Tuesday 14 May 2019

06:00 My cousin John has sent me an email. His mother, my Aunty Bobby, sadly died a couple of weeks ago. Her death marked the end of an era: my mother's "generation", her and her 8 siblings, and their spouses, are now all dead and gone.

My Aunty Bobby's funeral has now been scheduled for Monday, June 10 at 1 pm at Oxford Crematorium, with a get-together afterwards in the nearby "Six Bells" pub. John's sister Susan has said she will fly over from her home in Colorado to attend the ceremony.

I send emails to my sister Gill in Cambridge and to our elder daughter Alison in Haslemere, Surrey. They too would like to attend the ceremony, but it will be difficult for both of them to leave their families and travel to Oxford that day. We will have to see.

poor quality photo dating back to the early 1970’s:

front row: (left to right) my uncle Bob, my aunt Bobby (great boots!), and Lois;

back row: my father, my sister Gill, my sister Kathy, my brother Steve, and my mother

Happy times !!!!

08:00 Lois and I have a bath and after breakfast get "down and dirty" in the vegetable garden, doing a little weeding, especially next to the garden path, where the mint has unfortunately gone crazy – my god, what madness! But it smells lovely round there, there’s no doubting that. Mmmmmmm!!!!

12:30 For the first time since the Easter weekend's mini-heatwave  it is warm enough today to have lunch outdoors on the terrace, which is nice. Afterwards I go to bed and  take a gigantic afternoon nap.

15:00 I get up and start reading the 46th chapter of Njal’s saga, written in the 13th century in Iceland, although the saga itself and the events in it are much older. Scilla's U3A Old Norse group is holding its regular meeting tomorrow in the bar of the town’s Everyman Theatre, and this saga is the group's current project.

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 then retaliates and gets her revenge on Hallgerd by getting one of her own employees to kill one of Hallgerd's employees, and so it goes on.

The two women’s feud  originally stemmed from a brawl that broke out between them over the seating plan for a feast. But now the heaps of dead bodies are piling up. Good grief - sheer madness !!!!

Hallgerd and Bergthora's feud originally stemmed

from an unexpected brawl that broke out over the seating plan for a feast

Hallgerd and Bergthora in happier times, before their feud started

However, the two women's husbands, Gunnar and Njal, are still best buddies, and they are determined not to let their wives’ bloody feud ruin their close friendship. And the two men also continue to enjoy a good sex life with their respective wives, which is soothing and rather heart-warming, I think.

Lois thinks that any itinerant workers (a shepherd, for example) who might have come looking for a job at either Hallgerd’s or Bergthora’s place would get suspicious, if they  found out, for example, that out of, say, about 100 or so positions on Hallgerd’s payroll about 50 had recently become vacant: and it might be that the shepherd or whoever would start asking embarrassing questions about why so many ex-staffers seemed to have died recently.

And Lois might well be right there, but I’m going to let all that slide for now. I'll try to clear all that up later, if there’s time.

In chapter 46, it is nice to see an Irishman pop-up unexpectedly in the saga – his name is Malcolm. The saga-writer says, however, that Malcom doesn't have many friends.

Poor Malcolm !!!!

I feel an immediate connection with Malcolm. I myself do not have many friends. But it doesn't bother me, so it doesn’t really matter. from my standpoint. However, it may be that Malcolm is actually a bit of an extrovert and would like to have had more friends if possible. It's hard to be 100% sure about that, now, after 1,000 years have passed, that’s for sure.

The saga-writer categorises Malcom as a slave, or a “thrall” to use the language of the time. But the saga-writer also says that Malcolm doesn't seem to get much work done. I don’t blame Malcolm for that, frankly - being a thrall in Iceland in the 9th, 10th, and 11th centuries was a bit of a crap job, to put it mildly!

being a thrall in medieval Iceland was a bit of a crap job, to put it mildly.

Note that the slave always walks at the back and has to carry a bundle of crap sticks - poor thrall !!!!

17:30 Lois and I have  dinner, a little bit earlier than usual, because  afterwards Lois has to go out. She wants to participate in her sect's Bible seminar, taking place tonight in Brockworth Library. She drives over to Alf and Mari-Ann's house - they are going to drive her over to Brockworth, where all 3 of them will take part in the seminar.

It is amazing how much more confident Lois has been these last 2-3 weeks when it comes to driving - usually it has been up to me to drive her here and there, especially in the evenings. It helps that the evenings have become so much lighter, now that the earth is spinning towards its summer solstice. It is now still light to a certain extent even at 9 o’clock  in the evening, which is nice.

