Sunday, April 28 2019

11:00 Lois has had back pain for a few days, so she has asked me to drive her over to Tewkesbury this morning because she wants to attend her sect’s two worship services taking place today in the town’s library. I drive her over there and drop her off in front of the library. I drive home.

12:00 While we were on our way to Tewkesbury, I felt my smartphone vibrate in my shirt pocket. I take a look at it now that I'm home - Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia, tried to call us 45 minutes ago.

I exchange some text messages with her. She says she is feeling very nervous today: she starts a job at a new company tomorrow.

As the family’s breadwinner, she feels that a lot is riding on her performance in the new job. I try to encourage her, and remind her of how many good qualities and how much experience she is bringing to the new job: her thoroughness and conscientiousness, etc. I promise her that Lois and I will be thinking of her all day tomorrow, and I ask her to call us as soon as her working day is over, to tell us how it went.

Poor Sarah !!!!

flashback to April 2018: me (left) at a beach cafe in the Margaret River region,

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

Later in the day, I remember what I should have said also – that it’s the nervous people who turn out to be the best performers in the long run, because they care about doing a good job, and unlike most people they are not hampered by false self-confidence.

I think about sending her another text, but then I remember it’s the middle of the night Perth time – damn!!!!

12:30 I start to read chapters 43 and 44 of Njal's saga, written in the 13th century in Iceland, although the saga itself and the events in it are much older. This saga is the local U3A Old Norse group's current project. The group will be holding its next meeting on Wednesday at 2 pm in the town's Everyman Theatre.

The feud between the two women, Hallgerd and Bergthora is in full swing. In each round of the feud, Hallgerd gets one of her employees to kill one of Bergthora's employees. Bergthora does the same in return and takes her revenge on Hallgerd by getting one of her employees to kill one of Hallgerd's employees. Simples!!!!

The two women originally started their feud because of a simple fight over the seating plan for a feast - what madness !!!!

Hallgerda

Bergthora

Hallgerd and Berghthora's feud first originated

from a simple fight about the seating plan for a feast

The piles of dead bodies are now accumulating. Before long, unless somebody does something to stop the feud, the entire Icelandic population, not particularly numerous in the early Middle Ages, will all be dead - yikes!

In Chapter 44, the seemingly unending series of killings is briefly interrupted by a relatively quiet period, which is nice.

Hallgerd is sitting and relaxing in her private boudoir, along with her daughter Thorgerd, her staffers Hrain and Sigmund, and a bunch of women. It sounds like Hallgerd's allegedly “private” boudoir is actually crammed with people, but I’m going to let that one slide.

It is fortunate that at least Gunnar, Hallgerd's husband, plus his Norwegian friend Kolskegg, are currently away from home on some business trip, which makes things a bit less crowded in the boudoir than it otherwise would have been, which is nice.

overcrowded rooms later became a cliché of popular culture.

See here the Marx Brothers' famous interpretation of the concept.

The tranquillity of Hallgerd's supposedly “quiet” evening in her boudoir, is however disturbed by the arrival of a bunch of so-called travelling gossip-women, a troupe known for their particularly sharp tongues, the saga-writer says.

But it is a bit of a disappointment from my point of view, when Hallgerd asks the women to tell her their latest juicy gossip, because the women respond by saying that they haven’t got anything special today.

My god, what madness!

a bunch of so-called travelling gossip-women rock up

at Hallgerd's home and ask to be allowed to stay there overnight

- but their lack of news only disappoints Hallgerd and her entourage, to put it mildly

I believe that if you call yourself a travelling gossip, it is almost mandatory to bring along some juicy news items, especially if you’re knocking on the door and asking if you can stay overnight in someone like Hallgerd's lovely  home, I have to say!

excerpt

What a let-down! Pass the sick-bag, Alice !!!! And go right back out there, ye travelling gossip-women, and find something juicy, or risk losing your “permit” ha ha!

a typical modern gossipper permit

13:00 I have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a short afternoon nap. I get up at 2:15 pm and get ready to drive to Tewkesbury to pick up Lois. I drive over there and park the car in the nearby parking lot. The end of the second service is a little delayed, but finally she shows up and we drive home.

16:00 We relax with a cup of tea on the sofa. I have on my conscience that I have not yet written my condolence cards to my cousin John and to John's sister Susan - their mother, my Aunty Bobby sadly died a few days ago. My problem is that I find it hard to recall many strong memories of my aunt - all my memories revolve around Bobby's late husband, my uncle Bob. Yikes! But I will have to try to get inspiration somewhere. I have to send the two cards off tomorrow. Help, what can I say to them ???? !!!!

