09:15 Our elder daughter Alison
and her family (Ed plus their 3 children, Josie (12), Rosalind (10) and Isaac
(8)), together with Lois, walk into the village to attend the local Anglican
church’s Easter service.
I have some alone time and can wind
down for an hour or so. The experience of having Alison and her family in the
house for a few days can be quite intense to put it mildly.
I recall that a local woman, Cynthia Applin hit
the headlines a few months ago after a
recent visit by her 3 adult children (source: my go-to local news site, Onion
News).
According to the news website, local mother Cynthia Applin was
breathing heavily and leaning up against the wall for support, as beads of sweat
formed on her forehead and she struggled to lower her heart rate Monday, as she
came down from the high of having all three of her adult children under the
same roof, local sources were reporting.
"Oh, my God, the three of
them were right here, talking and sharing family meals together - it was so
intense," said the quivering 55-year-old, staggering around after an attack
of dizziness as she described the euphoria of seeing her 27- year-old son,
24-year-old daughter and college-age son sitting beside one another at the
dining table.
"I went into ecstasy when
they all arrived a few days ago, but when I realised that they were each sleeping
in their childhood rooms right down the hall from me, it felt like I was flying
straight up in the air and my heart was ready to explode - I could barely even handle
it. God, what a fucking rush. "
At press time, sources reported
that Applin had decided to chase another high by looking at some old pictures
of her children in their Easter clothes.
Good grief, what madness! But
when I remember about Cynthia's experience, I decide to measure my blood
pressure again as soon as I can take a break. You can’t be too careful, I
think.
My goodness, what a crazy world
we live in !!!!
10:00 In the meantime, I start on
a series of domestic tasks: I peel the potatoes for lunch, organise our
recycling waste and put it in our recycling boxes. I take our compost material
out of the house and dump it in one or other of our 4 giant compost containers
at the bottom of the garden.
And most importantly - I go up
the loft ladder and drag all our old board games and jigsaw puzzles down from the
attic and put them on the table downstairs in the dining room, so Alison and
the kids can look through them and decide if they want to take any of them home:
this is part of mine and Lois's current downsize mini-project.
But after going up
and down the loft ladder several times, and up and down the stairs several
times, I feel like I have done a massive workout at a gym – my god, I'm a
little out of breath, to put it mildly. I am getting old, no doubt about that.
our garage later in the day - to the left, games and puzzles that
Alison is interested in, to the right the unwanted ones that
we can donate to charity or throw away - hurrah!
10:30 Alison's family and Lois
come home from the church. We have agreed with Sarah, our daughter in Perth,
Australia, to talk to her and her family at 10:30, but I get a text message
from her: the family is still on their way home after some outing or other, and
will not be home till 1 pm (British time).
Francis, Sarah's husband, has meanwhile sent me a couple of emails with photos of their 5-year-old twins, Lily and Jessie, taken earlier today. Lois and I had
sent Sarah money to buy Easter chocolate eggs and chocolate rabbits for the
twins, which Francis and Sarah hid in the garden so the twins could search for
them: Francis told them that Lois and I had asked the Easter Bunny to leave
them in the garden - how cute they are!
our twin
grand-daughters earlier this morning in Perth, Australia
Flashback to last weekend: The Easter
bunny had invited the twins and other children
to an Easter egg hunt, organised in
Kings Park, Perth, by Sarah's workplace
Lois hurries into the kitchen to
make lunch, with help from me from time to time.
13:00 We talk a little on
whatsapp with Sarah and the twins in Perth, but only for 10 minutes or so. The
twins are very tired after the family outing, which included a stop at a McDonalds
on their way home - local Perth time is 8 o'clock in the evening.
Sarah says their return home was
delayed because Francis happened to meet a builder and he took advantage of the
opportunity to talk a little with him: the family plans to buy a piece of land
near the coast - maybe Yanchep and surrounding area, and have a house built on
it. Francis has already designed his ideal house on the computer, it seems.