Tonight I get a bit of a strange experience, because the slides from tonight's Bible seminar in Brockworth start popping up unexpectedly on my smartphone from time to time during the evening. The reason is that Gill, another sect member, is ill today and cannot attend the seminar personally - she has to listen to it online. Unfortunately, Gill cannot see the seminar leader's slides, so Mari-Ann puts them all up on the sect's whatsapp chat room, which I have access to on my smartphone.

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

But after all, I am just an old crow, and if I find modern technology a little hard to believe in now and then (to put it mildly), than you'll have to forgive me.

typical slides from in this evening’s Bible seminar, that I happen to be able to see

on my smartphone, thanks to the wonders of modern technology - yikes !!!

I'm struck, not for the first time, by the simple poetic beauty of the words of the King James Bible: "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away”.

It is very nostalgic for me to read these lines on my smartphone's tiny screen - so many memories from my childhood so long ago. And I wonder how many "thralls" and other unhappy people have found comfort in those words throughout the centuries?

20:00 But back to reality! I have a little alone time and stick my feet up in front of the television. An interesting documentary is on, all about the American folk singer and political activist Woody Guthrie.

I wanted to see this programme, first and foremost because my late younger brother, Steve, in his teenage years and 20's was crazy about Guthrie and Dylan, and I got used to hearing the two singers' somewhat harsh voices and somewhat monotonous tunes rumbling out from the other side of Steve’s bedroom door. At that time I didn't know much about Guthrie, but Steve told me that Guthrie was a communist or communist sympathiser, which was a bit of a turn-off for me, to put it mildly.

It is a little unexpected, but as I watch this interesting documentary, I begin slowly to find Guthrie a more sympathetic personality than I thought. He admitted that he did not have an answer to every problem and one can see that his ideas changed a lot during his life, as he reacted to different experiences and circumstances. He had a good sense of humour and a sense of irony.

As a child growing up, he absorbed the racist opinions of his father, which he later put aside. His greatest ambition as a child was to become a "singing cowboy" and radio star, like Gene Autry, and that’s why he first moved from Oklahoma to Los Angeles as a young man.

He "discovered" and championed various "oppressed minorities" and refugee groups one by one: African-Americans, the Dust Bowl refugees, the migrant Hispanic workers, the Jews - he married a Jewish woman in 1942 in New York, but unfortunately his beloved first child , Cathy, whom he wrote a lot of songs for, was tragically killed in a house-fire in the family's apartment, aged only 4.

Later, the family moved into an apartment building where Donald Trump's father was the landlord, and Guthrie noticed the strange absence of black tenants, due to a covert discrimination policy.

Guthrie was an intelligent man, a sophisticated intellectual who liked to read. His image as a hobo was one that he created for himself only after the Library of Congress's folk song enthusiast Alan Lomax began to take an interest in Guthrie's songs in 1940 or thereabouts.

And of course he wrote the famous song, "This Land Is Your Land", although only the "positive" verses are usually sung.

We see an interesting film sequence of a concert at Obama's inauguration, where Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen sang the complete version of the song, while Obama looked on enthusiastically. 

I have often wondered whether Obama's presidency helped create the Trump phenomenon – i.e. whether many Americans were not really quite ready yet to accept a black president and began to feel threatened.

In the same way as the not-particularly successful "Arab Spring", the Syrian civil war, and the influx of Arab refugees into Germany and Europe helped to create the Farage phenomenon, amongst other things: at least that’s what I think – call me crazy if you like!

But all that is something I am not completely sure about - the jury is still out on that one.

22:00 Lois comes back from Brockworth. I go to bed ("zzzzzzzz"), but Lois needs to relax and wind down a bit after this evening’s  seminar - she stays up and watches a little television.

Danish translation

06:00 Min fætter John har sendt mig en email. Hans mor, min tante Bobby, døde desværre for et par uger siden. Hendes død markede enden på en æra:  min mors ”generation”, hende samt hendes  8 søskende, og deres ægtefæller, er nu alle døde og forsvundne. 

Min tante Bobbys begravelse er nu bestemt til mandag den 10. juni kl 13 på byen Oxfords krematorium, men en sammenkomst derefter i den nærliggende ”Six Bells”-pub.  Johns søster Susan har sagt, hun vil flyve over fra sit hjem i Colorado USA for at deltage i ceremoniet.

