Tuesday 21 May 2019

Lois and I now both have colds - damn!

My friend, "Magyar" Mike, said he would come this morning at 10 a.m. to resume our programme of weekly Hungarian lessons - the last time we met was April 16, 5 weeks ago: for one reason or another he hasn't been able to come since then.

I get the living room ready and clear up a little. I devise and print out a Hungarian vocabulary test that I want him to take at the beginning of our session. But at 9:30 a.m. he calls me - traffic problems again - he says there are massive traffic jams between Nailsworth and Stroud, due to some traffic accident. Later he calls again and says his car has broken down: one of the car's warning lights was flashing and he had pulled over to the side. He has called A.A. car assistance and he is waiting for the man to arrive.

A little later, he calls once more - the AA man has said that Mike had not closed the car’s boot door completely and that was why the warning light was flashing – my god, what madness !!!!

We decide to cancel this morning's Hungarian session and postpone it until next Tuesday. Good grief, Mike is ageing by the day - no doubt about that !!!! Poor Mike !!!!!

me (left) and my friend, "Magyar" Mike, in happier times: in 1994 in Hungary.

Here we showcase our second-hand  "Excellent Worker" medals from the Communist era

10:30 Lois and I drive over to the Wyevale Garden Centre to buy a 50 litre bag of compost with added "John Innes" fertiliser. Unfortunately, I do not notice the warning on the side of the bag - "Be careful when lifting this bag." 

Damn! I just hope I didn't strain my back when I threw the bag into the car boot – good grief! We drive home again and I lug the bag down the side passage, and throw it down on Lois's old garden table.

the heavy bag of compost plus "John Innes" fertiliser we bought this morning

at the local Wyevale garden centre

12:30 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. Meanwhile, Lois leafs through the piles of (mostly unwanted) old possessions that I had come across recently when I was exploring the many undocumented areas of our attic:  piles of old LPs, Sarah's old psychology textbooks etc. 

This is all part of our current downsizing mini-project.

When up in the attic I also found lots of outdated tourist brochures, plus tons of souvenirs of our 2 daughters’ school work, when they were students in a US school 1982-1985. I need to let Lois leaf through all that schoolwork and the tourist brochures, and then we can perhaps keep at least a few examples of the children's schoolwork for old times’ sake. It's all very nostalgic - I have to admit.

In the attic I come across tons of outdated tourist brochures

and souvenirs of our 2 daughters’ school work 1982-85 in the US

My god - what madness !!!!!

16:00 We relax with a cup of tea and a biscuit on the sofa. Afterwards we walk around to our neighbours’ house (2 doors away). 

Stephen and Frances went off this morning at 7 am (or thereabouts) to fly to Canada. They have asked us to look after their house, their post, and their massive vegetable garden, greenhouse and flower beds during their absence. We just hope there will be plenty of rain ha ha ha!

Our neighbours 2 doors away, Stephen and Frances, have asked us

to look after their massive garden during their 3-week absence in Canada - yikes!

17:00 I listen a little to the radio, an interesting programme in the series "Word of Mouth", which is all about  linguistic issues. The host of the program is the charming children's book author, Michael Rosen.

I recall that Lois once asked me which was the world's earliest language, and also asked me if every language in the world was related to Hebrew. But this kind of question only makes sense if you are a fundamentalist Christian or Jew or something similar.

Today's anthropologists believe that languages ​​have existed for at least 50,000 and perhaps up to 500,000 years, but theories vary. I hear a lot of interesting facts today, including the fact that out of all the primates only people have the ability (and desire) to mimic sounds: that's right - apes don’t “ape” ha ha ha!

Some physical characteristics are needed if you want to be able to speak: an elevated diaphragm, a thicker spinal chord, a thicker vertical column and so on. Neanderthals had these characteristics, so it is thought that they could talk too. Everyone knows that people (homo sapiens) and neanderthals had sex with each other, so it's nice to imagine they could talk about the experience afterwards, and perhaps consult "counsellors" or "agony aunts" if there was any sort of problem that came up.

And if both people and Neanderthals were able to speak, it is likely that our two species’ common ancestor (homo heidelbergensis) could also speak – homo sapiens and Neanderthals separated from each other about 600,000 years ago, so that means languages ​​are probably at least 600,000 years old.

The development of language could have been associated with lifestyle changes: the use of tools began over 3 million years ago. By contrast, unlike humans, today's chimpanzees have a lifestyle that has not changed at all from the lifestyle of their remote ancestors millions of years ago.

