Sunday, February 3 2019

09:00 Lois goes in the shower, but I have decided to avoid taking a shower until tomorrow, when I hope I will feel less coldy. Poor me!!!!! And it feels more and more as if I am balancing on a fragile line between decent society and some sort of murky underworld of the unwashed, that I have chosen to inhabit. 

I will definitely take a shower tomorrow - I promise!!!

Lois has also started to feel a cold coming on, which is a bit of a shame - I have done my best not to infect her: my hands are red from washing them so often. But it may be that hers is a different strain of cold germ: mine started in the throat, hers has started in the nose.

It is a fact of life that, for the most part, we cannot be quite sure about the time and place we got infected with any particular illness. My late mother used to spend a hell of a lot of time deciding who infected her when, whenever she caught minor  illnesses, so that she would have someone to blame, but in the end, it doesn't really help in making us feel much better about it, I have to say.

10:00 We talk a little on whatsapp with Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia and with her two 5-year-old twins, Lily and Jessie. The twins are very excited because this week they will be starting in the local primary school. They show us their new school uniforms, school bags, new shoes, etc. – how cute they are !!!!

flashback to April 2018 - me at a beach cafe in the Margaret River region,

Western Australia, along with Francis, Sarah, and the Twins

Sadly, Sarah has been unwell for the past 1-2 weeks - her doctor has diagnosed bronchitis and has prescribed antibiotics, but it is very uncomfortable to suffer from bronchitis in the Australian February, in Perth's semitropical climate. Poor her!!!!

Francis, Sarah's husband, has severe knee problems at the moment, and he hopes that he can begin therapeutic treatment now that the kids will be in school 5 days a week and he doesn't need to take care of them for 8 hours every day.

Francis is 20 years younger than Lois and me, but sometimes I get the impression that he is more of an old wreck than we are – my god, what madness! He has gone in for a number of sports during his life so far, and sports are not always good for the health, no doubt about that. There are a few pluses to being a couch potato, it appears, which seems a little odd to say the least.

Sarah says the family is currently going through hard times: her stressful job as an accountant, her bronchitis, and on top of that, Francis's aches and pains and other long-term physical problems. And they are sometimes short of cash over and above their normal outgoings, no doubt about that. Let's hope Francis can now find paid work that he doesn't have issues with.

Sarah says, however, that it is very satisfying that the children start school this week, and it feels like the family has reached an important milestone. I know what she means - for two new and inexperienced parents to raise two children so that they overcome all life's potential hazards and start them in school, on top of emigrating half way through to the other side of the world,  must feel like a massive achievement.

11:00 I get going with reading chapter 34 of Njal’s saga, written in the 13th century in Iceland. Scilla's U3A Old Norse group is holding its regular meeting on Wednesday and this saga is the group's current project.

Gunnar has defied the advice of his friends and relatives and decided after all to marry Hallgerda, a headstrong woman with a past, a woman that no one seems to be particularly fond of (apart from Gunnar himself).

Unfortunately the couple have invited an uncle to the wedding - Gunnar's Uncle Thrain. Uncles are always bad news at weddings.

Uncle Thrain makes a scene at the reception that puts a damper on the celebrations. He quarrels with his wife Auntie Thorhilda - she has noticed him staring lasciviously at the young Thorgerda, and all hell breaks loose.

Gunnar and Hillgerda’s wedding reception - everything is going well until

Gunnar's Uncle Thrain quarrels with his wife, Auntie Thorhilda,

and suddenly all hell breaks loose – good grief, what madness!

It is certainly true that Uncle Thrain is caught red-handed when Auntie Thorhilda notices him staring ("starsynn") at the young Thorgerda at the wedding reception. And Uncle Thrain unfortunately does not bother to hide it at all - his mouth gapes open, as he stares at Thorgerda “with his eyes out on stalks”, according to his wife. What madness !!!

It sounds a little indiscreet of Uncle Thrain to make his lustful feelings towards the young Hillgerda "so bleeding obvious" [in his wife's words!], I have to say. But we must bear in mind that this kind of behaviour on the part of uncles is considered something to be expected at weddings. And for some time it's been a sign of a truly fashionable and trendy wedding.

Just five years ago, the influential US news site Onion News published the following list of the year's most fashionable trends when it came to weddings, and yes, good old Uncle Gary made an appearance again, for the 4th year in a row - no surprise there!