13:15 The whatsapp call ends. We
say good night to the twins and blow them a couple of kisses - hopefully we
will be able to speak with Sarah again tomorrow.
We have lunch on the patio table:
turkey, roast potatoes and various vegetables (green beans, carrots, broccoli),
and Easter cake with cream or ice cream for dessert - yum yum!
we eat Easter lunch on the
terrace
Josie tries out a new
"hairstyle" with bangs
We see a little television, and
later Alison starts collecting the family’s belongings together and packing them
in the boot of their car, while Lois, Ed and the kids go for a short walk on
the local football field.
We see a little television, an old
edition of "The Chase" game show
During the walk, Ed speaks a
little to Lois about his search for a new job. The family moved back to England
last summer after Ed was made redundant after 6 years (with a generous compensation
package) by his company in Copenhagen. He currently has a temporary job at an
Indian owned oil distribution company in Ellesmere Port.
Ed says the job market is
starting to look a little more promising, and he currently has 3 chances for
jobs, in London, in Canterbury (Kent), also in Sweden - yikes!
17:30 Alison, Ed and the kids have
to leave: they drive back to their home in Haslemere, Surrey.
19:00 Lois and I have a light
snack: muffins and a cup of tea, and we spend the rest of the evening watching
some television. We are exhausted.
An interesting programme. A huge
Viking burial site was recently found by archaeologists near the town of Repton
in the county of Derbyshire, also a high-status double-grave close to the local
church where two warriors lay side by side.
A DNA analysis has now proved
that the double grave actually contained a man - probably a Viking
king - and his son next to him. The father died after receiving several injuries in various
body parts, including his penis, which would have been chopped in two.
Luckily, the people who buried
him had thoughtfully substituted a wild boar's tusk between the man's legs, so that
he would be able to enjoy the afterlife with some dead woman or other, which
was a good idea. There were actually quite a few dead Viking women in the
nearby burial site, so the king would definitely have been in with a good chance
of “getting lucky” over in Valhalla.
There were in fact hundreds of
dead Vikings are in the nearby burial ground, but for a few years there has been
a bit of a mystery about it, after the skeletons were first dated in the 1990’s:
the carbon 14 dating indicated that some of the warriors dated to the 9th
century, when a massive Viking army spent the winter in the area. But other
warriors dated to the 8th century, which was a little surprising to put it
mildly.
But now scientists have
discovered that skeletons of people who eat a lot of fish always date to an
earlier period than other people - because the fish they’ve been eating have been
absorbing older carbon 14 in the ocean, which corrupts the dating apparently.
So the scientists have now come to the conclusion that all the
warriors at the burial site died in the 9th century - probably in 873 or so,
when a massive Viking army sailed down the River Trent to attack Repton, which
at that time was the capital of the Anglo-Saxon kingom of Mercia. My god, what madness
!!!!
It is also interesting that 20%
of the skeletons in the funeral site were women, which fits with other recent
archaeological excavations in Britain and Scandinavia, indicating that Viking
armies normally included female warriors.
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzzz
!!!!
Danish translation
09:15 Vores ældste datter Alison og hendes familie (Ed og deres 3 børn,
Josie (12), Rosalind (10) og Isaac (8), sammen med Lois går hen ind i landsbyen
for at deltage i den lokale anglikanske kirkes påskegudstjeneste.
Jeg har lidt alenetid, og kan geare ned i en time, eller deromkring.
Oplevelsen med at have Alison og hendes familie i huset i et par dage kan være
ganske intens for at sige mildt.
En lokal kvinde, Cynthia Applin ramte overskifterne for nogle måneder
siden efter et nyligt besøg af sine 3
voksne børn (kilde: mit go-to lokale nyhedswebsted, Onion News).
Lokale mor Cynthia Applin åndede tungt og lænede sig mod væggen til støtte,
som sveddråber dannede sig på panden, og hun kæmpede for at sænke
hjertefrekvensen mandag, da hun trappede ned fra ruset af at have alle tre af
sine voksne børn under samme tag, rapporterede kilder.
