Saturday 15 June 2019

10:00 It's cold and raining heavily  again – and my second cousin Ruth has put an amusing post up on Facebook:

"British summer time"

Lois goes down the road to the nursing home, approx. 1 mile away from here, where our elderly neighbour Mary has recently been moved. Mary suffers from dementia, but her husband, Bill, can't take care of her any more - he himself was suddenly told 3-4 weeks ago that in fact he was suffering from a terminal cancer that had been growing for years in his pancreas without symptoms, and had already spread to other areas - poor Bill.

This is Lois' first visit to Mary since she moved into the nursing home. Mary's family members were anxious that Mary, who in any case gets confused by even minor changes, should not be visited too often at the beginning, so she could have the chance to settle down and feel at home in her new environment, which makes sense.

Lois is so warm-hearted - if only I could be more like her!!!

In the meantime, I stay at home - Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia, has said she will call us on whatsapp at 10 a.m. (UK time) or thereabouts. But I don't hear from her - maybe the family is out on some excursion.

Francis, Sarah's husband, does not like to plan - he is very spontaneous by nature and tends to suddenly appear in the living room with the car keys in his hand, as Lois and I discovered a couple of times when we were visiting the family in 2016 and in 2018 – my god, what madness !!!

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

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

11:00 I give up hope of hearing from them, and I resume work on our ongoing downsizing mini-project. I have now finished shredding, or bagging, all our ancient bank statements and other old financial documents.

The next phase revolves around our daughter Sarah's old school and university notes, old folders and binders, and the like – good grief, what madness (again) !!!! She has given me permission to discard them, which is nice. I had been afraid she would ask me to keep them: she has always tended to be a hoarder, to put it mildly.

12:30 Lois comes back from the nursing home. She says she chatted with Mary and other residents in the nursing home's lounge. Mary took part in the conversation, but unfortunately Mary's remarks no longer make any real sense, Lois says.

We eat lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. Meanwhile, Lois gets going with a bit of gardening, in the intervals between the periodic cloudbursts - yikes!

16:30 I hop up on my exercise bike for the first time for a couple of months, and cycle just 4.5 miles - I'm being cautious today.

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching a bit of television. The fourth episode is on of an interesting series about some of Britain's historic cities. This 4th episode is all about the city of Canterbury, particularly in the Middle Ages, during the time of the Plantagenet dynasty:  eight French-speaking kings who ruled England between 1154 and 1399, or thereabouts.

The programme's host is Alice Roberts, a university professor in her 40’s and mother of 2 children, but she likes to dress up as a "biker chick", but I’m going to let that one slide, because she is kind-hearted, which is the most important thing ha ha! The world of TV hosts is very competitive and there is always a bit of a danger that the TV channels might decide that this or that presenter "looks too old" or "looks too middle-class" – my god, what a crazy world we live in !!!

AliceRoberts, history professor and would-be biker chick

An interesting programme. We hear a lot about the Black Death, which eventually reached England from the Middle East in 1348, spread by rats’ fleas seemingly.

spread of the Black Death plague

And pilgrims on their way to the Canterbury Cathedral to visit its shrines, among other things, played their part in spreading the disease even further, no doubt about that! But religious people had a hard time resisting the temptation to visit the cathedral because it stored some of Europe's rarest relics, a top-rated, 5-star collection:

a. a sample of the clay God used to create Adam

b. one of the giant Goliath's teeth

c. a snake-skin from the garden of Eden

Cool !!!

The Black Death virus was not particularly contagious in itself, it seems. The problem came when people who suffered from the plague also contracted pneumonia and began (2-3 days later) to cough violently: and it was their saliva that spread the plague: "simples" !!! 

Various remedies were tried, but the majority were useless or made the problem worse. The best approach in the then absence of antibiotics was to eat healthily (lots of chicken broth was the preferred diet), also to lance all boils. Alice Roberts, the programme's charming host, has medical qualifications in addition to her position as a history professor, so she understands these things ha ha ha!

But the period also included a number of good developments: progress towards democracy, with Magna Carta (1215) and the right to jury trial, also a more powerful parliament.

And the Black Death thinned out  the population, causing wages to increase due to labour shortages. People grew richer and began buying pieces of land:  the country saw the rise of the middle class and all that stuff, also an increasing dissatisfaction with having to pay taxes.

In 1381, a bunch  of "middle class citizens" attacked Canterbury Castle, which was the headquarters of the county authorities in Kent. They got hold of the sheriff and forced him to hand over all his tax records, so that he would no longer know who had paid their taxes and who hadn’t, and how much tax it was, etc. Good grief, what a crazy world they lived in! !!

Finally, at the end of the period, the English language, as spoken by the nation's ordinary people, triumphed over French, which was spoken by the rich and powerful.

