Wednesday, March 20 2019

10:00 Lois has to go out. Her old friend, Margaret, who lived in the village until about 4 years ago, has invited Lois for coffee and lunch at her present house, located just outside the town of Evesham. Margaret was widowed last year.

I have a little alone time but I do not use it wisely - I potter around the house  a little and have lunch at 11 am, a little earlier  than usual. Afterwards, I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap: I have to save my energy because Scilla's U3A Old Norse group is holding its regular meeting this afternoon at 2 pm in the bar of the town’s  Everyman Theatre, and the meetings usually last at least 2 hours – and I usually feel like death wamed up by the end.

13:30 I walk around the corner to the bus stop by the local library and take the bus into town. I meet up with Scilla and the other group members in the theatre's café, and at 2 pm we go up the stairs to the bar on the 1st floor.

The bar is quiet and peaceful today, with only another group sitting at a table across the other side of the bar, which is nice. Scilla's old Norse group is basically a quiet and peaceful group - we do not need to shout and laugh - we get all the excitement we crave exclusively  from all the sex and violence in the sagas, thank you very much!

We read chapters 32-34 of Njals saga, written down in the 13th century in Iceland, although the saga itself is much older.

The feud between Gunnar's wife and Njal's wife has really started in earnest. Hallgerd, Gunnar's wife, and Bergthora, Njal's wife originally fell out because of a fight over the seating plan for a party - what madness !!!!

 Hallgerd, Gunnar's wife

Bergthora, Njal's wife

Hallgerd and Berghthora's feud originally came out of

a fight over the seating plan at a party

Firstly, Hallgerd sends her staffer Kol into a forest to kill Bergthora's bailiff, Svart, who was cutting wood.  Score: Hallgerd 1 Bergthora 0.

Secondly, Bergthora responds by sending her newest intern, Atli, to Rauðaskrið to kill Hallgerd’s employee, Kol. Score: Hallgerd 1 Bergthora 1.

Our group meeting gets rather excited about the start of the two women's feud, but an even more passionate discussion follows all about the place name Rauðaskrið. I do some research on my smartphone and I find that the Norse word "skrið", which means a kind of landslide, is the origin of the English word, "scree", which means piles of fallen stones. Fascinating!

16:15 The meeting ends - I feel completely washed up, as always. I walk around the corner to the bus stop outside the Marks & Spencer department store and take the bus home.

I am so tired that I can feel my right hand shaking a little as I put my retiree’s free travel card on the bus driver's electronic card reader - yikes!

In the meantime, Lois has returned from Evesham. We relax with a cup of tea on the couch and she tells me about her visit to Margaret’s. She says they visited Evesham Country Park, which was very nostalgic. Lois and I used to visit the complex very often with our now 5-year-old twin grandchildren, Lily and Jessie. The twins now live in Australia and we miss them so much.

Our last visit to the park was on October 25, 2015, about a month before our daughter Sarah, along with Francis and the twins, moved to Australia, and out of our lives.

flashback to October 25, 2015: Lois and I, along with

our daughter Sarah, took the twins to Evesham Country Park for the last time

- sob sob !!!

The twins were completely exhausted by the end of the afternoon

and they both fell asleep in the back of my car - how cute they look !!!

But my favorite photo from the park was taken two months earlier during a previous visit. Little Lily takes my hand as we slowly walk back to the little train station to catch the park's miniature train back to the park entrance, looking like Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh.

Me and Lily walk hand in hand, back to the park's miniature railway station

Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin

Happy times - sob sob !!!!!

18:00 Lois and I have dinner. We are both exhausted and we choose 2 of the low-fat ready meals we recently bought from CookShop.

20:00 We spend the rest of the evening watching some television. "Speechless" is on, a bright and breezy American sitcom, which the E4 channel has recently begun to show. It's very nice to see one of our favourite actresses Minnie Driver as the mother of the family, and one of our favourite characters from Big Bang Theory, Barry Kripke (aka John Ross Bowie) as the father of the family.

