Tuesday, April 23 2019

10:00 I browse through the next 3 pages of Anna Grue’s Danish crime novel, "The Further You Fall", which is our U3A Danish group's current project.

"The Further You Fall" (1st row, no. 2 from the left), Anna Grue’s crime novel,

which is our U3A Danish group's current project.

Our (temporarily depressed) hero, advertising man Dan Sommerdahl, is speaking  to his friend Fleming, a detective inspector in the local police, about a murder that has taken place in the advertising agency where Dan works (when he’s not on “sick” leave ha ha!) : one of the agency's cleaning assistants, Lilliana, has been garrotted one evening while she was working in the agency’s kitchen.

In today’s pages, Dan, himself an amateur detective, is giving policeman Fleming  the low-down on the agency's employees, so Fleming can get a clue as to which of them is the most likely murderer.

Dan Sommerdahl, possibly Denmark's only bald, 

three-handed amateur detective

They focus in particular on the agency's female employees. Dan talks about the feud and the "bitchery" between the receptionist, Pernille, and the company secretary, Elisabeth. Both women have entered into a number of alliances with some of the other women members of what Dan calls the agency's “hen coop” or “chicken yard”, to help them pursue the feud.

"On the surface they are all kissy-kissy and lovey-dovey together like bosom-girlfriends, but in private  they say disgusting things about each other .... they behave like a bunch of bitchy teenagers at a school field trip camp", says Dan.

Dan then goes on to describe Pernille, the receptionist, with her long black hair, professional makeup and high heels. "This summer, her skirts were so short that she could have used lipstick at both ends," he comments, adding that  "Pernille spends 75% of her working hours checking out dating sites and buying shoes on e-bay."

Unfortunately, however, there is also an equally bitter feud going on within the local police force:  the local police chief, the ferocious and feisty female deputy-commissioner  Lone Willumsen has suddenly come back from a business trip in Jutland and has taken over the case. And poor Frank Jenssen, the reliable, older detective is suddenly "off the case", and restricted to routine clerical duties in an office at the police station. Poor Frank !!!!!!

feisty female deputy commissioner Lone Willumsen is now

back from her business trip to Jutland, and suddenly the good old 

reliable older detective, Frank Jenssen, is "off the case" for some reason.

My god - what madness !!!!!!

Yes, my god, what madness! Apart from the Fleming himself, good old Frank Jenssen is the police officer with the most reliable gut feelings about murders and other serious crimes – that’s something I have no doubts about.

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

11:00 Lois and I go out into the backyard. Lois does a little weeding among the fruit bushes while I start to mow the lawn in front of the house and the lawn immediately behind the house. I decide to leave the other lawns at the bottom of the garden until later in the day.

The weather girl has said that the current mini-heatwave is coming to an end, and it will rain on and off for the next 5-6 days or so, so it is important (if not crucial) to finish mowing them all today, otherwise all hell will break loose ha ha.

12:30 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. I get up at 3 pm and start to mow the other 3 lawns. Afterwards Lois and I relax with a cup of tea and the last two pieces of Easter cake on the sofa.

16:00 I take a little look at my smartphone. I've got 2 emails from relatives: my cousin John, who lives in Witney, Oxfordshire, suggests that Lois and I visit his mother, my Auntie Bobby, at her nursing home next month, and then have lunch with him and his wife , Chris, at the local Café Rouge restaurant, which will be nice

Flashback to last fall: Lois and me with John, Chris, and John's sister Susan,

who lives in Colorado USA, in front of John and Chris's home in Witney.

I have also had an email from my cousin Kathleen's husband, Martyn. Kathleen (“Kate”) and Martyn moved back to England (to Seaton, Devon) a couple of years ago, after several years’ residence in France.

Martyn asks me if Lois and I "still have" Kate's family photo album, which was loaned to my late mother in 2009 after the death of Kate's mother Barbara ("Babs"). Yikes !!!!

Good grief what madness !!!

flashback to the 1990s: the Bessell family:

Martyn (back row, rightmost, and Kate (back row, 3rd from left)

Oh my god, have Lois and I somehow managed to lose a priceless Bessell family photo album?????

Help !!!!!

Fortunately, one of the plusses of writing an (almost) daily blog is that you can look back and find out what you were doing on a given day. I look back at my Hungarian blog and find the date Friday May 8, 2009, when I wrote that my mother only had the photo album in her possession temporarily, because a member of Kate's family had said he would pick the album up from her in a few days' time.

Flashback to May 2009: my Hungarian blog, where I wrote that I had

scanned the ca. 48 photos from the album that my mother was most interested

in having copies of.

