Danskcolin: Friday, March 1 2019

St David’s Day, the patron saint of my late mother's country of birth, Wales. Lois has made sure that we have a good "daffodil show" in the front garden, also in the back garden.

In February the weather was incredibly mild, so there are now also many daffodils in bloom beside the roads leading to the local racetrack, but we are uncertain whether they will still look good when thousands of enthusiasts arrive in the town in a couple of weeks' time to attend one of the year's biggest race festivals, Gold Cup Week, starting March 12.

Poor enthusiasts !!!

flashback to February 23 - Lois working in the front yard

to make sure we have a good daffodil show again this year

I recall "Davis", one of my American work colleagues when I was working in a US government agency in the 1980's. He came from one of the southern states of the USA, but was very proud of his Welsh heritage. Every St. David’s Day, he used to bring a bunch of daffodils or leeks with him to work, which I found incredibly touching for some reason.

The flowers used to sit on his desk all week (thankfully, in water) - I can still see them in my mind’s eye.

Memories, memories - happy days !!!

08:30 Lois and I get up and after breakfast I start leafing through lines 4240-4324 of Chaucer's "Reeve's Tale", one of his well-known Canterbury tales.

Lynda’s U3A Middle English group is holding its monthly meeting this afternoon at 2:30 pm in the bar of the town’s Everyman Theatere, and this tale is the group's current project.

The story is about 2 Cambridge theology students who spend the night at the house of Symkyn, a local miller who lives and works in the nearby village of Trumpington. The two students, John and Aleyn, succeed in deceiving the miller by having sex both with his wife and with his daughter, Malyne, respectively, while the miller himself is asleep (and snoring) in the next bed. The students thus take revenge on the miller for having cheated their college so often in the past by stealing flour from them to bake his own bread.

The two students manage to have sex with the miller's wife and with his daughter,

while the miller himself (left) lies asleep in his bed (after Elisabeth Frink - 1970)

11:00 Lois and I relax with a cup of coffee on the couch. Afterwards we walk into the village - we pop into the local post office to buy, and send off, a birthday card to Evie, Lois's grandniece in Oxford who turns 5 today - oops, that card will arrive a day late - damn !!

Then we swing by Waghorne’s butcher’s shop to buy meat and bread.

12:00 We come home and have lunch. Afterwards I go to bed and take a short afternoon nap. I get up at 1:30 pm and take the bus into town. I sit down in the Everyman theatre café, having a cup of coffee and a piece of cake, whilst waiting for Lynda and other members of her Middle English group to turn up.

14:30 The meeting begins up in the bar. We take turns to read approx. 20 lines of Chaucer's original text and translate into modern English. We discuss Chaucer's verb "to swyve", that is, what the two students do to the miller's wife and daughter, and come to the conclusion that the verb "to screw" is the best modern equivalent – good grief, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

We have a lot of fun, and the meeting is punctuated by roars of laughter - I'm a little afraid that the bar's staff are sooner or later going to decide we are troublemakers, and kick us out, so we always try to spend a lot of money at the bar during the meeting, just to allay the staff's anxiety ha ha.

As always, we spot archaic expressions in the Middle English text that we wish had not died out : to be "on the quakke" for example, an expression that in those days meant "having a hoarse voice".

Also the verb "to swink", which meant to "work hard" or "labout". "To swink and sweat" was once a popular alliterative expression, it appears.

Aleyn was very tired in the morning after an eventful night in bed with the miller's daughter, Malyne, because "He had swonken all the long night". That’s what Lois calls the "metier d'époux" ha ha ha.

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

Aleyn swears to Malyne that from now on he will stay her own faithful "clerk". The word "clerk" originally meant a priest, but later also a student, and finally, essentially, anyone who could read and write: i.e. the minority, to put it mildly !!!

The modern meaning, that is to say, a pen-pusher in some office or other, reminds us that priests and others with an ecclesiastical education used to get hired to work in government offices precisely because they were the only people who could read and write.

Also, starting from the late 18th century, and especially in the US, the word has also meant a retail salesperson or hotel receptionist.

Martha and the Muffins, with "Echo Beach" (1979, Mark Gane)

16:00 The meeting ends and I take the bus home. I'm so tired, I feel a bit like a zombie, and I notice that my hand is shaking a little when I put my retiree’s free bus pass on the bus driver's electronic card reader - yikes!

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

We hear first an interesting radio programme in the series "The Last Word".