Onion News's list of year 2014's top 11 wedding trends

Point proved, I think! No further questions, Your Honour ha ha!

12:00 We have lunch. Lois is in a quandary as to whether she should drive over to Tewkesbury to attend her sect’s 2 worship services, or whether she should stay at home because of her cold and listen to the services online. Eventually she decides to stay at home to be on the safe side.

I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. I get up at 3 pm and Lois and I relax with a cup of tea and a sausage roll on the sofa.

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching a bit of television. A slow-tv programme is on, all about the Great Wall of China: images that a drone took, flying from the eastern end of the wall to its western end.

This programme is Lois' choice. I myself have never been a big fan of the Great Wall - I have to admit. It leaves me a bit cold, although it fascinates Lois, I have to say. Also I am not a big fan of slow TV: I can take it or leave it. One plus is that you can do other things at the same time  - and like a crazy person I browse through a list of Danish vocabulary that I am trying to master. What madness !!!

For years I have known how long the Great Wall is, because of Paul Simon's iconic song - 1,000 miles. [It's actually 1,500 miles long - Ed]

But tonight I learn something completely new – the Wall is apparently not visible from the moon after all:  that was some kind of myth, it seems. However it’s true that you can see it from the International Space Station. 

I suppose that during some of the original moon landings, NASA must have asked the astronauts to check if they could see the wall or not - maybe there was some kind of bet going on among scientists at NASA headquarters, but that’s something I am not completely sure about. The jury is still out on that one.

But it's fun tonight to look down on the wall and see the tourists looking up, taking pictures of the drone with their phones, I have to say.

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

Paul Simon's "When Something Goes Right" (1992)

21:30 We go early to bed - zzzzzzzzz !!!!!!

Danish translation

09:00 Lois går i bad, men jeg har besluttet at undgå at tage et brusebad indtil i morgen, når jeg håber jeg vil føle mig mindre forkølet. Stakkels mig!!!!! Og det føles mere og mere som om jeg balancerer på en skrøbelig line mellem det anstændige samfund og underverdenen. Jeg vil helt bestemt tage et brusebad i morgen – det lover jeg!!!

Lois er også begyndt at føle sig forkølet, hvilket er lidt af en skam – jeg har gjort mit bedste ikke at smitte hende: mine hænder er røde af at vaske dem så ofte. Men det kan være, at det er en anderledes art af forkølelse: min startede i halsen, hendes er startet i næsen.

Det er et faktum i livet, at vi for det meste ikke kan være helt sikker på tidspunktet og stedet, vi blev smittet af en eller anden sygdom. Min afdøde mor plejede at bruge en helvedes tid på at beslutte hvem der smittede hende hvornår med mindre sygdomme, så hun havde nogen at bebrejde, men når alt kommer til alt, hjælper det ikke ret meget med at gøre os til at føle os bedre – det må jeg nok sig!

10:00 Vi taler lidt med Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien og med hendes to 5-årige tvillinger, Lily og Jessie. Tvillingerne er meget begejstrede over, at de denne uge starter i den lokale folkeskole. De viser os deres skoleuniformer, skolerygsække, nye sko osv – hvor er de dog søde!!!!

tilbageblik til april 2018 - mig på en strandcafé i Margaret River-regionen,

Western Australia, sammen med Francis, Sarah, og tvillingerne

Sarah har desværre følt  sig dårlig tilpas de seneste 1-2 uger – hendes læge har diagnosticeret bronkitis, og har udskrevet antibiotiker, men det er meget ubehageligt at lide af bronkitis i februar, omgivet af Perths semitropiske klima. Stakkels hende!!!!

Francis, Sarahs mand, har alvorlige knæproblemer for tiden, og han håber på, at han kan begynde på terapeutisk behandling, nu hvor børnene vil være i skole 5 dage om ugen, og han ikke har brug for at passe på dem i flere timer om dagen.

Francis er 20 år yngre end Lois og jeg, men jeg får nogle gange det indtryk af, at han er mere af et gammelt vrag, end os – du godeste, sikke et vanvid! Han har dyrket en række sports i løbet af sit liv hidtil, og sport er ikke altid god for sundheden, ingen tvivl om det. Der er et par plusser til at være en sofakartoffel, lader det til, hvilket virker lidt underligt for at sige mildt.

