Saturday 13 July 2019

09:00 Lois and I stumble out of the shower cabinet and talk a little on the phone with Sarah, our 42-year-old daughter in Perth, Australia. She is still in Joondalup Hospital, having hospitalised herself a few days ago with suspected appendicitis.

The doctors' diagnosis is now "only" diverticulitis, which does not require surgery. They have prescribed a special low-fibre diet and say she can be discharged tomorrow (Sunday) or Monday, which is a good news, though at least she can rest a little,  as long as she stays in the hospital. When she comes home both Francis and their (soon-to-be) 6-year-old twins will need a lot of attention, no doubt about that - poor Sarah !!!!

The best part is that she has started eating again after 1-2 days when she was repeatedly throwing up, which is good to hear.

10:00 We go out into the back garden. I start mowing our remaining lawns, the ones I didn’t cover yesterday, and meanwhile, Lois is doing the lawn-edges and cutting back some of our many shrubs. What a team we make ha ha ha!

Our back garden

I like to sing to myself while pushing the mower up and down - my current craze is The Moves hit "I Can Hear The Grass Grow", my current "earworm", from 1967 or thereabouts.

In the lyrics of the song, singer Roy Wood is in bed with his girlfriend, complaining that he can almost "hear" the grass growing in the couple's backyard. He pleads with her to let him crawl out of bed, dig out his lawnmower and start on a little gardening, but the girlfriend is unyielding and insatiable - quite a romantic song, but I prefer songs with a vibrant rhythm, I have to say.

It's a bit of a shame, but researchers have discovered that there are very few disco songs that are themed around typical daytime activity in the suburbs, such as mowing lawns, etc. (source: Onion News).

NEW YORK - In perhaps the most comprehensive analysis ever of the lyrical content of the genre, a Columbia University study published Friday concluded that very few disco songs were themed around the daytime.

The study, which included all known disco albums or singles released from 1973 to 1980, determined  that the once popular dance music tended to celebrate “the night, nightlife and boogieing till the break of day" far more often than they celebrated the hours that fall between sunrise and sunset.

For the study researchers had cross-referenced the lyrics to thousands of disco hits - especially key phrases such as "gotta give it up", "burnin 'up the dance floor" and "disco trance" – with various times of day. While their work uncovered many intersections between regular disco phenomena and night time, researchers told reporters that none of the songs encouraged listeners to "get down" to the new dance craze during normal business hours.

"We searched the entire Bee Gees catalogue as well as Andy Gibb's three studio albums to find out if we could find any references to typical daytime activities such as going to the bank or getting stuck in rush hour traffic, but there was nothing," said researcher Gina Young. "Similarly, we couldn't find any reference to lawn-mowing by Donna Summer, Chic or KC and the Sunshine Band."

"It’s true that we actually discovered a small number of songs that defied the overall trend of mixing traditional disco themes with daytime imagery, but these were largely unsatisfactory."

"In other words, if it’s 9 am, it is very unlikely that anyone is going to be offering to take you higher and higher," Young added.

My goodness, what a crazy world we live in!! There is a gap in the market here, no doubt about that!

12:00 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. Meanwhile, Lois goes out into the back garden and continues to prune shrubs. I get up at 4 pm and we relax with a cup of tea and a piece of bread with homemade gooseberry jam - yum yum!

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching a bit of television. The 3rd (and last) episode is on in an interesting documentary series about the 50 days in 1642 that led to the outbreak of England's civil war between King Charles I and Parliament. The war resulted in a short-lived republic being founded under Oliver Cromwell. The host of the program is the charming Lisa Hilton.

Lisa Hilton is very elegant in her style of dress, makeup, etc. and she has a very elegant voice - however, it’s a little surprising that she betrays her origins - the city of Liverpool - by pronouncing the word "king" with an extra g-sound on the end [kɪŋɡ ], but I’m going to let that one slide because she is mostly a good hearted soul ha ha! And I'm just a stupid accent-buff - no doubt about that !!!

It is interesting tonight to hear about the climax of the crisis between the King and Parliament in 1642, which finally triggered the civil war. The King had sent Parliament arrest warrants against 5 MPs, including John Pym, but Parliament had refused to take action.

The furious king decided to appear personally in the House of Commons chamber and he sat down in the Speaker’s chair, while hundreds of his soldiers waited outside in front of the building: a serious breach of protocol, to put it mildly – good grief!

But the whole exercise came to nothing because the 5 members in question had received a tip-off from the Queen's protestant lady-in-waiting, Lucy Hay, and had buggered off.

And the Speaker, William Lenthall, showed extraordinary courage by defying the king's orders and saying in a very polite manner that he only accepted orders from MPs – sorry, your Majesty ha ha ha!

The Speaker of the House of Commons, William Lenthall, politely refuses

to obey the king's orders, despite the presence of

400 soldiers just outside the chamber

It is nice to see that this episode is still commemorated at every opening of Parliament when the Queen's representative, Black Rod, is confronted with a slammed door as soon as he arrives at the House of Commons, and he has to knock on the door to request entry. Only then can he invite the MPs to come to the House of Lords to hear the Queen's speech.

Lois and I like to see this kind of tradition still being maintained after nearly 400 years. Living history, we call it.

And beware, so-called King Boris the First ha ha ha.

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

Danish translation:  lørdag den 13. juli 2019

09:00 Lois og jeg springer ud af brusekabinen og taler lidt på telefon med Sarah, vores 42-årige datter i Perth, Australien. Hun er stadig i Joondalup Hospital, efter at have indlagt sig selv for et par dage siden med mistænkt blindtarmbetændelse.

Lægernes diagnose er nu ”kun” divertikulitis, som ikke kræver en operation.  De har ordineret en speciel fiberfattig kost, og siger, hun kan blive udskrevet i morgen (søndag) eller mandag, hvilket er en god nyhed, selvom hun i det mindst kan hvile sig lidt, så længe er på hospitalet. Når hun kommer hjem vil hendes og Francis’ (snart) 6-årige tvillinger kræver en masse attention, ingen tvivl om det – stakkels Sarah!!!!

Det bedste er, at hun er begyndt at spise igen, efter 1-2 dage, da hun gentagende gange kastede op, hvilket er godt at høre.

10:00 Vi går ud i baghaven. Jeg går i gang med at slå vores resterende græsplæner og i mellemtiden giver Lois sig til at klippe græsplænekanterne og beskære nogle af vores mange buske. Sikke et hold ha ha ha!

Vores baghave

Jeg kan godt lide at synge for mig selv, mens jeg skubber græsslåmaskine op og ned – min nuværende dille er The Moves hit  ”I Can Hear The Grass Grow”, min nuværende ”øreorm”, fra 1967 eller deromkring.

I sangens tekst, brokker forsangeren Roy Wood sig, mens han er i seng med sin kæreste, at han kan næsten ”høre” græsset gro i parrets baghave. Han bønfalder hende om at lade ham krøbe ud af sengen, grave sin græsslåmaskine frem og gå i gang med at begynde på lidt havearbejde, men kæresten er ubøjelig, og utilfredsstillelig – en ganske romantisk sang, men jeg foretrækker sange med en pulserende rytme, det må jeg nok sige.

Det er lidt af en skam, men forskere har opdaget, at der er meget få disko-sange, der handler om typiske dagaktivitet i forstæder, som for eksempel græsslåning osv (kilde: Onion News).

NEW YORK - I måske den endnu mest omfattende analyse af genrenes lyriske indhold, konkluderede et Columbia University-studie offentliggjort fredag, at der kun er skrevet meget få diskosange om dagtiden.

Undersøgelsen, som omfattede alle kendte disco-album eller single udsendt fra 1973 til 1980, fastslog, at den engang populær dansemusik fejrede natten, nattelivet og dét at ”boogie indtil dagbrud” langt oftere end det fejrede timerne mellem solopgang og solnedgang.

Til undersøgelsen har forskere krydsrefereret teksten til tusindvis af disco hits - især nøgle sætninger som "gotta give it up", "burnin 'up the dance floor" og "disco trance" - med forskellige tidspunkter af dagtiden. Mens deres arbejde afdækkede mange skæringer mellem almindelige disco fænomener og nattetid, fortalte forskere journalister, at ingen af ​​sangene opmuntrede lyttere til at ”komme ned” til den nye danse-dille under normale åbningstider.

”Vi ransagede hele Bee Gees kataloget samt Andy Gibbs tre studiealbummer, for at finde ud af, om vi kunne finde nogen referencer til typiske dagaktiviteter som at gå til banken eller sidde fast i myldretidstrafikken, men der var ikke noget", sagde forskeren Gina Young. "På samme måde kunne vi ikke finde nogen henvisning til at slå græsplænen fra Donna Summer, Chic eller KC og Sunshine Band."

"Det er sandt, at vi faktisk opdagede et lille antal sange, der trodde den overordnede tendens ved at blande traditionelle disco temaer med dag-billedrigdom, men disse var stort set utilfredsstillende."

"Med andre ord, hvis det er kl 9, er det meget usandsynligt, at nogen tilbyder at tage dig højere og højere," tilføjede Young.

Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !! Der er et hul i markedet her, ingen tvivl om det!

12:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. I mellemtiden går Lois ud i baghaven og fortsætter med at beskære buske. Jeg står op kl 16 og vi slapper af med en kop te og et stykke brød med hjemmelavet stikkelsbærmarmelade – yum yum!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser det 3. (og sidste) afsnit i en interessant dokumentarfilmserie, der handler om de 50 dage i året 1642, der førte til Englands borgerlig krig mellem kong Karl 1. og parlamentet. Krigen resulterede i at en kortvarig republik blev grundlagt under Oliver Cromwell. Programmets vært er den charmerende Lisa Hilton.

Lisa Hilton er meget elegant i påklædning, makeup osv, og hun har en meget elegant stemme – det er imidlertid lidt overraskende, at hun afslører sine oprindelser i byen Liverpool ved at udtale ordet ”king” med en ekstra g-lyd på enden [kɪŋɡ], men det springer jeg over, fordi hun for det meste er godthjertet ha ha! Og jeg er bare en dum accent-fanatiker – ingen tvivl om det!!!

Det er interessant i aften at høre om klimakset i krisen mellem kongen og parlamentet i 1642, der endelig udløste den borgerlige krig. Kongen havde sendt parlamentet arrestordre mod 5 parlamentsmedlemmer, inklusive John Pym, men parlamentet nægtede at skride til handling.

Den rasende kong besluttede at dukke op personligt i underhusets mødesal og satte sig i formandens stol, mens hundredvis af sine soldater ventede foran bygningen:  et alvorligt brud på protokol, for at sige mildt – du godeste!

Men det hele førte ikke til noget, fordi de 5 pågældende parlamentsmedlemmer havde modtaget et vink fra dronningens protestante hofdame, Lucy Hay, og var stukket af.

Og underhusets formand, William Lenthall, udviste ekstraordinær mod ved at trodse kongens ordrer og at sige på en meget høflig måde, at han bare accepterede ordrer fra parlamentsmedlemmer.

Underhusets formand, William Lenthall, nægter høfligt

at adlyde kongens ordrer, på trods af tilstedeværelsen af

400 soldater lige udenfor mødesalet

Det er rart at se, at denne episode stadig bliver mindet på énhver åbning af parlamentet, når dronningens repræsentant, Black Rod, bliver konfronteret med en smækket dør, så snart han ankommer til underhuset, og han skal banke på, før han kan invitere parlamentsmedlemmerne til at komme til overhuset for at høre dronningens tale.

Lois og jeg kan godt lide at se denne slags tradition stadig blive opretholdt efter næsten 400 år. Levende historie, kalder vi det.

Og pas på, såkaldte kong Boris 1. ha ha ha.

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzz!!!!