Jeg sender emails to min søster Gill i Cambridge og til vores ældste datter Alison i Haslemere, Surrey. De har også lyst til at deltage i ceremoniet, men det vil være svært for begge to at forlade deres familier og rejse til Oxford den dag. Vi får se.

foto af dårlig kvalitet, der daterer til først i 1970’erne:

i forreste række: (fra venstre til højre) min onkel Bob, min tante Bobby (flotte støvler!), Lois

i bageste række: min far, min søster Gill, min søster Kathy, min bror Steve, og min mor

Lykkelige tider !!!!

08:00 Lois og jeg går i bad og efter morgenmad kommer vi ”ned og beskidt” i grøntsagshaverne ved at luge lidt, i sær ved siden af havegangen, hvor mynterne desværre er gået amok – du godeste, sikke et vanvid! Men det dufter dejligt derinde – det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl om!

12:30 For første gang siden påskeweekenden er det varmt nok i dag til at spise frokost udendørs på terrassen, hvilket er rart. Bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur.

15:00 Jeg står op og går i gang med at læse det 46. kapitel af Njals saga, skrevet i det 13. århundrede i Island, selvom selve sagaen og begivenhederne er meget ældre. Scillas U3A oldnordiske gruppe holder sit regelmæssige møde i morgen på baren af byens Everyman-teater, og dette saga er gruppens nuværende projekt.

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

De to kvinder skændtes oprindeligt på grund af en simpel strid om bordplanen til en fest. Og nu bunkerne af døde kroppe hober sig op. Du godeste – sikke et vanvid !!!!

Hallgerd og Bergthoras fejde stammede oprindeligt

fra en uforventet slagsmål, der brød ud over bordplanen til en fest

Hallgerd og Bergthora i lykkeligere tider, før deres fejde startede

De to kvinders ægtemænd, henholdsvis Gunnar og Njal, er imidlertid stadigvæk bedste venner, og de er fast besluttet på ikke at lade deres koners blodige fejde ødelægge deres tætte venskab. Og de to mænd fortsætter med at nyde et godt sexliv med deres henholdsvise trættekære koner, hvilket er beroligende og hjertevarmende.

Lois synes, at en eller anden omvandrende arbejdsmand (en hyrde for eksempel), der var i gang med at lede efter et job hos enten Hallgerd eller Bergthora ville blive mistænksom, hvis han fandt ud af, at for eksempel ud af 100 stillinger på Hallgerds lønningsliste var omkring 50 stillinger ledige: og det kunne være at den pågældende hyrde eller hvem som helst ville begynde at stille pinlige spørgsmål, om hvorfor så mange eks-personalemedlemmer virkede at være døde.

Og det har Lois måske ret i, men alt det der springer jeg i øjeblikket over. Jeg skal prøve at opklare alt det der senere.

I kapitlet 46 er det rart at se en irlænder poppe uventet op i sagaen – han hedder Malcolm. Sagadigteren siger imidlertid, at Malcom har ikke ret mange venner.

Stakkels Malcolm!!!!

Jeg føler en umiddelbar forbindelse med Malcolm. Jeg selv har ikke særlig mange venner. Men det generer mig ikke. Det kan imidlertid være, at Malcolm faktisk er lidt af en ekstrovert, og gerne vil have flere venner, hvis muligt. Det er det svært at være 100% sikker på efter 1000 år er gået – det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl om.

Sagadigteren kategoriserer Malcom som en slave, eller en træl efter det daværende sprog. Men sagadigteren siger også, at Malcolm ikke foretager sig ret meget. Jeg bebrejder Malcolm ikke, ærligt talt – dét, at være træl i Island i de 9., 10., og 11. århundrede var lidt af et skidt job, for at sige mildt!

dét, at være træl i det middelalderlige Island var et skidt job, for at sige mildt.

Læg mærke til, at trælen altid går bagest, og må bære et bundt skidt stokke – stakkels træl !!!!

17:30 Lois og jeg spiser aftensmad, lidt tiligere, end normalt, og bagefter skal Lois ud. Hun ønsker at deltage i sin sekts bibelseminar, der finder sted i aften i byen Brockworths bibliotek. Hun kører over til Alf og Mari-Anns hus – de skal køre hende over til Brockworth, hvor de alle 3 skal deltage i seminaret.

Det er forbløffende, hvor meget mere selvsikker Lois er blevet i de seneste 2-3 uger, når det kommer til at køre bil – normalt har det været op til mig at køre hende her og der, i sær om aftenen. Det hjælper, at aftenerne nu er blevet meget lysere, nu hvor jorden spinder mod sin sommersolhverv. Det er allerede nu stadig i en vis grad lyst kl 21 om aftenen, hvilket er rart.