Homo sapiens is a highly specialised species when it comes to our brains, which are very “expensive items”. Brain activity consumes as much as 20% of our energy even when we’re not doing anything - when we are asleep, for example. An interesting discussion.

18:00 Lois and I are both full of cold, and exhausted. We have dinner, two of the low-fat ready-made meals we bought the other day  from CookShop in Leckhampton.

20:00 We spend the rest of the evening listening to the radio and watching a bit of television.

We hear an interesting radio programme in the series "Great Lives": this episode is all about the American folklorist and folk song collector Alan Lomax, who worked with the United States Library of Congress, and was responsible for, for example, bringing "Leadbelly", Woody Guthrie and other American traditional singers to the world’s attention. The programme host is the charming Matthew Paris.

Each week, a celebrity nominates some other celebrity that he or she regards as a great person, and the person's biographer  (or other expert witness) comments and adds supplementary  information. Today we hear Shirley Collins, an English folk singer, nominating Alan Lomax as "great man of the week". The expert witness is Billy Bragg, an English singer-songwriter and activist.

Alan Lomax (1915-2002), the American folk song collector

An interesting discussion. We are fortunate to be able to  hear from Shirley Collins - she had an on-off sexual relationship with Lomax for several years, from the 1950’s through the 1960’s, and she collaborated with him on many of his research expeditions in the US southern states. 

They met each other in London in the 1950’s when Lomax was a "refugee" from the Joe McCarthy era. He was then living in Britain and Europe, and was collecting folk songs over here - however, Lomax also had “political” problems with Franco's Spain, but I’m going to let that one slide.

Collins was much younger than Lomax (by 20 years or so). She says he was always flat broke, always an outsider, and never received recognition for his research as a folklorist and folk song collector. But his great attribute was that he loved people: he was a totally charming man who could talk to anyone, rich or poor, something which was very helpful when he was speaking to poor and/or uneducated people in the course of his research out “in the sticks” or the boonies.

Shirley Collins, English folk-singer

Collins accompanied Lomax on many of his expeditions in the southern states of the US. And in the mountains of Arkansas, for example, she had the opportunity then herself to sing the English versions of many of the traditional ballads that local women sang to her. These women knew that the songs had originally come from "the old country" and they were very proud of that, Collins recalls.

In the Arkansas mountains, Collins met the traditional singer Almeda Riddle (1898-1986), who Collins says, was one of the greatest singers she had ever heard in her entire life.

Riddle sang a folk song to her, which she called "The Merry Golden Tree", known in the UK as "The Golden Vanity", a very old traditional seafaring song.

”There was a little ship,

And she sailed on the sea,

The name of the ship was the Merry Golden Tree,

Sailing on the low and lonesome low,

Sailing on the low and lowland sea.

“Now she hadn’t been out but a week two or three,

Until she sighted the British Robbery

Sailing on the low and lonesome low,

Sailing on the low and lowland sea.

Floating the Jolly Roger on the lowland sea” etc etc

Collins points out that when Almeda Riddle sang that song, she had never seen the sea in all her life, which Lois and I find very touching, for some reason.

21:00 We turn off the radio and watch a bit of television. "Kew's Forgotten Queen" is on, an interesting documentary film about Marianne North (1830-1890), one of the world's most prolific botanical artists.

In the mid-19th century, when most English middle-class women were spending most of their days in their parlours, North, in middle-age, was travelling  alone into distant countries, such as Borneo, Japan, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, India, etc., through dense jungles, etc., in search of exotic plants and flowers to paint. She also discovered many previously unknown plants, that were subsequently named after her – she is believed to be the only amateur (non-scientist) to have had this honour.

The programme's host is the charming Emilia Fox, one of our favourite actresses, who during the programme travels in the footsteps of North, through Borneo's jungles and elsewhere.

The host of the programme is the charming actress, Emilia Fox - 

Lois and I love her hair-style

It is interesting to compare North's complicated attire comprising her great Victorian dresses, underskirts, etc. with Fox's simple attire (jeans and top). North was a slim woman underneath, but she had to wear a lot of clothes. Fox is even slimmer – my god! And it proves a lot easier for Fox than for Marianne, to travel through dense jungles - no doubt about that !!!

Marianne North (1830-1890)

Fox is even slimmer than North and her attire

is much lighter - no doubt about that !!!!