"Åh, min Gud, de tre af dem var lige her, snakkende og delende familiemåltider
sammen - det var så intenst," sagde den dirrende 55-årige, vaklende efter et angreb af
svimmelhed, da hun beskrev euforien over at se sin 27-årige søn, 24-årig datter
og kollegium-alder søn sidde alle ved siden af hinanden ved spisebordet.
"Jeg gik i ekstasi, da de alle ankom for nogle dage siden, men da jeg
indså, at de hver sov i deres barndomsværelser lige ned i gangen fra mig, føltes
det som om at jeg fløj til vejrs og mit hjerte var klar til at eksplodere - jeg kunne næppe selv klare det. Gud, sikke
et fucking rush. "
På pressetid
rapporterede kilder, at Applin havde besluttet at jagte et andet rus ved at se
på nogle gamle billeder af hendes børn i deres påsketøj.
Du godeste,
sikke et vanvid! Men da jeg mindes om
Cynthias oplevelse, beslutter jeg at måle mit blodtryk igen så snart jeg kan
tage lidt pause. Det er umuligt at være for forsigtig, tænker jeg.
Du godeste,
sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!
10:00 I mellemtiden går jeg i gang med en række huslige opgaver: jeg skræller kartoflerne til frokosten,
organiserer vores genbrugsaffald og putte det i vores beholdere. Jeg tager
vores kompostmateriale ud af huset og putter det i en eller anden af vores 4
kæmpe-kompostbeholdere.
Og det vigtigste - jeg går op ad
loftstigen og slæber alle vores gamle brætspil og puslespil ned, og lægger dem
på bordet nedenunder i spisestuen, så Alison og børnene kan kigge dem igennem
og beslutter, om de vil tage nogle af dem med hjem: dette er en del af min og
Lois’ nuværende downsize mini-projekt.
Efter at være gået op og ned loftstigen flere gang, og op og ned trappen
flere gang, føler jeg som om jeg har klaret en massiv workout på et
motionscenter – du godeste, jeg er lidt forpustet, for at sige mildt. Jeg
bliver gammel, ingen tvivl om det.
vores garage senere på dagen: til venstre de brætspil og puslespil,
som Alison er interesseret i at få, til højre de uønskede,
som Lois og jeg kan donere til en eller anden velgørenhed, eller smide ud.
10:30 Alisons familie og Lois kommer hjem fra kirken. Vi har aftalt med Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien til at tale med hende og hendes familie kl 10:30, men jeg får en sms fra hende: familien er stadig på vej hjem efter et eller andet udflugt, og vil først være hjemme kl 13 (engelsk tid).
Francis, Sarahs mand, har sendt mig et par emails, med billeder af deres
5-årige tvillinger, Lily og Jessie, taget tidligere på dagen. Lois og jeg havde
sendt Sarah penge til at købe påskechokoladeæg og chokoladekaniner til
tvillingerne, som Francis og Sarah skjulte i haven, så tvillingerne kunne søge
efter dem: Francis fortalte dem, at Lois
og jeg havde bedt Påskekaninen til at efterlade dem i haven – hvor er de dog
søde!
Tidligere på dagen: vores tvillingebørnebørn i Perth, Australien
Tilbageblik
til sidste weekend: Påskekaninen inviterer tvillingerne og andre børn
til en påskeægjagt, organiseret i Kings Park,
Perth, af Sarahs arbejdsplads
Lois skynder sig ind i køkkenet for at lave frokosten, med hjælp fra mig
fra tid til anden.
13:00 Vi taler lidt på whatsapp med Sarah og tvillingerne i Perth, men
kun i 10 minutter eller deromkring. Tvillingerne er meget trætte efter
familiens udflugt, herunder et smut i en McDonalds på vej hjem – lokal tid er
20:00 om aftenen. Sarah siger, at deres hjemkomst var forsinket, fordi Francis
tilfældigvis havde mødt en bygmester, og benødt sig af muligheden for at snakke
lidt med ham: familien planægger at købe et stykke jord i nærheden af kysten –
måske Yanchep og omegn, og få et huset bygget på det. Francis har designet sit
ideelle hus på computeren, lader det til.