Sarah siger, familien for tiden går gennem hårde tider: hendes stressende job som revisor, hendes bronkitis, og oven i købet Francis’ smerter og andre langvarige fysiske problemer. Og de er nogle gange i bekneb for skillinger, ingen tvivl om det. Lad os håbe på, at Francis kan finde betalt arbejde, han ikke har noget imod.

Men hun siger, at det er meget tilfredsstillende at børnene denne uge starter i skolen, hvilket føles som om familien er nået lidt af en vigtig milepæl  - jeg ved, hvad hun mener – for 2 uerfarne forældre at opdrage to børn, så de overvinder alle livets potentielle problemer og starter dem i skole, må føles som en massiv bedrift.

11:00 Jeg går I gang med at læse kapitel 34 af Njals saga, skrevet i det 13. århundrede i Island. Scillas U3A oldnordiske gruppe holder dens regelmæssige møde på onsdag og denne saga er gruppens nuværende projekt.

Gunnar har trodset rådet af sine venner og slægtninge og har besluttet at gifte sig med Hallgerda, en egensindig kvinde med en fortid, en kvinde som ingen synes at holde ret meget af.

Desværre til deres bryllupsfest, har parret inviteret en onkel – Gunnars onkel Thrain, der  laver en scene, der lægger en dæmper på festlighederne. Han skændes med sin kone Tante Thorhilda – hun har bemærket ham stirre på den unge Thorgerda, og helvede bryder løs.

Gunnar og Hillgerdas bryllupsfest – alt går godt, indtil

Gunnars Onkel Thrain skændes med Tante Thorhilda,

og pludselig bryder helvede løs – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!

Det er bestemt sandt, at Onkel Thrain er grebet på fersk gerning, da Tante Thorhilda bemærker ham i færd med at stirre på den unge Thorgerda til bryllupsfesten.  Og Onkel Thrain lægger desværre ikke skjul på det hele – hans mund gaber åbent, og han stirrer på Thorgerda med udstående øjne, ifølge hans kone. Sikke et vanvid!!!

Det lyder lidt indiskret af Onkel Thrain at gøre sine liderlige følelser så åbenbare – det må jeg nok sige. Men vi må huske på, at denne slags adfærsel fra onklers side er betragtet som noget at forvente. Og i visse periode er det et tegn på et moderigtigt og trendy bryllup.

For netop 5 år siden offentliggjorde den indflydelsesrige amerikanske nyhedswebsted Onion News den følgende liste over årets mest moderigtige trends, når det kom til bryllupper, og Onkel Gary dukkede op igen, for 4. gang i træk – ingen overraskelse der!

Onion News’ liste over året 2014s top 11 bryllupstrends

12:00 Vi spiser frokost. Lois er i vildrede, om hun skal køre over til Tewkesbury  for at deltage i sin sekts 2 gudstjenester, eller forblive herhjemme på grund af sin forkølelse og lytte til gudstjenesterne på nettet. Til sidst beslutter hun at forblive herhjemme for en sikkerheds skyld.

Jeg går i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15 og Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop te og en pølse-roll i sofaen.

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en langsom-tv program, der handler om den kinesiske mur: billeder som en drone tog flyvende fra murens østlige ende til dens vestlige.

Dette program er Lois’ valg. Jeg har selv aldrig været en stor fan af den kinesiske mur – det må jeg indrømme. Det rør mig ikke ret meget, selvom den fascinerer Lois, det må jeg nok sige. Også jeg er ikke en stor fan af langsom-tv: jeg kan tage det eller forlade det. En plus er, at man kan samtidigt gøre andre ting – og som en vanvittig person blader jeg igennem en liste af dansk  ordforråd, jeg er i gang med at mestre. Sikke et vanvid!!!

Jeg har i årvis vidst hvor lang den er, på grund af Paul Simons ikoniske sang – 1.000 miles. Men i aften lærer jeg noget helt nyt – den er trods alt  ikke synlig fra månen: det der er noget slags myte, lader det til. Selvom man kan se dem fra den Internationale Rumstation. Jeg formoder, at under nogle af de oprindlige månelandinger, må NAS have bedt astronauterne om at tjekke, om de kunne se muren eller ej – måske var der nogen slags væddemål i gang blandt forskere i NASA-hovedkvarteret, men det er jeg ikke helst sikker på. Det er juryen stadig ude om.

Men det er morsomt at kigge ned på muren og se turisterne tage billeder af dronen, det må jeg nok sige.

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

Paul Simons ”When Something Goes Right” (1992)

21:30 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzz!!!!!!