Sunday, 30 June 2019

Saturday 29 June 2019


We came home yesterday after a short holiday in the north of England, so we need to do some shopping. We drive over to the Tesco supermarket in Bishops Cleeve, 3 miles from here, to go shopping for food. First we stop  by the nearby greengrocer, and then to the local post office and its associated newsagent’s, to buy two copies of the "Peter Rabbit" children's magazine, which we can send to our soon-to-be 6-year-old twin grandchildren, Lily and Jessie, in Perth, Australia. We come home and relax with a cup of coffee on the sofa.

Jessie (left) and Lily, with our daughter Sarah earlier this month

The weather girl has said that today will be the hottest day of the year so far - 85F or 30C or thereabouts, so we prepare the spare double bed in our daughter Sarah's old room, where we can sleep tonight with open windows. The room overlooks the backyard and there is no traffic noise, which is nice. And Lois hurries out into our fruit-garden to pick even more raspberries and gooseberries before the birds can grab them all – my god, what madness !!!!

It is very quiet in the backyard. Our neighbour on the one side, Bob, is away from home, on vacation in Scotland. On the other side of us, both Bill and Mary have now been settled in separate nursing homes, and their son Neil from the London area, and their daughter Debbie from New Zealand are living in their parents' home temporarily, so they can visit them both daily.

I try to install our brand new printer, which was delivered before our mini-holiday, but without success. Our desktop says its wifi can't find it - what madness: the printer is right next to the computer, just 1 inch away! Fortunately, our local IT expert, Mark, has agreed to stop by here on Tuesday - he will give the desktop a scolding and a good kick in the arse: he is very good at that, to put it mildly!

Local rumours suggest that it was Mark who helped White House office staff replace the toner in the building's printer, after Rumsfeld left his job there without warning and without giving a proper briefing on his duties to his successor, Robert Gates.

Rumsfeld hit the headlines in 2004 when it was revealed that only he knew how to replace the toner (source: Onion News).


WASHINGTON, DC: White House sources reported Monday that Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is the only cabinet member who can figure out how to replace the toner in the White House printer. "Let me walk you through it again," said Rumsfeld. "You lift the toner cartridge lid, then move this switch back and remove the old cartridge. That goes in "el garbage ".

"Then you remove this tape here from the new cartridge - now, this is important. If you forget, you will be printing blank pages all day long. Okay, so you just slide it on in, and you're done and good to go."

When asked to comment, Rumsfeld said he didn't mind replacing the toner, but couldn't see what was so difficult about it.

Rumsfeld, pictured here on the 2nd occasion he was asked
to help replace the toner in the White House printer


13:00 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. I get up at 3:30 pm and we relax with a cup of tea on the sofa.

16:30 I write an email in Hungarian to my pen pal in Budapest, Tünde. She recently sent me a quiz:  ten photos, some taken in one of the old Chernobyl buildings in Russia, and some taken in a functioning Hungarian hospital, and readers had to decide which photos were from Chernobyl and which were from the hospital in Hungary. I scored 80% on the test, which was satisfying, but more through luck than judgement, I have to  admit.

Were these pictures taken in Chernobyl or at a Hungarian hospital?

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

19:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching a bit of television. An interesting documentary is on Channel 5, in the series about the River Nile and ancient Egypt. The programme host is the charming Bettany Hughes.


Lois and I have seen many documentaries before when Bettany Hughes has been the host of the programme: mostly documentary films about ancient Greece. Now it seems she's finished educating us about Greece and is looking for pastures new.

We hear about the great female pharaoh, Hatshepsut, who was always portrayed in pictures as a man with a beard. The ancient Egyptians had no word for "queen", it seems.

"Queen" Hatshepsut, depicted as always with the traditional beard:
the ancient Egyptians had no word for "queen". 
Good grief, what madness !!!!

It is believed that Hatshepsut had a lover, Senemut, the man in charge of building  the Queen's great temple:  she had secret drawings of him displayed in the inmost and most sacred parts of the temple.

it’s thought that Senemut, who was the brains behind the building
of the Queen's temple, was also in fact her secret lover

According to the rumours, Senemut was the Queen's secret lover, but perhaps their relationship was not as secret as was previously thought.

And we see the programme's charming host, Bettany, climbing a steep hill to enter a cave where some 3,500-year-old graffiti has recently been discovered, and which was probably produced by one or other of the construction workers involved in the building of the temple.

Bettany scrambles up to a cave to see some recently discovered graffiti

The graffiti portrays the Queen (identified by the black wig which she wore) busy having sex - the man was perhaps Senemut, the building worker's boss, or perhaps it was the worker himself, who was depicting his secret fantasy, just imagining he was "living the dream".

graffiti depicting the Queen with an unidentified man

My goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!! And how little has changed over 3,500 years, as Bettany herself comments!


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


Danish translation: lørdag den 29 juni 2019

Vi kom hjem i går efter en kort ferie i det nordlige England, så trænger vi til at købe ind. Vi kører over til Tesco-supermarkedet i Bishops Cleeve, 3 miles herfra, for at gå madindkøb. Først går vi ind hos den nærliggende grønthandleren, og derefter hos det lokale postkontor og den sammenhængende bladhandlerforretning, for at købe to eksemplarer af ”Peter Rabbit”-børnemagasinet, som vi kan afsende til vores snart 6-årige tvillingebørnebørn, Lily og Jessie, i Perth, Australien. Vi kommer hjem og slapper af med en kop kaffe i sofaen.