13:15 Whatsapp-opkaldet slutter. Vi siger god nat til tvillingerne og
blæser dem et par kys – forhåbentlig vil vi kunne tale igen med Sarah i
morgen.
Vi spiser frokost på terrassebordet: kalkun, stegte kartofler og
forskelige grøntsager (grønne bønner, gulerødder, broccoli), og påskekage med
fløde eller is til desserten – yum yum!
vi
spiser påskefrokost på terrassen
Josie
afprøver en ny ”frisure” med pandehår
Vi ser lidt fjernsyn, og senere går Alison i gang med at samle familiens
ejendele og pakke dem ind i bagagerummet, mens Lois, Ed og børnene går en kort
tur på den lokale fodboldbane.
Vi ser lidt
fjernsyn, ”The Chase” gameshowet
I løbet af gåturen snakker Ed lidt med Lois om sin søgn efter et nyt job.
Familien flyttede tilbage til England sidste sommer efter Ed blev afskediget
efter 6 år (med en generøs kompensationspakke) af sit firma i København. Han
har for tiden et midlertidigt job hos et indisk ejet oliedistributionsselskab i
Ellesmere Port.
Ed siger at jobmarkedet begynder at se lidt mere lovende ud, og han for
tiden har chancer for 3 jobs, i London, i Canterbury (Kent), også i Sverige –
yikes!
17:30 Alison, Ed og børnene skal af sted: de kører hjem til deres hjem i
Haslemere, Surrey.
19:00 Lois og jeg spiser en let snack: muffins og en kop te, og bruger
resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. Vi er udmattede.
Et interessant program. Et kæmpe
begravelsesplads fra vikingetiden blev fundet for nylig af arkæologer i
nærheden af byen Repton i grevskabet Derbyshire, også en dobbelt grav tæt på
den lokale kirke, hvor to kriger lå side om side.
En DNA-analyse har nu bevist at dobbeltgraven faktisk indeholder en
eller anden vigtig mand - sandsynligvis en vikingekonge, og hans søn. Faderen
døde efter at have fået flere skader i forskellige kropsdele, herunder sin
penis, der ville være blevet hugget i to stykker. Heldigvis havde de mennesker,
der begravede ham, lagt en vildsvins kæmpe stødtand mellem mandens ben, så han
ville kunne hygge sig i efterlivet med en eller anden død kvinde, hvilket var
rart.
Hundredvis af døde vikinger ligger i den nærliggende begravelsesplads,
men der var lidt af et mysterium om det hele, da skeletterne først blev dateret
i 1990’erne: kulstof 14-dateringen angav
at nogle af krigerne daterede til det 9. århundrede, da en massiv vikingehær
tilbragte vinteren i området. Men andre krigere daterede til det 8. århundrede,
hvilket var lidt overraskende for at sige mildt.
Nu har forskere opdaget, at skeletter af mennesker, der spiser en masse
fisk, altid daterer til en tidligere periode, end andre mennesker – fordi
fiskene, de spiser, har absorberet ældre kulstof 14, hvilket korrupterer
dateringen. Forskerne er derfor kommet til den konklusion, at alle krigerne i
begravelsespladsen døde i 9. århundrede – sandsynligvis i 873 eller deromkring,
da en massiv vikingehær sejlede ned ad floden Trent for at angribe Repton, der
dengang var hovedstaden at det angel-saksiste rig, Mercia. Du godeste, sikke et
vanvid!!!!
Det er også interessant, at 20% af skeletterne i begravelsespladsen var
kvinder, hvilket passer med andre nylige arkæologiske udgravelser i
Storbritannien og Skandinavien, der beviser at vikinghære også inkluderede
kvindelige krigere.
22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzzz!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment