Monday, February 4 2019

08:30  I take a shower for the first time in a few days - there is a strong incentive today because we have an appointment at 11:30 am at Specsavers Opticians, to pick up our new glasses and have them adjusted if necessary. I expect the young Specsavers assistant will want to sit very close to me, and I have no desire to smell bad, to put it mildly. Also, it is very nice to feel almost normal again (or as close to normal as possible, for someone like me).

a typical kind of intimate situation that can arise

at any moment in any Specsavers branch

09:00 Far away, on the other side of the world, in Perth, Australia, our two youngest grandchildren, the twins Lily and Jessie (5) have passed an important milestone in their young lives - their first day at school.

Our 5-year-old twin grandchildren in Perth, Australia

Our daughter Sarah texts us to say that the twins had a good day - teachers, parents and children were all very nice, reported Francis, Sarah's husband. Needless to say, Lois and I are eager to see the first pictures of them in their little school uniforms. How cute they are!

Flashback to March 2018: Lois and I visit the primary school 

in Perth, Australia, where little Lily and Jessie went for the first time today

09:30 After breakfast, I browse through a few pages of my current bedtime book, "Scandinavian Languages - the Seven Sisters of the North" by Ruth H. Sanders, Miami University of Ohio.

Ruth H. Sanders, author of the book

I notice that Ruth doesn't always stick to the subject (ie the languages), but I don't mind that at all - her digressions are fascinating. She says that the Icelandic sagas are interesting not only as examples of the original Old Norse language, but also because, uniquely in European literature of the time, they depict a kind of “frontier” society, that valued individual citizens, both men and women , from every social class.

This kind of portrayal was unique in the Europe of the time - there is no doubt about that. For example, the 13th-century Gesta Danorum written by the Dane "Saxo Grammaticus" deals only with the activities of gods, kings and heroes, not of ordinary people. Whereas the Icelandic sagas are full of the kinds of characters and plot lines we do not see in other European literature until many centuries later.

The Dane “Saxo Grammaticus” did not write about ordinary people

- unlike the Icelandic saga-writers

Living on the "frontier" meant a general lack of hierarchical structure or stratified social framework. So there was much more social mobility than in Europe.

Horses were sacred in the Nordic pagan societies - the god Odin himself rode a special 8-legged horse called "Sleipnir" (the slipper-slider): the 4 extra legs allowed the horse to achieve faster speeds: Odin was a busy god with a lot of daily tasks, and the horse gave him a bit of an edge as far as we know. Eight-legged horses must have died out since those mythical times, I imagine.

Odin, riding on his 8-legged horse Sleipnir, and crossing off

a bunch of tasks on his busy-looking to-do list, at record speed,

thanks to his horse Sleipnir's extra legs

The horse's special sacred status did not stop  the Nordic peoples from eating horse meat. But Christian missionaries tried to stop this habit - Pope Gregory III banned it in 732 because of its connection with the Nordic pagan religion. And incidentally Iceland was the Nordic country that resisted the Pope's ban for a longest time.

After the Christian religion had become well and truly established in the Nordic countries, however, the Nordic people resumed their old habit of eating horse meat. In today's Scandinavia, it is possible to buy horse meat products, even though it is still disdained in the UK and the United States. In the Latin countries, such as France and Italy, horse meat is very popular. Horse meat was never banned over there by the pope, because no pagan horse culture ever flourished in southern Europe. Double standards?

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

horse meat is very popular in southern Europe, e.g. in France and Italy

10:45 Lois and I take the bus into town and swing by Specsavers Opticians. We pick up our cool new glasses and sunglasses, although Lois has the feeling that there is a problem with her distance pair – but the jury is still out on that one. She has decided to wait a few days before she contacts the store. She's going to see how she gets on with them.

Afterwards, we swing by the nearby Patisserie Valerie café. We choose a window table, have a cup of coffee and a couple of scones with butter and blackcurrant jam - yum yum!

the Patisserie Valerie café: three doors away from

the green-painted Specsaver Opticians (leftmost)

We pick up our new glasses and pop into the nearby

Patisserie Valerie cafe to have a cup of coffee and a couple of scones

with butter and blackcurrant jam - yum yum!

The Patisserie Valerie chain has had huge problems recently and many of their cafés have been closed. We talk to the waiter who tells us that this café in the town centre is not in danger alhough the Patisserie Valerie franchise in the Next clothing store unfortunately shut down the other day.

My cool new sunglasses

12:30 We come home and have lunch. Afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. I get up at 3 pm and we relax with a cup of tea and a few sausage rolls on the sofa.