Jessie (left) and Lily, with our daughter Sarah

Vejrpigen har sagt, at i dag vil være årets varmeste dag hidtil – 85F eller 30C eller deromkring, så vi forbereder vores ekstra dobbeltseng i vores datter Sarahs gamle værelse, hvor vi kan sove i nat med åbne vinduer. Værelset har udsigt over baghaven, og der er ikke trafiklarm, hvilket er rart. Og Lois skynder sig ud i vores frugthave for at plukke endnu flere hindbær og stikkelsbær, før fuglene kan snuppe dem alle – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

Her er meget stille i baghaven. Vores nabo på den ene side, Bob, er væk hjemmefra, på ferie i Skotland. På den anden side af os er både Bill og Mary nu placeret i adskilte plejehjem, og deres søn Neil fra London-området, og deres datter Debbie fra New Zealand  bor i deres forældres hus midlertidligt, så de kan besøge dem begge hver dag.

Jeg prøver at installere vores spritnye printer, som blev leveret før vores mini-ferie, men uden succés. Vores desktop siger, at dens wifi ikke kan finde den – sikke et vanvid: printeren sidder lige ved siden af computeren, kun 1 inch væk! Heldigvis har vores lokale IT-ekspert, Mark, aftalt at komme på tirsdag hos os – han vil skælde desktoppen ud og give den et godt los i røven: det er han meget dygtig til, for at sige mildt !

Lokale rygter foreslår, at det var Mark, der hjalp det Hvide Hus’ kontorpersonalet med at udskifte toneren i bygningens printer, efter Rumsfeld først i 2006 forlod sit job derinde uden varsel og uden at give en ordentlig briefing om sine pligter  til sin efterfølger, Robert Gates.

Rumsfeld ramte overskrifterne først i 2004, da det blev afsløret, at kun han kunne udskifte toneren (kilde: Onion News).


WASHINGTON, DC: Hvide-Hus-kilder rapporterede mandag, at forsvarsministeren Donald Rumsfeld er det eneste kabinetsmedlem, der kan finde frem til, hvordan man udskifter toneren til det hvide hus’ printer. "Lad mig gennemgå det igen," sagde Rumsfeld. "Du løfter tonerkassettens låg, så flytter du denne kontakt tilbage og fjerner den gamle patron. Det skal smides i ’el garbage’.

”Dernæst fjerner du dette bånd her fra den nye patron – pas på, det her er vigtigt. Hvis du glemmer det, kommer du til at udprinte blanke sider hele dagen. Okay, så du bare glider det ind, og du er færdig og klar til at gå."   

Da han blev bedt om at kommentere, sagde Rumsfeld, at han ikke havde noget imod at udskifte toneren, men så ikke, hvad der var så svært ved det.

Rumsfeld, fotograferet her den 2. gang, han blev bedt om,
at hjælpe med at udskifte toneren til det Hvide Hus’ printer

13:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15:30 og vi slapper af med en kop te i sofaen.

16:30 Jeg skriver en email på ungarsk til min penneveninde i Budapest, Tünde. Hun sendt mig for nylig en quiz:  ti fotoer, nogle taget i en af Tjernobyl-bygninger i Rusland, og nogle taget i et ungarsk hospital, og læsere måtte beslutte, hvilket fotoer var fra Tjernobyl og hvilke var fra hospitalet i Ungarn. Jeg scorede 80%, hvilket var rart, men mere på grund af lykke, end omdømme, det må jeg indrømme.

Tjernobyl eller et ungarsk hospital?

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

19:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm i serien om floden Nile og det gamle Egypten. Programmets vært er den charmerende Bettany Hughes.


Lois og jeg har set mange dokumentarfilm før, når Bettany Hughes har været programmets vært: for det meste dokumentarfilm, der handlede om det gamle Grækenland. Nu lader det til, at hun er færdig med at informere os om Grækenland, og søger nye græsgange.

Vi hører om den store kvindelige farao, Hatshepsut, der altid blev skildret som en mand med et skæg. De gamle egyptere havde intet ord for ”dronning”, lader det til.

”Dronning” Hatshepsut, skildret med skæg:
de gamle egyptere havde intet ord for ”dronning” –
du godeste, sikke et vanvid !!!!

Man tror, at Hatshepsut havde en elsker, Senemut, der stod for bygningen af dronningens store tempel, og hun fik hemmelige tegninge til at blive lavet om ham i templets inderste og helligste værelser.

man tror, at Senemut, der var hjernen bag bygningen
af dronningens tempel, faktisk også var hendes hemmelige elsker

Ifølge rygterne var Senemut dronningens hemmelige elsker, men måske var deres forhold ikke så hemmeligt, som man før i tiden troede.

Og vi ser programmets charmerende vært, Bettany, klatre op ad en stejl bakke for at gå ind en hule, hvor nogle 3500 år gamle graffitier for nylig er blevet opdaget, som sandsynligvis var blevet skrevet af en eller anden bygningsarbejder, der var involveret i bygningen af templet.

Bettany klatrer op til en hule for at se nogle for nylig opdagede graffiti

Graffitien skildrer dronningen (identificeret af den sorte paryk, som dronninger dengang gik med) i gang med at have sex – manden var måske Senemut, bygningarbejderens chef, eller måske var det selve arbejderen, i færd med at leve sin fantasi, eller at ”leve drømmen”.

graffiti, der skildrer dronningen med en uidentificeret mand

Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!  Og hvor lidt har ændret sig gennem 3.500 år, som selve Bettany kommenterer!


22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzzz!!!!!


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