18:30 We have dinner: roast lamb with mint sauce, roast potatoes and vegetables - yum yum my favourite !!!!

We see a little television, an interesting documentary about the life of Richard Feynman, the famous physicist.

Interestingly, Feynman became seriously depressed at the end of World War II, both at a professional level, because of misgivings about his role in the development of the H-bomb, and at a personal level: his first wife, Arline, whom he had been with for 10 years, first as her lover and later as husband, sadly  died of tuberculosis at the age of only 25. And it was then that Feynman decided from then on to do things exclusively for fun, both in physics, and also in his private life with his many hobbies.

He became an accomplished artist, and used to sit in striptease bars and draw sketches of the naked gogo dancers. And Lois and I didn't know before that it was really true that Feynman was good at playing the bongo drums, as Sheldon Cooper had hinted in a previous season of the Big Bang Theory sitcom:

Flashback to an earlier season of Big Bang Theory: Sheldon wakes up

his roommate Leonard by playing his bongo drums at 3 in the morning

Penny stands and listens to one of Sheldon's classic lines: 

[chanting] "I'm playing bongos walking down the stairs."

[falls down the stairs] "Never play bongos walking down the stairs"

Feynman was an irreverent man throughout his life, with an irrepressible sense of fun and humour, and a tendency to show a lack of respect for authority, which helped him a lot when he had to fight NASA's secretiveness to uncover the causes of the Challenger disaster.

He personified  "physics with a human face" and told everyone that "love was more important than physics". It is strange to reflect on the fact that he died (of cancer) in 1988, before the development of the Internet, aged only 69.

What a man !!!!

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

Danish translation

11:00 Lois har ondt i ryggen i nogle dage, så hun har bedt mig om at køre hende over til Tewkesbury i formiddag, fordi hun ønsker at deltage i sin sekts to gudstjeneste, der finder sted i dag i byens bibliotek.  Jeg kører hende deovre og sætter hende af foran biblioteket. Jeg kører hjem.

12:00 Mens vi var på vej til Tewkesbury, mærkede jeg min smartphone vibrere i min skjortelomme. Jeg kigger på den nu, hvor jeg er hjemme  – Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien, prøvede at ringe til os for 45 minutter siden.

Jeg udveksler nogle sms’er med hende. Hun siger, at hun føler sig meget nervøs i dag: hun starter et job på et nyt selskab i morgen. Som familieforsørger, føler hun, at en masse rider på hendes præstation i det nye job. Jeg prøver at opmuntre hende, og minder hende om, hvor mange gode egenskaber, og hvor meget erfaring hun kommer med:  hendes grundighed og samvittighed osv. Jeg lover hende, at Lois og jeg vil tænke på hende hele dagen i morgen, og jeg beder hende om at ringe til os, så snart arbejdsdagen er overstået, for at fortælle os, hvordan den gik.

Stakkels Sarah!!!!

tilbageblik til april 2018: mig (til venstre) på en strandcafé i Margaret River-regionen,

Western Australia, sammen med Francis, Sarah, og tvillingerne

12:30 Jeg går i gang med at blade igennem kapitler 43 og 44 af Njals saga, skrevet i det 13. århundrede i Island, selvom selve sagaen og begivenhederne er meget ældre. Denne saga er den lokale U3A oldnordiske gruppens nuværende projekt. Gruppen holder sit næste møde på onsdag  i byens Everyman-teater.

Fejden mellem de to kvinder, Hallgerd og Bergthora er i fuld gang. I hver omgang af fejden får Hallgerd en af sine ansatte til at dræbe en af Bergthoras ansatte. Bergthora gør så gengæld og hævner sig på Hallgerd ved at få en af sine ansatte til at dræbe en af Hallgerds ansatte.

De to kvinder skændtes oprindeligt på grund af en simpel strid om bordplanen til en fest – sikke et vanvid !!!!

Hallgerd

Bergthora

Hallgerd og Berghthoras fejde stammede oprindeligt

fra en simpel strid om bordplanen til en fest

Bunkerne af døde kroppe hober sig op. Inden længe vil hele befolkningen, der ikke var særlig talrig i det tidligere middelalder i Island,  være død – yikes!