Two of the fantastic photos from approx. 1930, which I had scanned in, from the album:

my mother (face half-hidden) with her parents and her 8 siblings (yikes!), 

including Babs, Kate's mother, one of the twins in the foreground - not sure which one.

my mother (right) with Babs and their elder sister Ruth (left)

Writing a blog or diary can also be quite therapeutic, to put it mildly. A local man, Philip Keller, a fitness fanatic, hit the headlines recently, after he started writing a lot of details about his daily training routines in an expensive-looking diary (source: my go-to local news website Onion News).

Local gym member Phillip Keller, who always makes sure to date every single page before embarking on recording all the juiciest and most private details of his daily exercise routine, reportedly dug his precious little diary out again on Thursday to keep track of his latest workout results, according to staff at the fitness centre.

"I like writing down everything I do so I can keep abreast of my progress," said the 27-year-old, who according to reports brings his adorable leather-bound diary with him every time he steps inside the Belmont fitness centre, using the 1st blank page as a kind of sanctuary, where he can pour out his heart on how many sets and reps he has performed during each exercise.

"It's a great way to keep my motivation up, and it also helps me vary my training so I don't just do the same things every week", Keller told journalists.  Having completed his training and shower, Keller was apparently seen sitting in the locker room and venturing  enthusiastically into his diary once again, taking a quiet moment to express his most heartfelt hopes and dreams about reaching new fitness goals by the end of the month.

Remarkable guy, that Keller, no doubt about that - although unfortunately he is also one of the many neighbours that I try to avoid getting into conversations with when we sit together in the doctor’s waiting room. For the most part, he is there to see the surgery’s nurse about multiple broken bones or multiple groups of strained muscles and joints, or the like. I have noticed that he always takes his diary with him when the nurse calls him in, which is probably a help in his sometimes protracted consultations with her, but that's just speculation on my part - the jury's really still out on that one.

18:00 Lois and I have  dinner in the dining room and afterwards we go out on the terrace and cover our 2 patio tables  with their winter covers again, because there will be rain for a few days now, according to the weather girl - damn!

we cover our 2 patio tables with their winter covers

in preparation for the expected rain - damn!

21:00 We see a little television, an interesting episode in the series "New Lives in the Wild". The host of the programme is the charming Ben Fogle.

In previous seasons of the show, Ben has shown us the kinds of couples who live somewhere way out in the country, out in “the boonies”, far away from civilization, where the couple have no choice but to become totally self-sufficient. This new season seems a little different so far - and is all about people living in weir places, but who go shopping for food in stores or supermarkets, just like Lois and me, which is nice.

Tonight we look at the life and business that Anglo-Australian artist Karen Hadfield has built for herself in a sort of oasis in the Sahara desert in Morocco, where she is running a kind of retreat for artists.

Unfortunately, Lois and I both fall asleep together on the couch and miss the programme's most important parts, where Karen talks about the reasons she left a desk job in Melbourne to travel to Morocco and set up her business in the middle of the desert.

But we find out, when we wake up, that Karen had had an Arab partner Youseff (partner in the romantic / sexual sense, or just business partner, we wonder?), who had unfortunately died six months earlier, but who had helped her to set up the retreat.

However it’s a bit of a shame that we did not find out more about the circumstances of Karen's life-changing decision to leave Western civilization behind.

It's nevertheless nice to see Arabs in a good light for once. We tend to just hear of violent Arab terrorists with their stupid insane beliefs, obsessions and fanaticisms. Karen’s Arab neighbours, including  her late partner Youseff's parents and siblings, are so warm-hearted, quiet, kind and sincere, as also are the vegetable traders, the butchers, etc. at the market in the nearest town (Erfoud), who have no hesitation in allowing Karen to pay them "next time" if she is temporarily “short of a few bob”. How charming!

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

Danish translation

10:00 Jeg blader igennem de næste 3 sider af Anna Grues danske krimiroman, “Dybt at falde”, der er vores U3A danske gruppes nuværende projekt.

”Dybt at falde” (1. række, nr 2 fra venstre) , Anna Grues krimiroman,

der er vores U3A danske gruppes nuværende projekt.

Vores (midlertidigt deprimerede) helt, reklamemanden Dan Sommerdahl, snakker med sin ven Fleming, en kriminalkommissær i det lokale politi, om et drab, der har fundet sted i det reklamebureau, hvor Dan arbejder (når han ikke er sygemeldt ha ha ha!):  en af bureauets rengøringsassistenter, Lilliana, er blevet garrotteret en aften, mens hun var i gang med sit arbejde  i bureauets køkken.