Lois and I have got into the habit of hearing this programme every week because we want to find out if anyone in the past 1-4 weeks has died or not (I have noticed that in most weeks there are only about 4- 5 deaths, which is a bit of a comfort, to put it mildly). The programme’s host is the charming Matthew Bannister.

John Haynes OBE unfortunately died last month, at the age of 80. He was famous for all the classic car manuals he wrote and published, which were sold worldwide. Steve, my American brother-in-law, says he has several of Haynes's manuals on his bookshelves.

John Haynes, author of car manuals, in his RAF uniform

He was a dedicated "petrol head" throughout his life, starting from his boarding school, where he persuaded his class teacher to let him convert an old Austin 7 into the sports version, instead of playing rugby.

On the way to his wedding, he stopped by a store and bought a used IBM typewriter as a wedding day gift for his bride, Annette, so she could type up the drafts of his early car manuals – my god, what madness !!!!

He also wrote, in collaboration with his wife Annette, and in the same style, a workshop manual on men's health and women's health, also workshop manual on babies, so men knew how to look after a baby (how to change a diaper, which end to put it etc).

Also, a workshop manual about sex - Annette tells Matthew, the programme's charming host, that she is still not really sure how practical it was - the couple never tried it out in John's workshop, she admits.

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

19:30 TV - An old episode of Top of the Pops is on, from May 1987.

An enjoyable episode with a lot of nostalgic songs, including Whitney Houston, who sings live in the Top of the Pops studio in London.

Lois and I were then only 41 years old, and our two daughters Alison (12) and Sarah (10).

Flashback to May 1987: our 2 dear daughters Alison (right) and Sarah

Lois in a summer dress, in front of one of our favourite pubs, The Green Dragon,

which is just outside the village of Cowley, Gloucestershire

Happy days !!!!!

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

Danish translation

Helgendag for Sankt David, skytshelgen for min afdøde mors fødeland, Wales. Lois har sørget for, at vi har en god ”påskelije-show” i forhaven, også i baghaven. I februar måned var vejret utrolig mildt, og der er også mange påskeliljer i blomst ved siden af de veje, der fører til den lokale væddeløbsbane, men vi er usikre på, om de kommer stadig til at se gode ud, da tusindvis af entusiaster ankommer til byen for at deltage i en af årets største væddeløbsfestivaler, Gold Cup Week, der starter den 12. marts.

Stakkels entusiaster!!!

tilbageblik til den 23. februar – Lois arbejder i forhaven

for at sørge for, at vi har et godt påskelilje-show igen dette år

Jeg mindes om, ”Davis”, en af mine amerikanske arbejdskollegaer, da jeg arbejdede i et amerikansk statsligt organ i 1980’erne. Han stammede fra en af USAs sydlige delstater, men var meget stolt af sin walesiske arv. Hver Sankt Davidsdag havde han for vane at medbringe en buket påskeliljer på arbjede, hvilket jeg fandt utrolig rørende, af en eller anden grund.

Blomsterne sad på hans skrivebord hele ugen (i vandet gudskelov) – jeg kan stadig se dem i mit hoved. Minder, minder – lykkelige dage!!!

08:30 Lois og jeg står op og efter morgenmad går jeg i gang med at blæse igennem linjerne 4240-4324 af Chaucers ”Riderfogedens Fortælling”, en af hans kendte Canterbury-fortællinger.

Lyndes U3A middelengelske gruppe holder sit månedlige møde i eftermiddag kl 14:30 i byens Everyman-teater, og denne fortælling er gruppens nuværende projekt.

Fortællingen handler om 2 studerende, der tilbringer natten hos Symkyn, en lokal møller, der bor og arbejder den nærliggende landsby Trumpington. Det lykkes de to studerende, John og Aleyn at snyde mølleren ved at have sex med henholdsvis Symkyns kone og med hans datter, Malyne, mens selve mølleren ligger og sover (og snorker) i sin seng. De studerende tager således hævn på mølleren for at have snydt deres kollegium så ofte i fortiden, ved at stjæle mel af dem for at bage sit eget brød.

Det lykkes de to studerende at have sex med møllerens kone og hans datter,

mens selve mølleren (til venstre) ligger og sover i sin seng (Elisabeth Frink -1970)

11:00 Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop kaffe i sofaen. Bagefter går vi hen ind i landsbyen – vi kigger ind i det lokale postkontor for at købe, og afsende, et fødselsdagskort til Evie, Lois’ grandniece i Oxford, der fylder 5 år idag – ups, kortet vil ankomme sent med en dag – pokkers!!