Marianne, as a botanical artist / painter, invaded a completely male field. She could only be a success by being very determined, like all women who became successful in the 19th century. Lois and I have a little chat about that. Lois says these successful women, even if they enjoyed brief fame during their lifetime, were mostly forgotten after their death, whereas successful men are often famous for ever. Everyone has heard of Joseph Banks, for example, the naturalist who travelled to Australia with James Cook, but who has heard of Marianne North?

Marianne knew Charles Darwin from childhood because Darwin was one of her father's friends. After she read Darwin's "Origin of Species" (1859), she eagerly took up his theories of evolution, which in turn shows her independence of spirit - his theories were not generally very popular at first, to say the least.

She said about Darwin that he "was in my eyes the greatest man, the most truthful and selfless and the most modest man, always trying to give others, rather than himself, the credit for his own great thoughts and work". He recommended to her that she travel to Australia and New Zealand, which she hastened to do, and he greatly appreciated the paintings she came back with.

What a woman !!!!

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

Danish translation

Lois og jeg er nu begge to forkølede – pokkers!

Min ven, ”Magyar” Mike, sagde han ville komme i formiddag kl 10 for at genoptage vores program af ugentlige ungarske timer sammen – sidste gang vi mødtes var den 16. april, for 5 uger siden:  af en eller anden grund har han ikke været i stand til at komme siden da.

Jeg  forbereder stuen og rydder lidt op. Jeg udfærdiger, og udprinter en ungarske ordforrådtest, som jeg vil have ham til at tage i begyndelsen af vores session. Men kl 09:30 ringer han til mig – trafikproblemer igen – han siger, der er massive traffikpropper mellem Nailsworth og Stroud, på grund af en eller anden trafikulykke. Senere ringer han igen, og siger hans bil er brudt ned: én af bilens advarselslamper flashede, og han havde trak ind til siden. Han har ringet til A.A. autohjælp og han venter på, at manden ankommer.

Lidt senere ringer han igen – AA-manden har sagt, at Mike ikke havde lukket bagagerumsdøren fuldstændigt, og derfor advarselslampen flashede – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

Vi beslutter at aflyse formiddagens ungarske session, og udskyder den til næste tirsdag. Du godeste, Mike ældes dag for dag – ingen tvivl om det!!!! Stakkels Mike !!!!!

mig og min ven, ”Magyar” Mike, i lykkeligere tider: i 1994 i Ungarn.

Her fremviser vi vores brugte ”Udmærket Arbejder”-medaljer fra den kommunistiske æra

10:30 Lois og jeg kører over til Wyevale-havecentret for at købe en 50 liter pose kompost med tilføjet ”John Innes” gødning. Desværre bemærker jeg ikke advarslen på siden af posen – pas på når du løfter posen. Pokkers! Jeg håber bare, at jeg ikke anstrengede min ryg, da jeg smed posen i bagagerummet – du godeste! Vi kører hjem igen og jeg slæber posen ned ad husets sidegang, og smider den ned på Lois’ gamle havebord.

den tunge pose kompost plus ”John Innes” gødning, som vi købte i morges

ved det lokale Wyevale-havecenter

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. I mellemtiden blader Lois igennem bunkerne af (for det meste uønskede) gamle ejendele, som jeg forleden faldt over, da jeg var i gang med at udforske loftets mange udokumenterede område: bunker af gamle lp-plader, Sarahs gamle psykologi-lærebøger.

Derudover er der bunkevis af uddaterede turistbrochurer, også tonsvis af souvenirs af vores 2 døtres skolearbejde, da de var elever i en amerikansk skole 1982-1985. Jeg behøver at lade Lois blade igennem alt det der skolearbejde og turistbrochurer, så vi måske kan opbevare i mindst et par eksempler på børnenes skolearbejde, for gamle dages skyld. Det hele er meget nostalgisk – det må jeg indrømme.

I loftet falder jeg over tonsvis af uddaterede touristbrochurer

 og souvenirs af vores 2 døtres skolearbejde 1982-85 i USA

Du godeste – sikke et vanvid !!!!!

16:00 Vi slapper af med en kop te og en kiks i sofaen. Bagefter går vi rundt til vores naboers hus (2 døre væk). Stephen og Frances skulle af sted i morges kl 7 (eller deromkring) for at flyve til Canada. De har bedt os om, at passe på deres hus, deres post, og deres massive grøntsagshave, drivhus og blomsterbede under deres fravær. Vi håber på, at der vil være en masse regnvejr ha ha ha!

