00 The three U3A group meetings all finish at the same time - how ridiculous, the whole thing! But I spot Diana, a former acquaintance, among the French group and we have a chat: some years ago she was head of a U3A intermediate French group and when she resigned, I took the group over. The U3A organisation is a bit of an incestuous world in a town like Cheltenham, that’s for sure.

I take the bus home again and Lois and I relax with a cup of tea and a biscuit on the couch. Lois has finished making her 10 one-pound jars of orange marmalade - yum yum in advance! Just one little snag - she found that she had run out of the small circular pieces of wax paper she puts on top of the marmalade under the lid - damn!

a tired but triumphant Lois shows off her 10 one-pound jars

of homemade orange marmalade

18:00 We are both exhausted - Lois from her work in the kitchen, me from having to sit and read an old Norse saga for two hours:  yikes!

We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening listening to the radio and watching television. We first hear an interesting radio programme in the series "Thinking Allowed". This episode is about the rise of the black middle class in the United States. The programme host is the charming Laurie Taylor.

Laurie talks on the phone with Bart Landry, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, who has written a book entitled "The New Black Middle Class", and has conducted a study specifically in Prince Georges County, located just outside of Washington DC.

Prof Bart Landry, University of Maryland

Landry says the dreams of the black middle class in the past were about being able to move into white middle class suburbs so they could send their children to good schools, etc. But nowadays, their ambitions are rather to have black neighbours, so they can interact with the kind of people they feel completely comfortable with - my goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!

20:30 We turn off the radio and watch a bit of television. An interesting documentary is on,  in the series "The Twinstitute" (4th part of 6), where the identical twin medical men Dr. Chris and Dr. Xand Van Tulleken conduct various experiments in health and fitness by involving other identical twins who have agreed to participate in the program.

This series is fascinating, no doubt about that, but Lois and I think it is more showbiz than science, more entertainment than enlightenment, but we’re going to let that one slide.

Lois and I are especially interested in an experiment that deals with methods to reduce brain age (and thereby improve cognitive function in older people). The Van Tulleken brothers invite 3 sets of identical twins to participate.

Three of the twins follow a special diet for one month, eating a lot of food said to be good for the brain: oily fish, dark chocolate, berries, avocado, liver, offal, etc.

The other three twins take up new creative hobbies for a month, for example, painting, pottery photography, juggling.

And it turns out that it’s this 2nd group of participants whose brain age is reduced, which is interesting - reduced by 6 years, while the 3 participants who followed a special “brain”-diet, unfortunately showed no difference.

Fascinating! Lois and I discuss the issue. We have never experimented with painting since we left school. But painting would require a massive investment: in paints, paintboxes, easels, brushes, etc., and it can be a little awkward when it comes to the need to wash hands and fingers constantly, the risk of spilling paint, etc.

But I point out that drawing with pencils is just as creative but with less expense and less mess. We'll see - it's worth a try, we think. And we already have pencils and sketch pads that our grandchildren used - all we lack is a good textbook.

22:00 We go to bed - I read 20 pages of my bedtime book before I drift off to sleep. Zzzzzzzzzzz !!!!

Danish translation

08:30  Lois og jeg står op -  i dag er Lois’ årlige hjemmelavet appelsinmarmeladedag, og hendes Seville-appelsiner sidder og venter i en stor skål, huggede i stykker og lagte i blød siden i går aftes.

tilbageblik til i går aftes: Lois’ Seville-appelsiner sidder og venter

i en stor skål, huggede i stykker og lagte i blød

Efter morgenmad går hun i gang med at lave sine krukker appelsinmarmelade. I mellemtiden hopper jeg op min kondicykel og cykler 9 miles. Bagefter dyrker jeg lidt let vægttræning.

11:00 Lois fortsætter med at lave appelsinmarmelade i køkkenet. Jeg er helt sikker på at resultatet skal være så lækker som altid. Krukkerne er også en nyttig gave, når vi besøger venner. Begge vores svigersøn Ed og Francis glædede sig meget til at modtage en krukke. Nu bor Francis i Australien, så det er bare Ed, der er glad for at modtage dem indimellem.

12:00 Vår i spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en kort eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 13:15 og tager bussen ind i byen, fordi Scillas U3A oldnordiske gruppe holder sit regelmæssige møde kl 14:30 på baren af byens Everyman-teater.

Det er lidt af en skam, men i dag for første gang samles 2 andre U3A grupper samtidig på baren (kl 14-16), en fransk gruppe og en tysk gruppe, og mange af deres medlemmer taler meget højlydt af en eller anden grund, hvilket er lidt irriterende for at sige mildt. Scilla, Margaret, Kath og jeg har alle meget rolige stemmer, men i dag er vi nødt til at råbe, skrige og brøle som løver, når vi læser vores oldnordiske sagaer op, og oversætter dem til engelsk. Sikke et vanvid !!!!

Jeg gyser at tænke, hvad barens almindelige kunder tænker om os U3A medlemmer – yikes! I vores oldnordiske gruppe har vi tendens til at tro, at det lokale U3A-samfunds franske og tyske grupper har valgt en let option, i sammenligning til at takle oldnordisk, som er en langt mere vanskelig udfordring for at sige mildt ha ha.