I aften får jeg lidt af en mærkerlig oplevelse, fordi diassene fra bibelseminaret popper uventet op på min smartphone af og til i løbet af aftenen. Årsagen er, at Gill, en anden sektmedlem, er syg i dag og ikke kan deltage personligt i seminaret – hun er nødt til at lytte til det på nettet. Desværre kan Gill ikke se seminarlederens dias, så Mari-Ann lægger dem alle op på sektets whatsapp-chatrum, som jeg har adgang til.

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

Men jeg er trods alt bare en gammel krage og jeg finder moderne teknologi lidt svært at tro på nu og da, for at sige mildt.

 typiske dias fra i aftens bibelseminar, som jeg tilfældigvis kan se

på min smartphone, tækket være de moderne teknologiske vidundere – yikes!!!

Jeg er slået, ikke for første gang, af den simple poetiske skønhed af ordene af den autoriserede King James-version:  ”And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

Det er meget nostalgisk for mig at læse disse linjer på min smartphones lillebitte skærm – så mange minder om min barndom for så længe siden. Og hvor mange ”trælle” og andre ulykkelige mennesker fandt trøst i de der ord gennem de århundreder?

20:00 Men tilbage til virkeligheden! Jeg har lidt alenetid og smækker benene op foran fjernsynet. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om den amerikanske folksanger og politiske aktivist Woody Guthrie.

Jeg har ønsket at se dette program, først og fremmest fordi min afdøde lillebror, Steve, i sine teenage-år var vild med Guthrie og Dylan , og jeg blev vant til at høre de to sangers noget barske stemmer og noget monotone melodier runge ud fra den anden side af Steves søveværelsesdør. Jeg kendte dengang ikke ret meget til Guthrie, men Steve fortalte mig, at Guthrie var en kommunist eller kommunist-sympatisør, hvilket var lidt af et turn-off for mig, for at sige mildt.

Det er lidt uventet, men mens jeg ser på dette interessant dokumentarfilm, begynder jeg efterhånden at finde Guthrie en mere sympatisk personlighed, end jeg troede. Han indrømmede, at han ikke havde et svar til hvert problem, og man kan se, at hans idéer ofte ændrede sig i løbet af sit liv. Som barn, da han voksede op, absorberede han de racistiske meninger af sin far, og hans største ambition som barn var at blive en ”sangende cowboy” og radiostjerne, ligesom Gene Autry, og derfor flyttede han fra Oklahoma  til Los Angeles som ung mand.

Han ”opdagede” forskellige ”undertrykte minoriteter”og flygtningegrupper  en efter en: de sorte, Dust Bowl-flygtningene, de vandrende hispaniske arbejdstagerne, jøderne – han giftede sig med en jødisk kvinde i 1942 i New York, men desværre blev hans elskede første børn, Cathy, sm han skrev en masse sange for, tragisk dræbt på 4 år i en brand i familiens lejlighed.

Senere flyttede familien ind i en etageejendom, hvor Donald Trumps far var ejeren, og Guthrie lagde mærke til det underlige fravær af sorte beboere.

Guthrie var en intelligent mand, en sofistikeret intellektuel mand, der kunne lide at læse. Hans image som en hobo skabte han selv, efter Library of Congress’ folkesang-entusiasten Alan Lomax begyndte at interessere sig for Guthries sange i 1940.

Selvfølgelig skrev han den berømte sang, ”This Land Is Your Land”, selvom bare de ”positive” vers normalt bliver sunget.

Vi ser en interessant filmsekvens af en koncertv ved Obamas indsættelse, hvor Pete Seeger og Bruce Springsteen sang den komplette version, mens Obama så entusiastisk til. Jeg har ofte spekuleret på, om Obamas præsidentskab hjalp med at skabe Trump-fænomenet – at mange amerikanere ikke var helt klar til at acceptere en sort præsident, og begyndte at føle sig truede.

På sammen måde hjalp det ikke særlig vellykkede ”arabiske forår”, den syriske borgerkrig, og tilstrømningen af arabiske flygtninge ind i Tyskland og Eurpa til at skabe Farage-fænomenet, blandt andet, synes jeg.

Men alt det der er jeg ikke helt sikker på – juryen er stadig ude om det.

22:00 Lois kommer tilbage fra Brockworth. Jeg går i seng (”zzzzzzzz”), men Lois trænger til at slappe af og geare lidt ned efter i aftens seminar – hun bliver oppe og ser lidt fjernsyn.