Vores naboer 2 døre væk, Stephen og Frances, har bedt os om

at passe på deres massive have under deres 3-ugers fravær i Canada – yikes!

17:00 Jeg lytter lidt til radio, et interessant program i serien ”Fra mund til mund”, der handler om sproglige og lingvistiske spørgsmål. Programmets vært er den charmerende børnebogsforfatter, Michael Rosen.

Jeg mindes om, at Lois engang spurgte mig, hvilket var verdens tidligste sprog, også spurgte hun mig om, om hvert sprog i verden var beslægtet til hebraisk. Men dette slags spørgsmål giver mening bare, hvis du er en fundamentalistisk kristen eller jøde eller noget lignende.

Nutidens antropologer tror, at sprog har eksisteret i mindst 50.000 og måske op til 500.000 år, men teorier varierer. Vi hører en masse interessante kendsgerninger, herunder dét, at ud af alle primaterne kun mennesker har evnen (og lysten) til at efterabe: aber efteraber ikke ha ha!

Nogle fysiske egenskaber er nødvendige, hvis man vil kunne tale: en forhøjet mellemgulv, en tykkere rygmal, en tykkere rygsøjle. Neandertalere havde disse egenskaber, så man tror, at de også kunne tale. Alle ved, at mennesker (homo sapiens) og neandertalere havde sex med hinanden, så er det rart at formode, at de kunne tale om oplevelsen efter, det må jeg nok sige! Og hvis begge mennesker og neandertalere kunne tale, er det sansynligt at vores fælles forfædre (homo heidelbergensis) også kunne tale – mennesker og neandertalere adskillede sig fra hinanden for omkring 600.000 år siden, så sprog sandsynligvis er mindst 600.000 år gamle.

Udviklingen af sprog kunne blive forbundet med forandringer i livstil:  brugen af redskaber begyndte for over 3 millioner år siden. I modsætning til mennesker har nutidens chimpansere en livstil, der slet ikke har forandret fra livstilen af deres forfædre for mange millioner år siden.

Homo sapiens er en højt specialiseret art, når det kommer til vores hjerner, som er meget dyre ejendele”. Hjerneaktivitet forbruger 20% af vores energi, endda når vi ikke gør noget – når vi ligger og sover, for eksempel.

En interessant diskussion.

18:00 Lois og jeg er begge to meget forkølede og udmattede. Vi spiser aftensmad, to af de fedtfattige færdigretter vi forlede købte fra CookShop i Leckhampton

20:00 Vi bruger resten af aftenen på at lytte til radio og se lidt fjernsyn. Vi hører et interessant radioprogram i serien ”Great Lives”:  dette afsnit handler om den amerikanske folklorist og folkesangsamler  Alan Lomax, der arbejdede med USAs Library of Congress, og var ansvarlig for bringe fx ”Leadbelly”, Woody Guthrie og andre amerikanske sangere til verdens opmærksomhed. Programmets vært er den charmerende Matthew Paris.

  

Hver uge nominerer en berømhed en eller anden berømthed, som han/hun betragter som en stor person, og personens  biograf (eller en eller anden ekspertvidner) kommenterer og tilfører yderliggere oplysninger. I dag hører vi Shirley Collins, en tidligere engelske folkesanger, nominere Alan Lomax  som ”ugens stor mand”. Ekspertvidneren er Billy Bragg, en engelsk sanger-sangskriver og aktivist.

Alan Lomax (1915-2002), den amerikanske folkesangsamler

En interessant diskussion. Vi er heldige i at kunne høre fra Shirley Collins – hun havde et on-off seksuelt forhold med Lomax i flere år, fra 1950’erne til 1960’erne, og hun medarbejdede med ham under mange af hans forskningsekspeditioner i USAs sydlige delstater. De mødte hinanden først i 1950’erne i London, da Lomax var en ”flygtning” fra Joe McCarthy-æraen, som boede i Storbritannien og Europa, og var i gang med at samle folkesange herovre –  han havde imidlertid også problemer i Francos Spanien, men det springer jeg over.