I disse sider taler Dan lidt med kriminalkommisæren Fleming  om bureauets medarbejdere, så Fleming kan få en anelse om hvem af dem er den mest sandsynlige gerningsmand.

Dan Sommerdahl, Danmarks eneste skaldede, trehåndede amatørdetektiv

De snakker i særdeleshed om bureauets kvindelige medarbejdere. Dan taler om fejden og ”bitcheriet” mellem receptionisten, Pernille, og direktionssekretær, Elisabeth. Og begge kvinder har indgået en række alliancer med nogle af de andre kvinder i huset for at hjælpe dem om at forfølge fejden.

”På overfladen er de alle sammen på knus og fnis og virker som veninder, men mellem lignerne får de sagt så modbydelige ting om hinanden.... de opfører sig som en flok teenagere på lejrskole”, siger Dan.

Og Dan beskriver så Pernille, receptionisten, med sit lange sorte hår, ”prof” makeup og høje hæle. ”I sommer var hendes skørter så korte, at hun burde have brugt læbestift i begge ender”, tilføjer han. Og ”hun bruger 75% af arbejdstiden på at tjekke datinghjemmesider og købe sko på e-bay.”

Desværre er der imidlertid også en ligeligt bitter fejde indenfor det lokale politi: den lokale politichef, den iltre og hidsige kvindelige vicekriminalkommisær  Lone Willumsen er pludselig kom tilbage fra en forretningsrejse i Jylland og hun har overtaget sagen. Og Frank Jenssen, den pålidelige, ældre detektiv  er pludselig officielt blevet taget ”af sagen”, og begrænset til rutinemæssige skriftlige opgaver inde i politistationen.

den hidsige vicekriminalkommisær Lone Willumsen er

tilbage fra sin forretningsrejse i Jylland, og pludselig er den gode gamle

pålidelige detektiv, Frank Jenssen, pludselig ”off the case” af en eller anden grund.

Du godeste – sikke et vanvid !!!!!!

Du godeste, sikke et vanvid! Bortset fra selve Fleming er gode gamle Frank Jenssen politimanden med det mest pålidelige mavefornemmelser om drab og andre alvorlige forbrydelser – det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl om!

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

11:00 Lois og jeg går ud i baghaven. Lois luger lidt mellem frugtbuskene, mens jeg går i gang med at slå græsplænen foran huset og græsplænen umiddelbart bag huset. Jeg beslutter at overlade de andre græsplæner i bunden af haven indtil senere på dagen.

Vejrpigen har sagt, den nuværende mini-hedebølge er ved at være slut, og det kommer til at regne de næste 5-6 dage eller deromkring, så er det vigtigt (afgørende) at slå dem alle færigt i dag, ellers helvede vil bryde løs ha ha.

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15 og går i gang med at slå de andre 3 græsplæner. Bagefter slapper Lois og jeg af med en kop te og de sidste to stykker påskekage i sofaen.

16:00 Jeg kigger lidt på min smartphone. Jeg har fået 2 emails fra slægtninge:  min fætter John, der bor i Witney, Oxfordshire, foreslår, at Lois og jeg besøger hans mor, min tante Bobby, på hendes plejehjem mandag den 20. maj og bagefter spiser frokost med ham og hendes kone, Chris, på den lokale Café Rouge-restauranten.

Tilbageblik ti sidste efterår: Lois og jeg sammen med John, Chris og Johns søster Susan,

der bor i Colorado USA, foran John og Chris’ hjem i Witney.

Jeg har også fået en email fra min kusine Kathleen (Kate)’s mand, Martyn, der for et par år siden flyttede tilbage til England (Seaton, Devon) efter flere års ophold i Frankrig. Martyn  spørger mig, om Lois og jeg ”stadig har” Kates familiefotoalbum, som blev lånt til min afdøde mor i 2009 efter døden af Kates mor Barbara (”Babs”). Du godeste sikke et vanvid!!!

tilbageblik til 1990’erne: Bessell-familien

Heldigvis er én plus af at skrive en (næsten) daglig blog, at man kan kigge tilbage og finde ud af, hvad man lavede på en given dag. Jeg kigger tilbage på min ungarske blog, og finder datoen fredag den 8. maj 2009, hvor jeg skrev, at min mor kun havde fotoalbummet midlertidigt, fordi et medlem af Kates familie havde sagt, han vil afhente albummet om et par dages tid.

Tilbageblik til maj 2009: min ungarske blog, hvor jeg skrev, at jeg havde

scannet de ca. 48 fotoer fra albummet, som min more mest var interesseret i at have kopier af.

