Saturday, March 2 2019

I have decided to weigh myself once a month as soon as I get up, to see if our low-fat diet is helping  or not.

The numbers today are 10 stone 9 pounds (149 pounds or 67.5 kg). Not so bad, but I will need to lose nearly 10 pounds, in order to get back to my weight in June 2017, which was  9 stone 13.5 pounds (139.5 pounds or 63.3 kg).

Damn!

09:00 We drive to the local Sainsbury's supermarket to do the food shopping. We also look for the Peter Rabbit costumes for young children, that our local post office staff said were available at the supermarket, but without success.

Peter Rabbit costumes for young children

Damn! They must be sold out.

We wanted to send 2 costumes to our 5-year-old twin children in Australia, Lily and Jessie: every month we send them two copies of the Peter Rabbit children's magazine, and the twins are the furry character’s biggest fans:  it's a bit of a shame about the costumes, but what can you do.

09:45 We collect all the food we need in our two shopping carts and stand in line to pay at the checkout. I try to use my normal debit card as usual, but the cashier's automatic card reader rejects my card twice - damn!

I look at the card - the expiration date is February 2019 in fact. Damn (again)! The bank must have forgotten to send me a new one - for the first time ever. And so I have to use my credit card instead : what a damn nuisance !!!

10:00 We drive home, put away the food, and relax with a cup of coffee on the sofa.

I call the bank - they will send me a new debit card and investigate why I didn't receive a new one automatically.

12:00 We have  lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. I get up at 3 pm and listen a little to the radio, an interesting programme in the series "In Our Time", all about the pre-Islamic warrior and poet, Antarah ibn Shaddad, better known as Antarah to his friends and family ha ha.

A fascinating edition of the programme, and interesting to know that there was life before Islam in Arabia, which is nice. Antarah was black, and son of an African slave girl - he was born a slave, but later won his freedom because of his courage in battle, which was handy.

He was one of the greatest Arab poets, no doubt about that. Arab war poems  at that time were always about a poet on his way to war, or en route to some surprise dawn attack on a neighbouring tribe; but the poems for some reason always started with a description of the poet's girlfriend, whom he would have to leave at home before going off and taking part in the attack.

Antarah's girlfriend was Ablah, his cousin. He describes her as a girl with doe-eyes, a sweet smile and a soft neck – my god, she sounds quite a woman! Don’t you just love a soft neck!

Antarah (right) with his girlfriend Ablah, who was his cousin

a touching excerpt from one of Antarah's poems about Ablah

Antarah was very black and Ablah was very white, it seems, a monochromatic couple, which is cute.

Once Antarah was wounded in a skirmish, and Ablah tried to help him escape the enemy by changing places with him. The wounded Antarah lay down on Ablah's litter dressed in her clothes, while Ablah dressed up as a warrior with a suit of armour and a helmet on her head, and tried to pull him to safety.

What madness! The enemy saw through the couple's ruse, needless to say, as soon as Ablah took off her helmet and revealed her doe-eyes, sweet smile and soft neck – rookie error !!!! Somehow the couple got away, however, and Antarah lived to fight another day.

If you were the girlfriend of a warrior at that time, it was your responsibility to write some sad poem or other, a sort of lament in his honour, if he died in battle. In fact, Ablah once composed a lament for Antarah, but later found out that he was not actually dead, so there was a happy ending there, at least. "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated," he might have said, centuries before Mark Twain - a wasted opportunity there, perhaps.

Warriors who rode to war on horseback, also took a camel, or a bunch of camels along as well, so that the horse did not become too tired - the horse and camels could take turns to carry the sometimes heavy or fat warrior. A kind thought, I think, and Antarah was a little ahead of his time in terms of animal welfare, no doubt about that!

Warriors who rode to war on horseback in those times,

also took a camel, or a bunch of camels, along as well,

so they could all take turns to carry the often heavy, fat warrior

and the horse did not get too tired - a heartwarming thought, no doubt about that.

But what madness !!!!

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching a bit of television. An interesting documentary film is on (2nd part of 2), made up of a series of early 20th-century black and white film sequences that have been newly colourised.

