Thursday 20 June 2019

Today is another "Danish" day, something that happens every 2 weeks on Thursdays when our U3A Danish group gather here at 2:30 pm. It shows how busy Lois and I have been recently that we have hardly had the opportunity to even think about our Danish studies since the group's last meeting 2 weeks ago.

The house needs vacuuming and the lawns need mowing - damn! We do not want the group members to think that Lois and I live in a pigsty surrounded by a jungle:  so as soon as we have tumbled out of the shower cubicle and snatched a quick breakfast, we start cleaning up a little in the house and vacuuming. And I go out into the garden and start mowing the lawn in front of the house, and the lawn immediately behind the house - the other lawns cannot be seen from the house, so I leave them until tomorrow.

11:00 We relax with a cup of coffee on the sofa. I find I’m feeling completely exhausted. Damn! I am really really getting to be a bit of an old crow, no doubt about that. Day by day I find things a little harder - is it the beginning of the end for me? Ha ha ha hopefully not, but who knows?

If you get this message, please send help ha ha ha!

Lois and I start browsing the next 10 pages  (or so) of the Danish crime novel,  Anna Grue’s "The Further You Fall", which is our U3A Danish group's current project.

Anna Grue’s "The Further You Fall", the Danish crime novel

which is our U3A Danish group's current project

Anna Grue, the book’s author

In our story, the killer hid for hours in an advertising agency's kitchen cupboard before jumping out and garrotting his victim, who was one of the agency's cleaners.

When the police investigate the crime, they somehow manage to establish that the killer was standing waiting in the kitchen cupboard for hours because they found "clear footprints" in there, although the killer actually had plastic covers on his shoes, which the police are also fully aware of.

Lois and I do not understand how you can leave "footprints" if you have plastic covers on your shoes. And how do the police know that the killer had plastic covers on his shoes? We read earlier in the novel that he actually stuffed his plastic covers and all his other protective clothing into a big bag, and took them all away with him after he killed his victim.

What a mystery.

It also turns out that no one knows the exact identity of the cleaner who was the killer's victim - it is mysterious, but no one knows her last name, and she is not on the cleaning company’s list of employees. After a quick autopsy, the police were told that she had "given birth vaginally" about 6 months earlier, but no one at the advertising agency knew she had children or had even been pregnant.

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

12:15 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a short afternoon nap. I get up at 2 pm and prepare for our Danish group meeting.

14:30 The group members arrive and we read another 10 pages (or so) of our crime novel.

Lois and I ask members about our problem of understanding how the police know that the killer had plastic covers on his shoes, and how he had somehow managed to leave "clear footprints" despite the plastic overshoes.

Unfortunately, however, the members do not have any great new insights to offer us about it all - damn! But sometimes Lois and I suspect that the members' first priority is to chat to each other about this and that - the sound of the group’s chit-chat is sometimes quite deafening to put it mildly. I am sometimes worried that the neighbours will start complaining sooner or later – my god, what madness !!!!

16:00 The meeting ends, but members stay and chat on for at least another 20 minutes. Good grief! Eventually they leave, and Lois and I relax with a cup of tea and a biscuit on the couch. We feel totally exhausted.

18:15 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching some television. In the middle of the evening, Lois' cousin Iris calls us. Next week, Lois and I have planned to spend a couple of nights at Iris's nursing home in Southport, Lancashire. 

We looked at hotels in the area, but we finally decided to stay in the actual nursing home itself, in the guest room - even though we had misgivings about whether it would be a good idea to be surrounded by "other" old crows around the clock.

"Garswood", the nursing home in Southport, where Lois's cousin Iris is a resident

Flashback to "Garswood" in happier days: before the widespread use

of colour photography

Iris says the nursing home’s elevator has broken, and cannot simply be repaired, even though it is only 14 years old – good grief, sheer lunacy !!! An elevator that doesn't work is a bit of a disaster for a 3-story nursing home, to put it mildly. Several residents cannot get down to the cafeteria, so the staff have to serve them their food in their rooms - poor things.

But maybe at least it will be quieter in the cafeteria when Lois and I sit down there with Iris, which sounds promising.

My goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!!! [Last warning, don’t say that ever again – Ed]

21:00 We continue to watch a bit of television, even though we are really too tired to enjoy it - damn it! There is in any case nothing very interesting on tv this evening - the best thing is another documentary about the Nile and ancient Egypt. The programme host is the charming Bettany Hughes.

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

We have also seen Bettany gradually put on weight over the years, I have to say. She is no longer the skinny student type in jeans she was 20 years ago, that’s for sure.

So it is a bit of a shame that she decides to ride on a poor donkey, instead of a camel, for authenticity’s sake: it seems that camels did not exist in Egypt when the pyramids were built. They only arrived 2,000 years later apparently.

Bettany Hughes, the programme's charming host,

is no longer the skinny student type in jeans that she was 20 years ago,

so it’s a bit of a shame that she is riding a little donkey.

She really needs a camel now, quite frankly.

Poor donkey !!!!

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

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

Danish translation:  torsdag den 20. juni 2019

I dag er endnu en ”dansk” dag, noget der sker hver 2. uge om torsdag, når vores U3A danske gruppe samles kl 14:30 hos os. Det viser, hvor travlt Lois og jeg har haft for nylig, at vi næsten ikke har haft muligheden for endda at tænke på vores danske studier siden gruppens seneste møde for 2 uger siden.

Huset trænger til at blive støvsuget, og græsplænerne trænger til at slås – pokkers! Vi vil ikke have gruppemedlemmerne til at tro, at Lois og jeg bor i en svinesti omgivet af en jungle:  så snart vi har væltet ud af brusekabinen og snuppet en hurtig morgenmad, går vi i gang med at rydde op lidt i huset og støvsuge. Og jeg går ud i haven og går i gang med at slå græsplænen foran huset, og græsplænen umiddlebart bag huset – de andre græsplæner kan ikke ses fra huset, så jeg overlader dem indtil i morgen.

11:00 Vi slapper af med en kop kaffe i sofaen. Jeg finder, at jeg føler mig helt udmattet. Pokkers! Jeg bliver virkelig virkelig lidt af en gammel krage, ingen tvivl om det. Dag for dag finder jeg tingene en lille smule sværere – er det begyndelsen på enden for mig? Ha ha ha forhåbentlig ikke, men hvem ved?

Hvis du får denne besked, send hjælp ha ha ha!

Lois og jeg blader igennem de næste 10 sider, eller deromkring, af den danske krimiromand, Anna Grues ”Dybt at falde”, som er vores U3A danske gruppes nuværende projekt.

Anna Grues ”Dybt at falde”, den danske krimiroman,

der er vores U3A danske gruppes nuværende projekt

Anna Grue, romanens forfatter

Morderen skjulte sig i timevis i et reklamebureaus køkkenskab, før han sprang ud og garrotterede sit offer, en af bureauets rengøringsassistenter. Da politiet undersøger forbrydelsen bliver de klar over, at morderen ventede i køkkenskabet, fordi de fandt ”tydelige fodspor” derinde, selvom morderen faktisk havde plastovertræk på skoene, hvilket politiet også er helt klar over.

Lois og jeg forstår ikke, hvordan man kan efterlade ”fodspor”, hvis man har plastovertræk på skoene. Og hvordan ved politiet, at morderen havde plastovertræk på skoene? Vi har læst tidligere i romanen, at han faktisk proppede sine plastovertræk og alle sine alle beskyttende tøj i en stor pose, og tog dem med væk, efter han dræbte sit offer.

Sikke et mysterium.

Det viser sig også, at ingen ved den præcise identitet af den rengøringsassistent, der er morderens offer – det er mystisk, men ingen ved hendes efternavn, og hun er ikke på rengøringsselskabets liste over medarbejdere. Efter en hurtig obduktion får politiet at vide, at hun havde ”født vaginalt” omkring 6 måneder tidligere, men ingen hos reklamebureauet vidste, at hun havde børn, eller endda havde været gravid.

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

12:15 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en kort eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 14 og forbereder mig på vores danske gruppemøde.

14:30 Gruppemedlemmerne kommer og vi læser endnu 10 sider (eller deromkring) af vores krimiroman.

Lois og jeg spørger medlemmerne om vores problem med at forstå, hvordan politiet ved, morderen havde plastovertræk på skoene, og hvordan han ikke desto mindre på en eller anden måde havde nået til at efterlade ”tydelige fodspor”.

Desværre har de imidlertid ikke nogle store nye indsigter til at forstå det hele – pokkers! Men nogle gange synes vi, at medlemmernes første prioritet er at snakke med hinanden om dette og hint – lyden af vores snik-snak er nogle gange helt øredøvende for at sige mildt. Jeg er nogle gange bange for, at naboerne vil begynde at brokke sig før eller senere – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

16:00 Mødet slutter, men medlemmer bliver siddende og snakkende i mindst endnu 20 minutter. Du godeste! Til sidst tager de af sted, og Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop te og en kiks i sofaen. Vi føler os totalt udmattet.

18:15 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. Midt på aftenen ringer Lois’ kusine Iris til os. Næste uge har Lois og jeg planlagt at tilbringe et par nætter på Iris’ plejehjem i Southport, Lancashire. Vi kiggede på hoteller i området, men vi besluttede endelig at opholde os i selve plejehjem – selvom vi havde dårlige anelser om, om det ville være en god idé at blive omgivet af ”andre” gamle krager døgnet rundt.

”Garswood”, det plejehjem i Southport, hvor Lois’ kusine Iris er beboer

Tilbageblik til ”Garswood” i lykkeligere dage: før den udbredte brug

af farvefotografi

Iris siger, at plejehjemmets elevator er gået i stykker, og kan ikke simpelthen blive repareret, selvom den er kun 14 år gammel – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!! En elevator, der ikke fungerer er lidt af en katastrofe for et plejehjem på 3 etager, for at sige mildt. Flere beboere kan ikke komme ned til plejehjemmets cafeteria, så personalet må servere deres mad for dem i deres værelser – stakkels dem.

Men måske vil der være stillere og roligere i cafeteriaen, når Lois og jeg sætter os derpå med Iris, hvilket lyder lovende.

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

21:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn, selvom vi virkelig er for trætte til at nyde det – pokkers! Der er alligevel ikke noget vildt interessant på fjernsynet i aften – det bedste er endnu en dokumentarfilm 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 har også  set Bettany tage gradvist lidt på i vægt gennem årene, det må jeg nok sige.

Så det er lidt af en skam, at hun beslutter at ride på en stakkels æsel, i stedet for en kamel, for autenticitets skyld: det lader til, at kameller ikke eksisterede i Egypten, da pyramiderne blev bygget.

Bettany Hughes, programmets charmerende vært,

er ikke den magre studerende-type i jeans, hun var for 20 år siden,

så er det lidt af en skam at hun rider på en lille æsel.

Hun trænger til en kamel nu, ærligt talt.

Stakkels æsel !!!!

Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!! [Just go to bed- Ed]

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzz!!!!!