I kapitel 44 er den uendlige række af drab afbrudt af en forholdsvis rolig periode. Hallgerd sidder og slapper af i sin private kabinet i hendes og Gunnars forneme bolig, sammen med sin datter Thorgerd, sin ansatte, Hrain og Sigmund og en gruppe andre kvinder. Det lyder som om, Hallgerds private kabinet er faktisk stuende fuldt af mennesker, men det springer jeg over.

Det er heldigt, at i det mindste Gunnar, Hallgerds mand, er væk hjemmefra på en eller anden forretningsrejse.

overfyldte værelser er en kliché i den populære kultur.

Se her Marx Brothers’ senere berømte fortolkning af idéen.

Men rolighed af Hallgerds stille aften bliver forstyrret af ankomsten af en flok af såkaldte omvandrende sladresøstre, bekendt for deres skarpe tunger.

Men det er lidt af en skuffelse fra mit synspunkt, da Hallgerd beder kvinderne om at fortælle deres seneste sladder. Kvinderne svarer, at de i dag ikke har nogle nyheder. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!

en flok af såkaldte omvandrende sladresøstre dukker op

på Hallgerds bolig og beder om at få lov til at overnatte hos hende

- men deres erindringer skuffer Hallgerd og hendes entourage, for at sige mildt

Jeg mener, at hvis man hedder sladresøster, er det nærmest obligatorisk at medbringe en eller anden fræk nyhed, især hvis man banker på døren og beder om at kunne overnatte i en eller andens fornemme bolig – det må jeg nok sige!

13:00 Jeg spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en kort eftermiddagslur. Jeg  står op kl 14:15 og forbereder mig på at køre til Tewkesbury for at afhente Lois. Jeg kører derovre og parkerer bilen i den nærliggende parkeringsplads. Slutningen af den 2. gudstjeneste er lidt forsinket, men endelig  dukker hun op og vi kører hjem.

16:00 Vi slapper af med en kop te i sofaen. Jeg har det på min samvittighed, at jeg ikke endnu har skrevet mine kondolencekort  til min fætter John og Johns søster, Susan – deres mor, min tante Bobby døde desværre for nogle dage siden. Mit problem er, at jeg har svært ved at mindes om mange stærke erindringer om min tante – alle mine erindringer kredser om Bobbys mand, min onkel Bob. Yikes! Men jeg må prøve at få inspiration et eller andet sted. Jeg må afsende de to kort i morgen. Hjælp, hvad kan jeg dog sige til dem????!!!!

18:30 Vi spiser aftensmad: stegte lam med myntsauce, stegte kartofler og grøntsager – yum yum min livsret !!!!

Vi ser lidt fjernsyn, en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om livet af Richard Feynman, den berømte fysiker.

Det er interessant, at Feynman blev alvorligt deprimeret ved slutningen af den 2. verdenskrig, både på et professionelt niveau, af grund af sin rolle i udviklingen af H-bomben, og på et personalt niveau: hans første kone, Arline, som han havde været sammen med i 10 år som kærester og senere ægtepar, døde desværre af tuberkulose i alderen af kun 25 år. Og det var dengang, han besluttede at gøre ting udelukkende for sjov, herunder fysik, men også i sit privatliv og sine mange hobbyer.

Han blev en dygtig kunstner, og plejede at sidde i stripteasebarer og tegne skitser af gogo-danserne. Og Lois og jeg vidste ikke før, at det var virkelig sandt, at Feynman blev dygtig til at spille bongotrommer, som Sheldon antydede i en tidligere sæson af Big Bang Theory-sitcommen:

Tilbageblik til en tidligere sæson af Big Bang Theory: Sheldon vækker

sin roommate Leonard ved at spille sine bongotrommer kl 3 om morgenen

Penny står og hører på en af Sheldons klassiske linje:  

"I'm playing bongos walking down the stairs."

[han falder ned ad trappen] 

"Never play bongos walking down the stairs"

Han var hele livet uærbødig, med en sans for sjov og humor, men også med en tendens til at være respektløs over for autoriteter, hvilket hjalp ham meget, da han blev nødt til at kæmpe mod NASAs hemmelighedskræmeri for at afdække forårsagerne til Challenger-katastrofen .  

Han personificerede “fysik med et menneskeligt ansigt”, og fortalte alle at ”kærligheden var vigtigere, end fysik”. Det er underligt at reflektere over, at han døde (af kræft) i 1988, før udviklingen af internettet, i alderen af kun 69.

Sikke en mand!!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzzz!!!!!