This evening’s programme is a "Thanksgiving" episode - American scriptwriters are fortunate that Thanksgiving holidays with their family get-togethers offer so many opportunities for fun situations, as relatives fall out with each other. In the UK, we have to settle for Christmas get-togethers to exploit those kinds of embarrassing occasions, which is a bit of a shame to put it mildly.

I spent the afternoon reading about a medieval feud between two Icelandic women, Hallgerd and Bergthora, so it is very nice tonight to see the two sisters-in-law, Minnie Driver, and Kripke's brother's wife, having a fight at Thanksgiving, and to watch Kripke's sister-in-law making fun of Minnie's British accent. Fortunately, this feud does not lead to any killings like the Icelandic feud did, thank goodness (not yet anyway, ha ha).

21:00 We switch off the TV and listen to the radio a little, an interesting edition in the series "Inside Health". The host of the program is the charming Dr. Mark Porter.

Lois and I suspect that this BBC Radio 4 series is primarily aimed at doctors and others in the medical profession, and so it is sometimes a little difficult for the ordinary person to understand, but the programme fascinates us none the less.

A fascinating feature on e-cigarettes sheds light on the fact that doctors have many typical human errors and weaknesses. Some doctors, especially clinicians who have direct contact with patients, are delighted with the popularity of e-cigarettes because it gives them an opportunity to persuade smokers to quit real cigarettes.

Other doctors, especially in the world of research as opposed to the clinical world, oppose e-cigarettes because they believe e-cigarettes introduce young people to nicotine, which could be their first step towards trying out real cigarettes.

The bottom line is that the question has split doctors into two implacable camps and both camps insist that they are right, despite there being no strong evidence that either point of view is the right one. Doctors are human beings, and tend to strongly promote their point of view and hold to it, whether there is any evidence for it or not: often it's no more than their gut feeling. But no surprise there – Lois and I knew that already about doctors ha ha ha!

Another feature is all about the idea of so-called "pre-habilitation", a process that aims to strengthen a patient by means of exercise and dietary enhancements, as a preparation for an operation: the process has the benefit that the patient gets back to normal much faster after surgery.

The approach has been used for many years in the case of patients waiting for a new knee or hip and suchlike. Now "pre-habilitation" is also being used for cancer patients: therapists provide patients with training in exercise programs, nutrition, also psychological counselling, and thereby counteracting the physical strains caused by ongoing chemotherapy. Therapists may sometimes even recommend that an operation in some circumstances be postponed until the patient is ready.

How fascinating! And it reminds me that I myself suffer from arthritis in my right hip, although the problem doesn't bother me too much, especially since I discovered that the problem is exacerbated by my introverted tendencies. For years, I must have been straining my hip by hiding my feelings - damn! It's too late now - the damage has been done. Damn (again) !!!!!

Tomorrow I have to start showing my feelings more - no doubt about that !!!!! Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life ha ha ha.

22:00 We go to bed. Separate beds this week because Lois is going through one of her occasional bouts of insomnia - poor Lois !!!! But with separate rooms she can turn on the light in the middle of the night to read a little and drift back to sleep without disturbing me, which is nice.

Danish translation

10:00 Lois skal ud. Sin gamle veninde, Margaret, der boede I landsbyen indtil for ca 4 år siden, har inviteret Lois til kaffe og frokost i sit nuværende hus, der ligger lidt udenfor byen Evesham. Margaret blev enke sidste år.

Jeg har lidt alenetid men jeg bruger den ikke klogt – jeg pusler lidt rund i huset og spiser frokost kl 11, lidt tidligere, end normalt. Bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur: jeg må spare min energi, fordi Scillas U3A oldnordiske gruppe holder sit regelmæssige møde i eftermiddag kl 14 på baren af byens Everyman-teater, og møderne varer sædvanligt mindst 2 timer – jeg plejer at føle mig som død i slutningen. 

13:30 Jeg går rundt om hjørnet til busstoppestedet ved det lokale bibliotek, og tager bussen ind i byen. Jeg mødes med Scilla og de andre gruppemedlemmer på teatrets café, og kl 14 går vi op ad trappen til baren på 1. etage.