18:00 We have dinner and spend the evening listening to the radio and watching a bit of television.

Lois has definitely got a cold now - no doubt about that. And we are absolutely sure it was me who infected her: the cold has a distinctive symptom: wet, sticky eyes that itch like hell - damn!

Monday night is TV quiz evening at our house. "Only Connect" and "University Challenge are on.

Lois and I always feel good about the questions we can answer, but which all the fresh young brains bite the dust on, because we believe it proves that we’re not yet suffering from dementia, but perhaps we’re just deluding ourselves - the jury still out on that one.

In "Only Connect", both Lois and I find that we can answer questions that the "brains" do not have the faintest idea about. And later, in the University Challenge, we have the same success, which is nice.

On the so-called jumbled-up 16-cell "connecting walls" in the Only Connect quiz, we notice for the millionth time that young people today do not know the geography of their own country.

The "Westenders" team has no problem putting together the 4 famous cyclists (Varnish, Kenny, Froome and Cavendish), and the 4 things you use on fingernails (buffer, pumice, emery board and orange stick), but they do not recognise the 4 towns in the county of Somerset (Cheddar, Street, Wellington and Chard). What madness !!!!!

My goodness, what the hell do they actually teach kids in schools today? !!!!!

In University Challenge, Lois and I see to our surprise that none of the 8 young brains have heard the name Nansen, the famous Norwegian explorer, whose comments on the Lapps and the Sami allegedly inspired Tolkien's "hobbits".

Nansen's expedition to Greenland (1888)

a Nansen quotation: he was famous for never smiling in photos

My god, what do they teach children in schools today (again) ?????

What a crazy world we live in !!!!!

22:00 We go to bed in very self-satisfied humour. Of course we have also failed to answer a bunch of questions about popular culture, but I’m going to let that one slide  ha ha ha - zzzzzzzz !!!!

Danish translation

08:30 Jeg tager et brusebad for første gang i nogle dage – der er et stærk incitament i dag, fordi vi har aftale kl 11:30 os Specsavers Optik, for at afhente vores nye briller og havde dem justeret, hvis nødvendigt. Jeg forventer, at Specsavers-assistenten vil have lyst til at sidde meget tæt på mig, og jeg har ikke lyst til at lugte dårligt for at sige mildt. Også det er alligevel meget rart at føle mig næsten  normal igen (eller så så tæt på normal som er muligt for nogen som mig).

den typisk slags intim situation, der kan opstå

i nogen Specsavers-filial som helst

09:30 Efter morgenmad blader jeg igennem nogle sider af min nuværende sengetidbog, ”Skandinaviens sprog – nordens syv søstre” af Ruth H. Sanders, Miami University af Ohio.

SevenSistersBook

Ruth H. Sanders, bogens forfatter

Jeg bemærker, at Ruth ikke altid holder sig til emnet (sprogene), men det brokker jeg mig slet ikke over – hendes sidespringer er fascinerende. Hun siger, at de islandske sagaer er interessante ikke bare som eksempler af den oprindelige oldnordiske sprog, men også fordi de, unikt i europæisk litteratur, skildrer samfundet af en slags kolonisationsgrænse , der sattede en meget høj pris på individuelle borgere, både mænd og kvinder, fra hver social klasse.

Denne slags skildring er unik i Europa – det er der ikke nogen tvivl om. For eksempel handler de 1200-tallets Gesta Danorum af danskeren ”Saxo Grammaticus” kun om aktiviteter af guder, konger og helte, ikke af almindelige mennesker. Tværtimod er de islandske sagaer fulde af de slags karakterer og plotlinjer, vi ikke ser i andre europæiske litteratur indtil mange århundreder senere.

Danskeren Saxo Grammaticus skrev ikke om almindelige mennesker

- ulig de islandske sagaer

Dét, at bo på ”kolonisationsgrænsen”, betød en generel mangel på hierarkisk struktur eller stratificerede sociale kultur. Og der var meget mere social mobilitet, end ellers i Europa.

Heste var hellige i Nordens hedenske samfunder – guden Odin red selv en speciel 8-benes hest, der ed ”Sleipnir” (glideren):  de 4 ekstra ben tillod hesten at opnå hurtigere farter: han var en travlt gud med en masse daglige opgaver, og hesten gav ham lidt af en fordel, så vidt vi ved. Otte-benede heste må være uddød siden de der mytologiske tider, formoder jeg. 

Odin, ridende på sin 8-benede hest, Sleipnir, og stregende

en masse opgaver på sin gøremålsliste på rekordfart,

tækket være Sleipnirs ekstra ben

Hestens specielle status forhindrede ikke de nordiske folk i at spise hestekød. Men kristne missionærer prøvede at stoppe denne vane – pave Gregor. 3 forbudte den i 732 på grund af dets forbindelse med det nordiske hedenske religion. Island var det nordiske land, der i længste tid modstod pavens forbud.

Efter den kristne religion var blevet godt og grundigt etableret i Norden imidlertid, genoptog de nordiske folk den gamle vane af at spise hestekød. I nutidens Skandinavien er det muligt at købe hestekød-produkter, selvom det stadig er foragtet i Storbritannien og USA. I de latinske lande, såsom Frankrig og Italien er hestekød meget populær. Hestekød blev aldrig forbudt derovre, fordi ingen hedensk hestkult blomstrede i syd-Europa.

Er historie ikke totalt fascinerende? Hvem ville har lyst til at studere noget andet????

Chevaline: hestekød er meget populært i Syd-Europa, såsom i Frankrig og Italien

10:45 Lois og jeg tager bussen ind i byen og smutter ind i Specsavers Optik. Vi afhenter vores sejte nye briller og solbriller, selvom Lois har på fornemmelse, at der er et problem med sine afstandsbriller – det er juryen stadig ude om. Hun har besluttet at vente et par dage før hun kontakter butikken. Hun får se.

Bagefter slutter vi ind i den nærliggende Patisserie Valerie-café. Vi vælger et vinduesbord, drikker en kop kaffe og spiser et par scones med smør og solbærmarmelade – yum  yum!

Patisserie Valerie-caféen: tre døre væk fra

den grønmalede Specsaver Optik (længst til venstre)

MePatisserie

LoisPatisserie: vi afhenter vores nye briller og smutter ind i den nærliggende

Patisserie Valerie-café for at drikke en kop kaffe og spise et par scones

med smør og solbærmarmelade – yum yum!

Patisserie Valerie-kæden har haft enorme problemer for nylig, og mange af deres kaféer er blevet lukket. Vi taler med tjeneren, der fortæller os, at den der café, der ligger i bymidten, ikke er i fare, selvom Patisserie Valerie-franchisen i den Next-tøjbutik desværre er blevet lukket forleden.

Mine sejte nye solbriller

12:30 Vi kommer hjem og spiser frokost. Bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15 og vi slapper af med en kop te og et par pølserolls i sofaen.

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger aftenen på at lytte til radio og se lidt fjernsyn.

Lois er helt bestemt forkølet nu – ingen tvivl om det. Og vi er helt sikre på, at det var jeg, der smittede hende:  forkølelsen har ét karakterisk symptom:  våde, klæbrige øjne, der klør – pokkers!

Mandag aften er tv-quiz-aften hos os. De viser ”Only Connect” og ”University Challenge.

QuizListing

QuizBlurb

Lois og jeg er altid glad for de spørgsmål, som vi kan besvare, men som alle de friske unge hjerner har problemer med, fordi vi tror det beviser, at vi ikke endnu lider af demens, men måske vildleder vi os – det er juryen stadig ude om!

I ”Only Connect” finder både Lois og jeg at vi kan besvare spørgsmål, som ”hjernerne” ikke har den fjerneste anelse om. Og senere, i University Challenge, den samme succés, hvilket er rart.

På Only Connect-quizzens såkaldte 16-celles ”vægge”, bemærker vi for den millionte gang, at unge mennesker nu til dags ikke kender geografien af deres eget land.

OC1

”Westenders”-holdet har ikke svært med af finde de 4 cyklister (Varnish, Kenny, Froome og Cavendish), og de 4 ting man bruger på fingernegle (buffer, pumice, emery board og orange stick), men de kan ikke genkende de 4 byer i grevskabet Somerset (Cheddar, Street, Wellington og Chard).

OC2

Du godeste, hvad i helvede lærer de børn egentlig på skolerne nutildags????!!!!!

I University Challenge ser Lois og jeg til vores overraskelse, at ingen af de 4 unge hjerner har hørt navnet Nansen, den berømte norske udforsker, hvis kommentarer til lapperne og samerne angiveligt inspirerede Tolkiens ”hobbitter”.

Nansens ekspedition til Grønland (1888)

en Nansen-citation: han var kendt for aldrig at smile i fotoer

Du godeste, hvad lærer de på skolerne nutildags (igen) ?????

Sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng i meget tilfredstillet humor. Selvfølgeligt har det også mislykkedes os at besvare en række spørgsmål om populær kultur, men det springer jeg over ha ha ha – zzzzzzzz!!!!