Derefter smutter vi ind i Waghorneds-slagterforretningen for at købe kød og brød.

12:00 Vi kommer hjem og spiser frokost. Bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en kort eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 13:30 og tager bussen ind i byen. Jeg sætter mig i Everyman-teatrets café, drikker en kop kaffe og spiser et stykke kage, mens jeg venter på Lynda og andre medlemmer af hendes middelengelske gruppe.

14:30 Mødet begynder. Vi skiftes til at læse ca. 20 linjer af Chaucers oprindelige tekst og oversætte dem til moderne engelsk. Vi diskuterer Chaucers verb ”to swyve”, dvs, dét de to studerende gør ved møllerens kone og datter, og kommer til den konklusion, at verbet ”to screw” er den bedste moderne pendant – du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

Vi hygger os meget, og mødet er præget af skraldende latter – jeg er lidt bange for, at barens personale før eller senere vil beslutte, at vi er ballademagere, og sparke os ud, så vi prøver altid at bruge en masse penge på baren under mødet, for at berolige personalets ængstelser ha ha ha.

Som altid får vi øje på udtryk, som vi ønsker ikke, at de er uddød: at være ”on the quakke” for eksempel, et udtryk, der dengang betød ”at have en hvæs stemme”.

Også verbet ”to swink”, der betød dét, at ”arbejde hårdt”. ”To swink and sweat” var engang et populært alliterativt udtryk, lader det til.

Aleyn var meget træt om morgenen efter en begivenhedsrig nat i sengen med møllerens datter, Malyne, på grund af, at ”He had swonken al the longe nyght”. Dét, Lois kalder ”métier d’époux” ha ha ha.

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

Aleyn sværger til Malyne, at han fremover forblive hendes egen ”clerk”. Ordet ”clerk” betød oprindeligt en præst, men senere også en studerende, og til sidst essentielt, hvem som helst, der kunne læse og skrive: mindretallet, for at sige mildt!!!

Den moderne betydning, dvs, penslikker på et eller andet kontor, minder os om, at præster og andre

med kirklig uddannelse, blev ansat i regeringskontorer, præcis på grund af, at de alene kunne læse og skrive. Også, startende fra sidst i 1700-tallet, og i sær i USA, en ekspeditør eller hotelreceptionist.

Martha and the Muffins med ”Echo Beach” (Mark Gane)

16:00 Mødet slutter og jeg tager bussen hjem. Jeg er så træt, jeg føler mig lidt som en zombie, og jeg bemærker, at min hånd ryster lidt, da jeg lægger mit gratisrejsekort på buschaufførens elektroniske kortlæser – yikes!

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

Vi hører først et interessant radioprogram i serien ”Det sidste ord”. Lois og jeg er kommet i vane med at høre dette program hver uge, fordi vi ønsker at finde ud af, om nogen i de seneste 1-4 uger døde eller ej (jeg har bemærket, at der i de fleste uger kun sker 4-5 dødsfald, hvilket er lidt trøstende, for at sige mildt). Programmets vært er den charmerende Matthew Bannister.

John Haynes OBE døde desværre sidste måned, på 80 år. Han var berømt for alle de klassiske bilmanualler, han skrev og udgav, som blev solgt verden over. Steve, min amerikanske svigerbror, siger, han har flere af Haynes’ manueller på sin bogreoler.

John Haynes i sin RAF uniform

Han var en dedikeret ”benzinhoved” hele sit liv, startende fra sin kostskole, hvor han overtalte sin klasselærer til at lade ham konvertere en gammel Austin 7 til sportsversion, i stedet for at spille rugby.

På vej til sit bryllup kørte han forbi en butik, og købte en brugte IBM skrivemaskine som bryllupsdagsgave til sin brud, Annette, så hun kunne maskinskrive udkastene til hans tidligste bilmanualler – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

Han også skrev, i samarbejde med sin kone Annette, og i samme stil, en hværksetedmanual om mænds sundhed og kvinders sundhed, en babymanual, så mænd vidste hvordan man passer på en baby (hvordan man skifter en ble osv).

Også en hværkstedmanuel om sex – Annette fortæller Matthew, programmets charmeren de vært, at hun ikke er helt sikker på, hvor praktisk den var – parret ikke testede den i Johns værksted, siger hun.

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

19:30 De viser et gamle afsnit af Top of the Pops fra maj 1987.