Lois and I find these colourised movies very touching, for some reason. They really bring the past back to life and it is very touching to see ordinary people enjoying themselves with this and that.

Life was much more of a social experience then, and most ordinary people managed to enjoy life despite their tough jobs. At the same time, people started to have more leisure time and to have fun in parks or on the beach on Sundays and in the summer. Women had begun to fight for their rights in the political field, etc.

There were celebrations every time a town got a new tramway for the new “horseless” trams - here we see the town of Wigan celebrating in 1902:

there were celebrations every time a town got a new tramway

for the new “horseless” trams - here we see the town of Wigan in 1902

a father lifts his little daughter high up in the air and

sits her on his shoulders, so she gets a good view and is on camera too

Happy times !!!!!

It seems a little shallow of me, but I feel that for the first time I really really believe…

(1) ….that Winston Churchill really was a young Home Secretary in a top hat, who in 1913 witnessed the famous police operation, the Sidney Street Siege, against Latvian anarchists;

(2) …that the suffragette Emily Wilding Davison really ran out in front of the King's horse during the Epsom Derby in 1913 and was killed;

(3) …that thousands of young men with excited expressions on their faces were really jumping on board trains in 1914, heading for France and World War I;

(4) … that there really was a ship called the Titanic etc etc.

the Titanic was a real ship, it seems .....

And I believe it all now, just because for the first time I've seen them all in colour – good grief, what madness !!!

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

Danish translation

Jeg har besluttet at veje mig engang om måneden, så snart jeg står op, for at se, om vores fedfattige kost hjælper os eller ej. Tallene i dag er 10 sten 9 pund (149 pund eller 67,5 kg). Ikke særlig dårligt, men jeg må tabe næsten 10 pund, for at vende tilbage til min vægt i juni 2017:  9 st 13,5 pund (139,5 pund eller 63,3 kg). Pokkers!

09:00 Vi kører over til det lokale Sainsburys-supermarked for at købe ind. Vi leder efter de Peter Rabbit-kostumerne, som det lokale postkkontors personale sagde kunne fås på tilbud i supermarkedet, men uden succés.

Peter Rabbit-kostumer til små børn

Pokkers! De må være blevet udsolgt. Vi havde lyst til at sende 2 kostumer til vores 5-årige tvillingebørnebørn i Australien, Lily og Jessie: hver måned sender vi dem to eksemplarer af Peter Rabbit-børnemagasin, og de er den lodne karakters største fans:  så er det lidt af en skam over kostumerne, men det kan vi ikke gøre noget ved.

09:45 Vi samler alle de fødevarer vi har brug for i vores to indkøbsvogne og står i kø for at betale ved kassen. Jeg prøver at bruge mit sædvanlige  betalingskort, som normalt, men kassedamens automatiske kortlæser afviser mit kort to gange – pokkers!

Jeg kigger på kortet – udløbsdatoen er februar 2019. Pokkers (igen) ! Banken må have glemt at sende mig et nyt – for første gang nogensinde. Jeg er nødt til at bruge mit kreditkort i stedet for: sikke nogle gener!!!

10:00 Vi kører hjem, lægger fødevarerne væk, og slapper af med en kop kaffe i sofaen.

Jeg ringer til banken – de skal sende mig et nyt betalingskort og undersøge, hvorfor jeg ikke modtog et nyt automatisk.

12:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15 og lytter lidt til radio, et interessant program i serien ”In Our Time”, der handler om den forislamiske kriger og digter, Antarah ibn Shaddad, bedre kendt som Antarah blandt sine venner og familie ha ha.

Et fascinerende afsnit, og interessant at få at vide, at der var liv før Islam i Arabien, hvilket er rart. Antarah  var sort, og søn til en afrikansk slavepige – han var født som slave, men vandt sin frihed på grund af sin mod i krig.

Han var en af de største arabiske digtere, ingen tvivl om det. Arabiske krigsdigte, der dengang altid handlede  om en digter på vej til krig eller en eller anden daggry overraskelsesangreb mod en nabostamme, startede altid dengang med en beskrivelse af digterens kæreste, som han bliver nødt til at efterlade derhjemme for at deltage i angrebet.