Baren er stille og rolig i dag, men kun en anden gruppe, der sidder på et bord på den anden side af baren, hvilket er rart. Scillas oldnordiske gruppe er grundlæggende en stille og rolig gruppe – vi har ikke brug for at råbe og grine – vi får al den begejstring, vi tørste efter, udelukkende fra alt den sex og vold i sagaen, thank you very much !

Vi læser kapitlerne 32-34 af Njals saga, skrevet op i det 13. århundrede i Island, selvom selve sagaen er meget ældre.

Fejden mellem Gunnars kone og Njals kone er startet for alvor. Hallgerd, Gunnars kone, og Bergthora, Njals kone, skændtes oprindeligt på grund af en strid om borplanen til en fest – sikke et vanvid !!!!

Hallgerd, Gunnars kone

Bergthora, Njals kone

Hallgerd og Berghthoras fejde stammede oprindeligt

fra en strid om bordplanen til en fest

For det første sender Hallgerd sin ansat Kol ind i en skov for at dræbe Bergthoras huskarl, Svart, der var i gang med at hugge træ. Score: Hallgerd 1 Bergthora 0.

For det andet  reagerer Bergthora ved at sende sin nyeste ansat Atli til Rauðaskrið for at dræbe Hallgerds ansat, Kol. Score: Hallgerd 1 Bergthora 1.

Scillas gruppe bliver meget begejstret over starten af de to kvinders fejde, men en endnu mere lidenskabelig diskussion følger om stednavnet Rauðaskrið. Jeg gør lidt forskning på min smartphone og jeg opdager, at ”skrið” er oprindelsen af det engelske ord, ”scree”, der betyder bunker af nedstyrtede sten. Fascinerende!

16:15 Mødet slutter – jeg føler mig helt slået ud, som altid. Jeg går rundt om hjørnet til busstoppestedet udenfor Marks & Spencer-stormagasinet, og tager bussen hjem. Jeg er så træt, at jeg kan mærke min højre hånd ryste lidt, da jeg lægger mit gratisrejsekort på buschaufførens elektroniske kortlæser – yikes!

Lois er i mellemtiden kommet tilbage fra Evesham. Vi slapper af med en kop te i sofaen, og hun fortæller mig om sit besøg hos Margaret. Hun siger, at de besøgte Evesham Country Park, hvilket var meget nostalgisk. Lois og jeg besøgte komplekset meget meget ofte sammen med vores nu 5-årige tvillingebørnebørn, Lily og Jessie. Tvillingerne bor nu i Australien og vi savner dem så meget.

Vores sidste besøg til parken var den 25. oktober 2015, omkring en måned før vores datter Sarah, sammen med Francis og deres to 2-årige tvillingedøtre, flyttede til Australien og ud af vores liv.

tilbageblik til den 25. oktober 2015: Lois og jeg, sammen med

vores datter Sarah tog tvillingerne med til Evesham Country Park for sidste gang

- hulk hulk !!!

Tvillingerne var helt udmattede i slutningen af eftermiddagen

og faldt begge i søvn på min bils bagsæd – hvor ser de dog søde ud !!!

Men mit yndlings foto fra parken blev taget to måneder tidligere under et forrigt besøg. Lille Lily tager min hånd, som vi går langsomt tilbage til den lille banegård for at nå parkens miniaturtog tilbage til parkens indgang, ligesom Christopher Robin og Winnie the Pooh.

Mig og Lily går hånd i hånd tilbage til parkens miniaturbanegård

Winnie the Pooh og Christopher Robin

Lykkelige tider – hulk hulk !!!!!

18:00 Lois og jeg spiser aftensmad. Vi er begge udmattede, og vi vælger 2 af de fedtfattige færdigretter, vi for nylig købte hos  CookShop.