Vi læser kapitler 30 og 31 færdigt. Gunnar, helten af denne del af sagaen (Njals saga) og hans kammerater er blevet i færd med at plyndre her og der rundt om kysterne af Østersøen. Han modtager en tip, at der er en masse sørøverskatte - guld og sølv - ”skjult” en eller andet sted i en skov, men det viser sig, at skatten bare er dækket over med en bunke hugget træ, hvilket virker lidt naivt, for at sige mildt.

Den bunke hugget træ på kysten af Østersøen,

hvorunder Gunnar opdager en masse vikingerskatte

Gruppemedlemmerne diskuterer spørgsmålet – vi beslutter, at hvis vi var sørøvere, ville vi hellere opbevare skatten i vores skib, men måske var disse visse sørøvere lidt på den stolende side af tingene, og de formodede, at forbipasserende ikke ville stjæle skatterne: det er muligt, at sørøverne efterlod en lille seddel på skattebunken  - ”rør ikke, ejendele af sørøvere”. Kathy påpeger imidlertid, at vikingerne dengang havde ikke noget skrivesystem, så det er juryen stadig ude om. Jeg kan godt lide et godt mysterium!

16:00 De tre U3A gruppemøder slutter samtidigt – hvor latterligt, det hele! Men jeg får øje på Diana, en tidligere bekendt, i den franske gruppe: for nogle år siden stod hun for en U3A mellemliggende fransk gruppe og da hun opsagde, tog jeg gruppen over. U3A-organisationen er lidt er en incestuøs verden i en by som Cheltenham, ingen tvivl om det.

Jeg tager bussen hjem igen og Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop te og en kiks i sofaen. Lois er færdig med at lave sine 10 1-pund krukker appelsinmarmelade – yum yum på forhånd! Bare en lille hage – hun fandt at hun havde løbet tør for de små cirkulære stykker vokspapir sætter hun på toppen af marmelade under låget – pokkers!

en træt men triumferende Lois

fremviser sine 10 1-pund krukker hjemmelavet appelsinmarmelade

18:00 Vi er begge to udmattede – Lois af sit arbejde i køkkenet, mig af at måtte sidde og læse en oldnordisk saga i to timer: yikes!

Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at lytte til radio og se lidt fjernsyn. Vi hører først et interessant radioprogram i serien ”Thinking Allowed”. Dette afsnit handler om stigningen af den sorte middelklasse i USA. Programmets vært er den charmerende Laurie Taylor.

Laurie taler i telefon med Bart Landry, Emeritus professor i sociologi ved University af Maryland, der har skrevet en bog med titel ”Den nye sorte middelklasse”, og har foretaget undersøgelse specielt i Prince Georges County, der ligger lidt udenfor byen Washington DC.

Prof Bart Landry, University of Maryland

Landry siger at drømmene af den sorte middelklasse i fortiden var om at kunne flytte ind i hvide middelklasseforstæder, så de kunne sende deres børn til gode skoler osv. Men nu til dags er deres ambitioner snarere om at have sorte naboer, så de kan omgås de slags mennesker de føler sig helt trygge med – du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i!!!

20:30 Vi slukker for radioen og ser lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm i serien ”The Twinstitute” (4. del af 6), hvor de enæggede tvillinger Dr. Chris og Dr. Xand Van Tulleken foretager forskellige eksperimenter i sundhed og fitness ved at involvere andre enæggede tvillinger, der har indvilliget i at deltage i programmet.

Denne serie er fascinerende, ingen tvivl om det, men Lois og jeg synes det er mere showbiz end videnskab, mere underholdning end oplysning, men det springer vi over.

Lois og jeg er specielt interesseret i et eksperiment, der handler om metoder at reducere hjernealder (og dermed forbedre kognitiv funktion). Van Tulleken-brødrene inviterer 3 sæt enæggede tvillinger til at deltage.

Tre tvillinger dyrker en special diæt i en måned, hvor de spiser en masse fødevarer. som man siger, er gode til hjernen: olieagtig fisk, mørk chokolade, bær, avocado, lever, slagteaffald osv.

De andre tre tvillinger indtager nye kreative hobbyer i en måned, for eksempel, maleri keramik fotografering jonglering. 

Og det viser sig at det er denne 2. gruppe deltagere, hvis hjernealder bliver reduceret, hvilket er interessant – reduceret af 6 år, mens de 3 deltagere, der dyrkede en speciel diæt, desværre viste ingen forskel.

Fascinerende! Lois og jeg diskuterer spørgsmålet. Vi har aldrig eksperimenteret med maleri, siden vi forlod skole. Maleri ville kræve en massiv investering : i farver, farvelader, pensler osv, og det kan være lidt vanskeligt, når det kommer til trangen til at vaske hænderne og fingrene konstant, risikoen for at spilde maling osv.

Men jeg påpeger, at det, at tegne med blyanter, er lige så kreativ men med mindre udgifter og mindre rod. Vi får se – det er et forsøg værd, synes vi. Og vi har allerede blyanter og skitseblokke, som vores børnebørn brugte – alt vi mangler en en god lærebog.

22:00 Vi går i seng – jeg læser 20 sider af min sengetidbog, før jeg glider over i søvnen. Zzzzzzzzzzz!!!!