King Henry IV gave his coronation speech in English. And Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" (1387) were written in English, and were one of the earliest works to be published by Caxton's new printing press (in the 1470’s), and  it reached a widespread audience.

21:00 Lois and I carry on watching television, an interesting documentary about the summer's Royal Academy exhibition, which ordinary amateur artists can compete in to exhibit their paintings. The hosts of the programme are the charming Kirsty Wark and Brenda Emmanus.

An interesting programme. It's nice that ordinary amateur artists can have their paintings exhibited, but the chances of getting your painting accepted depend on the coordinator - this year, it’s the artist Jock McFadyens' turn to play this role.

And Jock has his own tastes, to put it mildly! He loves to paint slums, and dilapidated, rickety old factories, and the like. And he doesn’t care whether people like them or not.

Most of the paintings in the exhibition too are a bunch of crap, as expected. Painters do not need to show artistic talent to get attention nowadays, and in fact it can be a bit of an obstacle, to put it mildly.

Many of the paintings are quite small and hang high up on the wall, so it's hard to see them - which is probably a good thing in many cases ha ha ha!

The majority of paintings in the exhibition are a bunch of crap, as expected.

Fortunately, many of the paintings are too small to see, high up on the walls,

which is reassuring ha ha ha!

And although I personally am as ready as anyone to condemn the Brexit-madness, political slogans and propaganda are not art, I have to say !!!!

political slogans & propaganda – this is NOT ART !!!!

My goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!!!  [Just go to bed – Ed]

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

Danish translation:  lørdag den 15. juni 2019

10:00 Det er koldt og regner kraftigt igen – min 2. kusine Ruth har lagt en morsom post op på Facebook:

Lois går hen ned ad vejen til det plejehjem, ca. 1 mile væk herfra, vores ældre nabo Mary for nylig er blevet anbragt. Mary lider af demens, men hendes mand, Bill, kan ikke passe på hende længere – han fik selv pludselig at vide for 3-4 uger siden, at han faktisk led af en terminal kræft, der var vokset i årevis i bugspytkirtlen uden symptomer, og allerede var spredt sig til andre områder – stakkels Bill.

Detter er Lois’ første besøg hos Mary, siden hun flyttede ind i plejehjemmet. Marys familiemedlemmer ville ikke have Mary, som i hvert fald bliver forvirret af endda mindre forandringer,  til at blive besøgt for meget i begyndelsen, så hun kunne få chancen for at bosætte sig og føle sig hjemme i sit nye miljø, hvilket giver mening.

Lois er så varmhjertet – hvis bare jeg  kunne ligne hende mere!!!

I mellemgang bliver jeg herhjemme – Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien, har sagt hun vil ringe til os på whatsapp kl 10 (britisk tid) eller deromkring. Men jeg hører ikke noget fra hende – måske er familien ude på et eller andet udflugt. Francis, Sarahs mand, kan ikke lide at planlægge – han er meget spontan af natur og har tendens til at dukke pludselig op i stuen med bilnøglene i hånden, som Lois og jeg opdagede et par gange, da vi var på besøg hos familien i 2016 og i 2018 – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!  

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

Western Australia, sammen med Francis, Sarah, og tvillingerne

11:00 Jeg opgiver håbet om at høre fra dem, og jeg genoptager arbejdet på vores igangværende downsize mini-projekt. Jeg er færdig med at makulere, eller lægge i sække, alle vores ædgamle kontoudtog og andre gamle finansielle dokumenter.

Den næste fase kredser om vores datter Sarahs gamle skole- og universitetsnotater, gamle mapper og ringbind, og den slags – du godeste, sikke et vanvid (igen) !!!! Hun har givet mig lov til at kassere dem, hvilket er rart. Jeg havde været bange for, at hun ville bede mig om at opbevare dem: hun har altid haft tendens til at hamstre, for at sige mildt.

12:30 Lois kommer tilbage fra plejehjemmet. Hun siger, at hun snakket med Mary og andre beboere i plejehjemmets lounge. Mary deltog i samtalen, men desværre giver Marys bemærkninger ikke nogen mening længere, siger Lois.

Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur.  I mellemtiden går Lois i gang med at lave lidt havearbejde i mellemrummene mellem de periodiske skybrud – yikes!

16:30 Jeg hopper op på min kondicykel for 1. gang i et par måneder. Jeg cykler kun 4,5 miles for at blive forsigtig. 

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser det 4. afsnit i en interessant serie, der handler om nogle af Storbritanniens historiske byer. Dette 4. afsnit handler om byen Canterbury, i sær i forbindelse med middelalderen, og huset plantagenet:  8 fransktalende konger der regerede England mellem 1154 og 1399, eller deromkring.