20:00 Vi bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser ”Speechless”, en kvik og munter amerikansk sitcom, som E4-kanalen for nylig er begyndt at vise. Det er meget rart at se en af vores yndlingsskuespillere Minnie Driver som familiemoderen, og en af vores yndlingskarakterer fra Big Bang Theory, Barry Kripke (John Ross Bowie) som familiefaderen.

Aftens afsnit er et ”Thanksgiving” afsnit – amerikanske scriptforfattere er heldige i, at Thanksgiving-helligdagen med sine familiesammenkomster tilbyder så mange muliheder for at morsomme situationer, da slægtninge bliver uvenner. I Storbritannien er vi nødt til at nøjes med julesammenkomster for at udnytte de slags pinlige anledninger, hvilket er lidt af en skam, for at sige mildt.

Jeg brugte eftermiddagen på at læse om en middelalderlig fejde mellem to islandske kvinder, Hallgerd og Bergthora, så er det meget rart at se de to svigerinder, Minnie Driver, og Kripkes svigersøster, skændes på Thanksgiving og at se Kripkes svigersøster lave sjov med Minnies britiske accent. Heldigvis fører denne fejde ikke til nogle drab, gudskelov (endnu ha ha).

21:00 Vi slukker for fjernsynet og lytter lidt til radio, et interessant afsnit i serien ”Inside Health”. Programmets vært er den charmerende Mark Porter.

Lois og jeg mistænker, at denne BBC Radio 4 serie er primært sigtet på læger og andre i den medicinske profession, og dermed er det nogle gange lidt svært at forstå, men programmet fascinerer os imidlertid.

Et fascinerende indslag om e-cigaretter kaster lys på, at læger har mange typiske menneskelige fejl og svagheder. Nogle læger, især klinikere, der har direkte kontakt med patienter, er glade for popularitaten af e-cigaretter, fordi det giver den en mulighed for at overtale rygere til at holde op med reelle cigaretter. Andre læger, især i forskningsverden i sammeligning til den kliniske verden, modsætter sig e-cigaretter, fordi de tror, at e-cigaretter indfører unge mennesker til nikotin, hvilket kunne være deres første skridt mod at forsøge sig med reelle cigaretter.

Bundlinjen er, at spørgsmålet har skilt læger i to lejre og begge lejre insisterer på at de har ret, på trods af, at der er ikke nogle beviser på, at det ene synspunkt eller det andet er sand. Læger er menneskelige væsner, og har tendens til at forfremme kraftigt deres synspunkt og fastholde det, hvad enten der er beviser eller nej. Ingen overrskelse der ha ha ha!

Et andet indslag handler om den såkaldte ”forhabilitering”, en proces, der har til formål at styrke en patient ved hjælp af motion og kostforbedringer, som forberedelse på en operation: processen har resultaten, at patienten vender meget hurtiger tilbage til det normale efter operationen.

Processen er blevet brugt i mange år for patienter, der venter på et nyt knæ eller hofte og den slags.  Nu bliver ”forhabilitering” brugt også for kræftpatienter:  terapeuter giver patienter undervisning i motionsprogrammer, ernæring, også psykiske rådgivning, og kan nogle gange anbefale, at en operation under nogle omstændigheder skal udskydes, til patienten er klar.  

Hvor fascinerende! Og det minder mig om, at jeg selv lider af gigt i min højre hofte, selvom problemet ikke generer mig for meget, i sær siden jeg opdagede, at problemet er forværres af min introverte tilbøjelser. I årevis må jeg have anstrengt min hofte, ved at skjule mine følelser – pokkers! Det er for sent nu – skaden er blevet gjort. Pokkers (igen) !!!!!

I morgen må jeg begynde at vise mine følelser mere – ingen tvivl om det !!!!! I morgen er første dagen af resten af mit liv ha ha ha.

22:00 Vi går i seng. Adskilte senge denne uge, fordi Lois går igennem en af sine lejlighedsvise perioder af søvnløshed – stakkels Lois !!!! Men hun kan tænde lyset midt i natten for at læse lidt og glide tilbage i søvn, uden at forstirre mig, hvilket er rart.