To af de flotte fotoer fra ca. 1930, som jeg havde scannet:

min mor med sine forældre og sine 8 søskende (yikes!), inklusive Babs, Kates mor

min mor (til højre) sammen med Babs og deres søster Ruth (til venstre)

Dét, at skrive en blog eller dagbog kan også være helt terapeutisk, for at sige mildt. En lokal mand, Philip Keller, en fitnessfanatiker, ramte overskrifterne for nylig, efter han blev set i gang med at skrive en masse detaljer om sine daglige træningrutiner i en dyr-udseende dagbog.

Lokale motionscentermedlem  Phillip Keller, der altid sørger for at datere hver enkelt side før han går i gang med at notere alle de lækreste og mest private detaljer fra sin daglige øvelsesrutine, gravede sin kostbare lille dagbog angiveligt frem i torsdags for at holde sig ajour med sine seneste træningsresultater, ifølge personale på centret.

"Jeg kan godt lide at skrive ned alt, hvad jeg gør, så jeg kan holde mig ajour med min fremskridt," sagde den 27-årige, der ifølge rapporter medbringer sin lækre læderbundne dagbog med, hvornår som helst han går inden i Belmont-fitnesscentret, og bruger den 1. blanke side som et helle, hvor han kan udøse sit hjerte om, hvor mange sæt og reps han har udført under hver øvelse.

"Det er en fantastisk måde at holde min motivering oppe , og det hjælper mig også med at variere min træning, så jeg ikke bare gør de samme ting hver uge." Efter at have afsluttet sin træning og brusebad sad Keller angiveligt i omklædningsrummet og dukkede begejstret ned i sin dagbog endnu en gang og tog et roligt øjeblik for at udtrykke sine inderste håb og drømme om at nå nye fitnessmål inden udgangen af måneden.

Bemærkelsesværdig  fyr, den der Keller, ingen tvivl om det – men han er desværre også én af de mange naboer, som jeg prøver at undgå at falde i snak med, når vi sidder sammen i lægehusets ventesal. For det meste er han der for at se lægehusets sygeplejerske om brækkede ben eller forstrukkede muskler og led, eller den slags. Jeg har bemærket, at han altid medbringer sin dagbog, når sygeplejersken kalder ham ind, hvilket jeg er helt sikker på hun er glad for.

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad i spisestuen og bagefter går vi ud på terrassen og dækker vores 2 terrassebord med deres vinteroverdækninger igen, fordi der bliver regnvejr de næse nogle dage, ifølge vejrpigen – pokkers!

vi dækker vores 2 terrassebord med deres vinteroverdækninger

i forberedelse på den forventede regnvejr – pokkers!

21:00 Vi ser lidt fjernsyn, et interessant afsnit i serien ”New Lives in the Wild”. Programmets vært er den charmerende Ben Fogle.

I forrige sæsoner har Ben vist os de slags par, der bor et eller andet sted i verden, ude i bøhlandet, langt væk fra civilisation, hvor parret ikke har andet valg, end at blive totalt selvforsynende. Denne nye sæson synes indtil videre lidt anderledes – og handler om folk, der bor i underlige steder, men som går på madindkøb i butikker eller supermarkeder, ligesom Lois og jeg, hvilket er rart!

I aften ser vi det liv og det forretning, som den anglo-australske kunstner Karen Hadfield har bygget sig i en slags oasis i ørkenen i Marokko, hvor hun driver et slags tilflugtssted for kunstnere.

Desværre falder Lois og jeg i søvn sammen i sofaen, og går glip af programmets vigtigste dele, hvor Karen taler om de grunde, hun forlod et skrivebordjob i Melbourne for at rejse til Marokko og grundlægge sin forretning midt i ørkenen.

Men vi finder ud efter, da vi vågner op, at Karen havde haft en arabisk partner Youseff (partner i den romantiske/seksuelle betydning,  eller bare forretningspartner, undrer vi over), der desværre var død 6 måneder tidligere, som havde hjulpet hende med at grundlægge tilflugtsstedet, men det er lidt af en skam, at vi ikke fandt mere ud af,  om omstændighederne af Karens livsskiftende beslutning at forlade den vestlige "civilisation".

Det er rart at se araber i et godt lys for en gangs skyld. Vi har tendens til bare at høre om voldsomme arabiske terrorister med deres dumme vanvittige tro, obsessioner og fanatismer. Karens arabiske naboer, herunder Youseffs forældre og søskende) er så varmhjertede, venlige og oprigtige, også grøntsagshandlerne, slagterne osv i markedet i den nærmeste by (Erfoud), der tillader Karen at betale ”næste gang”, hvis hun midlertidigt er i bekneb for skillinger. Hvor charmerende!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!