Canterbury /Listing/Blurb

Programmets vært er Alice Roberts, en universitetsprofessor i 40’erne og mor til 2 børn, men hun kan godt lide at klæde sig ud som en ”bikertøs”, men det springer jeg over, fordi hun er godhjertet, hvilket er det vigtigste ha ha ha! Verden af tv-værter er meget konkurrencemæssig, og der er altid lidt af en fare, at tv-kanalerne kunne beslutte, at en eller anden vært ”ser for gammel ud” eller ”ser for borgerlig ud”  – du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!

AliceRoberts

Et interessant program. Vi hører meget om den Sorte Død, der efterhånden nåede England fra Mellemøsten i 1348, spredt af rottelopper, lader det til.

Black Death spreads across Europe

Og pilgrimme på vej til Canterbury-katedralen for at besøge dens helligdomme spillede blandt andet deres rolle i at sprede sygdommen videre, ingen tvivl om det! Men religiøse mennesker havde svært at modstå fristelsen at besøge katedralen, fordi den gemte nogle af Europas sjældneste relikvier, en toptunet samling:

a.      en prøve af det ler, Gud brugte for at skabe Adam

b.      en af kæmpen Goliats tænder

c.      en slangehud fra  Edens have

Cool !!!

Selve den Sorte Død var ikke særlig smitsom, lader det til. Problemet kom, da mennesker, som led af pesten, pådrog sig også lungebetændelsen og begyndte (2-3 dage senere) at hoste voldsomt: og deres spyt spredte pesten: ”simples” !!!  Yikes, skræmmende!!!

Forskellige lægemidler blev prøvet, men størstedelen var unyttige, eller forværrede problemet! Det bedste tilgang i det daværende fravær af antibiotiker, var, at spise sundt (masser af kyllingefond var den foretrukne kost), også at åbne alle bylder. Alice Roberts, programmets charmerende vært, har medicinske kvalifikationer udover sin stilling som historieprofessor, så har hun forstand på disse ting ha ha ha!

Men perioden indeholdt også en række gode udviklinger:  fremskridt mod demokratiet, med Magna Carta (1215) og retten til jury-retssager, også en mere magtfuldt parlament.

Og den Sorte Døde fortyndede befolkningen, hvilket fik løn til at øge på grund af mangel på arbejdskraft. Folk blev rigere, og begyndte at købe stykker jord: landet så stigningen af middelklassen og alt det der lort, også en øgende utilfredsstillelse med at skulle betale skatte.

I 1381 angreb et bundt ”middelklasseborgere” Canterbury-slottet, der var hovedkvarteret til grevskabet Kents myndigheder. De fik greb om sheriffen og tvingede ham til at aflevere alle sine skatterekorder, så han ikke længere ville være klar over, hvem havde betalt skatte eller ikke gjort det, og hvor meget skat osv. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!

Til sidst, ved slutningen af perioden triumferede det engelske sprog af landets almindelige folk, over det franske, talt af de rige og magtfulde.

Kong Henrik 4. holdt sin kroningstale på engelsk. Og Chaucers ”Canterbury-fortællinger” (1387) blev skrevet på engelsk, og var én af de tidligste værker til at blive udgivet af Caxtons nye trykkeri (i 1470’erne), da det nåede et udbredt publikum.

21:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn, en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om sommerens Royal Academy-udstilling, som almindelige amatør-kunstnere kan konkurrere i at få udstillet deres malerier. Programmets vært er de charmerende Kirsty Wark og Brenda Emmanus.

Et interessant program. Det er rart, at almindelige amatør-kunstnere kan få deres malerier udstillet, men chancerne for at få ens maleri accepteret afhænger af koordinatoren – i år er det kunstneren Jock McFadyens tur til at spille rollen.

Og Jock har sine egne smag, for at sige mildt! Han elsker at male slumkvarterer, og faldefærdige, vakkelvorne fabrikker, og den slags. Og det rager ham ikke, om folk kan lide dem eller ej.

Størstedelen af malerier er noget lort, som forventet. Malere har ikke brug for at udvise kunstnerisk talent for at få opmærksomhed nu til dags, og faktisk kan det være lidt af en forhindring, for at sige mildt.

Mange af malerierne er ganske små og hænger højt oppe på væggen, så det er svært at se dem – hvilket sansynligvis er det bedste resultat i mange tilfælde ha ha ha!

Størstedelen af malerier er noget lort, som forventet.

heldigvis er mange af malerier for små til at se, højt oppe på væggene,

hvilket er foruroligende ha ha ha!

Og jeg er personligt så klar som nogen som helst til at fordømme Brexit-vanviddet, men politiske slogans og propaganda er ikke kunst, det må jeg nok sige!!!!

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

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzz!!!