Antarahs kæreste var Ablah, sin kusine. Han beskriver hende som en pige med store, blide, mørke øjne, et sødt smil og en blød nakke – du godeste, sikke en kvinde!

Antarah (til højre) med sin kæreste Ablah, sin kusine

et rørende uddrag fra et af Antarahs digte om Ablah

Antarah var meget sort og Ablah var meget hvid, lader det til, et monokromt kærestepar, hvilket er sødt. Engang, da Antarah blev såret i en patrulekamp, prøvede de at undslippe fjenden ved at skifte identiteter med hinanden. Han klædte sig ud som en kvinde, der lå på Ablahs bærebør, mens Ablah klædte sig ud som en kriger med en rustning og en hjelm på hovedet.

Sikke et vanvid!  Fjenden gennemskuede parrets fup, unødvendigt at sige, så snart Ablah tog hjelmen af og afslørede sine store, blide, mørke øjne, søde smil og bløde nakke. Ingen overaskelse der, for at sige mildt!

Hvis du var i den periode kæreste til en kriger, var det dit ansvar at skrive ét eller andet trist digt, en slags sørgesang til ære for ham, hvis han døde i slag. Ablah komponerede faktisk en sørgesang til Antarah, men fandt senere ud af, at han faktisk ikke var død, så der var en lykkelig slutning dér i det mindste. ”Rygterne om min død er stærkt overdrevne”, kunne han have sagt, århundreder før Mark Twain – en spildt lejlighed dér, måske.

Krigere, der dengang red I krig, tog også en kamel med, eller en flok kameler, så hesten ikke blev for træt – hesten og kameller kunne skifte sig til at bære den nogle gange tunge eller tykke kriger. En venlig tanke, synes jeg, og Antarah var lidt forud for sin tid, hvad angår dyrevelfærd, ingen tvivl om det!

Krigere, der dengang red I krig, tog også en kamel med, eller en flok kameler med,

så de alle kunne skiftes til at bære den ofte tunge, tykke kriger,

og hesten ikke blev for træt - en hjertevarmende tanke, uden tvivl!

Sikke et vanvid!!!!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm (2.del af 2), der består af filmsekvenser skudt først i 20. århundrede, der er blevet farvelagt.

Lois og jeg finder disse farvelagte filmsekvenser meget rørende, af en eller anden grund. De bringer fortiden virkelig tilbage til livet og det er meget rørende at se almindelige mennesker hygge sig sammen med dette og hint. Samfundet var meget mere socialt dengang, og det lykkedes de fleste mennesker at nyde livet på trods af fattigdom og hårdt arbejde. Samtidig var folk begyndt at have mere fritid og at kunne hygge sig i parker eller på stranden om søndagen og om sommeren. Kvinder var begyndt at kæmpe for sine rettigheder i det politiske felt osv.

der skulle festes, hver gang en by fik en ny sporvej

til hesteløse sporvogne – her byen Wigan i 1902

en far løfter sin lille datter højt op i luften og

ladre hende glide ned på skuldrene

Lykkelige tider!!!!!

Det virker lidt overfladisk af mig, men jeg føler, at jeg for første gang virkelig virkelig tror på,

(1) at Winston Churchill virkelig var en ung indenrigsminister i en top hat, der i 1913 overværede den berømte politoperation, Sidney Street-belejrelsen, mod lettiske anarchister;

(2) at suffragetten Emily Wilding Davison virkelig sprang ud foran kongens hest under Epsom Derby-hestevæddeløbet i 1913 og blev dræbt;

(3) at tusindvis af unge mænd med begejstrede udtryk i ansigterne i 1914 virkelig hoppede  om bord tog, på vej til Frankrig og den 1. verdenskrig;

(4) at der virkelig var et skib kaldet Titanic osv osv.

Titanic var et reelt skib, lader det til.....

Og bare fordi, jeg for første gang har set dem i farve – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzzz!!!!!