Collins var meget yngre, end Lomax (med 20 år eller deromkring). Hun siger, han var altid ruineret, altid en outsider, og aldrig fik anerkendelse for sin forskning som folklorist og folkesangsamler. Men hans stor egenskab var, at han elskede mennesker:  han var en totalt charmerende mand, der kunne tale med nogen som helst, hvad enten rig eller fattig, hvilket var meget meget nyttigt, da han talede med fattige og/eller ukultiverede mennesker i løbet af sine forskninger ude på bøhlandet.

Shirley Collins, den engelske folkesanger

Collins ledsagede Lomax på mange af hans ekspeditioner i USAs sydlige delstater. Og i bjergene af Arkansas, for eksempel, havde hun lejligheden til at synge engelske versioner af mange af de traditionelle ballader som lokale kvinder sang til hende. De vidste allerede, sager hun, at sangene oprindeligt var kommet fra ”det gamle land”, og det var de meget stolte af.

I Arkansas-bjergene mødte Collins folksangeren Almeda Riddle (1898-1986), som Collins siger, var en af de største sangere, hun nogensinde havde hørt i hele sit liv.

Riddle sang en folksang til hende, som hun kaldte ”The Merry Golden Tree”, kendt i England som ”The Golden Vanity”, en meget gammel traditionel sømandssang.

”There was a little ship,

And she sailed on the sea,

The name of the ship was the Merry Golden Tree,

Sailing on the low and lonesome low,

Sailing on the low and lowland sea.

“Now she hadn’t been out but a week two or three,

Until she sighted the British Robbery

Sailing on the low and lonesome low,

Sailing on the low and lowland sea.

Floating the Jolly Roger on the lowland sea” osv osv

Collins påpeger, at da Almeda Riddle sang den sang, havde hun aldrig set havet i hele hendes liv, hvilket Lois og jeg finder meget meget rørende, af en eller anden grund.

21:00 Vi slukker for radioen og se lidt fjernsyn. De viser ”Kew’s Forgotten Queen”, en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om Marianne North (1830-1890), én af verdens mest produktive botaniske kunstnere.

I midten af det 19. århundrede, da de fleste engelske middelklassekvinder brugte hoveddelen af deres dage i deres stuer, rejste North, som middelaldrende, alene i fjerne lande, som for eksempel Borneo, Japan, Brazil, Sydafrika, Australien, Indien osv, gennem tætte jungler osv, i søgen efter eksotiske planter og blomster (inklusive insektædende) for at male dem. Hun opdagede også mange, hidtil ukendte planter, der blev nævnet for hende.

Programmets vært er den charmerende Emilia Fox, én af mine yndlingsskuespillerinder, der i løbet af programmet rejser ”i hælene” på North gennem Borneos jungler.

Programmets vært er den charmerende skuespillerinde, Emilia Fox

Det er interessant at sammenligne Norths komplicerede påklædning med hendes store viktorianske kjoler, underskørter osv med Fox’s simple påklædning (jeans og top). North var en slank kvinde indenunder, men hun måtte tage en masse tøj på. Fox er endnu slankere – du godeste! Det er meget nemmere for Fox at rejse gennem tætte jungler – ingen tvivl om det!!!

Marianne North (1830-1890)

Fox er endnu slankere end North og hendes påklædning

er meget lettere – ingen tvivl om det!!!!

North, som botanisk kunstner/maler, invaderede et helt mandligt felt. Hun kunne kun have succes ved at være meget meget determineret, som alle kvinder der i det 19. århundrede blev succesfulde. Det snakker Lois og jeg lidt om. Lois siger, at disse succesfulde kvinder for det meste blev glemt efter de døde, mens de succesfulde mænd kan blive for evig berømt. Alle har hørt om Joseph Banks for eksempel, der rejste til Australien sammen med James Cook, men hvem har hørt om Marianne North? 

Hun kendte Charles Darwin siden sin barndom, fordi Darwin var en af hendes fars venner. Efter hun læste Darwins ”Origin of Species” (1859) tog hun ivrigt op hans teorier om evolutionen, hvilket igen viser hendes åndes uafhængighed – hans teorier var ikke særlig populære til at begynde med, for at sige mildt.

Hun sagde om Darwin, at han ”var i mine øjne den største mand, den mest sandfærdige og den uselviskeste og beskedne, som altid forsøger at give andre, snarere end sig selv, æren for sine egne store tanker og arbejde”. Han anbefalede hende at rejse til Australien og New Zealand, hvilket hun skyndte sig at gøre, og han satte meget stor pris på de billeder, hun kom tilbage med.

Sikke en kvinde!!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzz!!!!!