Monday 5 August 2019

10:00 Lois and I start clearing  up in the dining room, where we have been storing a lot of our daughter Sarah's unwanted trinkets and holiday souvenirs, which she left with us when she moved to Australia 3 and a half years ago with Francis and their (then) 2 and a half-year-old twins. I recently came across all these old possessions in the attic.

It's a bit urgent to clear up the dining room because Scilla's U3A Old Norse group is holding its regular fortnightly meeting here on Wednesday afternoon - for the first time, the group will be gathering here in our dining room, rather than in the bar of the local theatre, which has become too loud recently because of all the other U3A groups who meet there – my god, sheer insanity !!!! They are such bastards, those other U3A groups!

11:00 I get going reading the next two chapters of Njal's saga, the medieval Icelandic blockbuster, which is the group's current project - chapters 52 and 53, to be exact.

In the 52nd chapter, a slightly embarrassing situation develops between two of the book's characters, Runolf and Otkell. Runolf has repeatedly invited Otkell to visit him at his home in the Dale area of Iceland. Otkell seems superficially happy to get Runolf's invitation, but for some reason he is constantly postponing his promised visit. But why?

Runolf - he's still waiting for Otkell to visit him -

my god, poor Runolf !!!

Otkell - he still hasn't visited Runolf, despite receiving many reminders 

and memory-jogging letters: what madness !!!!

Runolf begins to feel offended that Otkell has not yet visited him, and Runolf repeatedly sends some of his staff over to Otkell’s place to remind Otkell of the invitation. But still the visit has not yet happened - my goodness, how crazy !!!!

I sympathise a little with Otkell, nevertheless. He doesn't like Runolf that much – that at least is quite obvious - but at the same time he's far too polite to decline the invitation, so he just says he promises he'll visit Runolf "soon." It's also possible that Otkell is a bit of an introvert, like me, and he tends to try to avoid social situations whenever possible. But that’s something I'm not completely sure about - the jury is still out on that one.

In the next chapter (No. 53), Otkell in any case gets involved in a rather nasty accident in a local field. The owner of the field, Gunnar, is in the process of sowing a bunch of seeds in the field when Otkell gallops into the field on one of his prized horses.

He doesn't see Gunnar because, of course, Gunnar is bending down to sow the seeds: but Otkell is riding too fast anyway - there is normally a speed limit of 30 mph in this part of Iceland.

Plus, everyone knows that Otkell is uninsured.

Otkell collides with Gunnar who just that moment is standing himself up again after sowing a bunch of seeds, and Otkell's spur unfortunately wounds Gunnar's ear and the ear starts to bleed immediately, which is a bit of a shame to put it mildly.

Well, a bit of bad luck for both parties there! And I am quite sure that the accident will turn into a brawl and may be just the beginning of a protracted and bloody feud that will involve both them and their descendants for centuries. My god, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

Gunnar, pictured here with his injured ear,

shortly after the unfortunate accident in one of his fields - poor Gunnar !!!!

12:00 I rush into the kitchen and make lunch. Lois’s back is hurting again today, and she can't cook, so I come up with my signature dish, as far as lunch is concerned:  two servings of poached eggs on toast - yum yum! About an hour later, I go to bed and take a short afternoon nap.

15:00 I get up and start reading 2 more pages of Anna Grue's crime novel, "The Further You Fall", which is our U3A Danish group's current project. 

My goodness, busy busy busy! But I've decided to try to read 2 pages a day and also compile 2 vocabulary lists, one for each page - this will save our group members from looking up the difficult words in a dictionary. I am so warm-hearted ha ha ha!

Anna Grue's crime novel, "The Further You Fall,"

which is our U3A Danish group's current project

The hero of the novel is called Dan - he is a Danish advertising consultant. A murder has occurred in Dan's advertising agency: Lilliana, one of the agency's cleaning ladies, was garotted one evening in the agency’s kitchens, after all the agency’s staff members (except for the killer ha ha!) had gone home.

Coincidentally, it is Dan’s best friend, a police detective called Flemming, who is in charge of the police investigation, and Flemming asks Dan to help him by providing information about the agency’s staff.

Inspector Flemming (left), his best friend Dan (right):

with Marianne, Dan's wife (centre)

Unfortunately, Dan is becoming more and more fascinated by the idea that he can find out for himself who of his work colleagues is the killer, and in his eagerness he has begun to violate certain boundaries to put it mildly.

The biggest problem the police face in their investigation is that no one at the agency knows any useful details about Lilliana, the murdered cleaning assistant. Her address and even her last name are unclear.

But Dan has now discovered that Lilliana lived with a young African woman, Sally, who unfortunately disappeared without trace at the same time as Lilliana was murdered. Dan has also discovered the identity of a girl who was the two women's neighbour in their apartment block. He tells his friend, Detective Flemming, about this, and Flemming decides to visit this girl.

And this is where we see Dan eager to violate the normal boundaries between civilians and the police, and avail himself of his friendship with Flemming. He asks Flemming if he might come along when Flemmng talks to the neighbour girl.

Flemming however, thinks this would violate an important boundary and would be deeply irregular, to say the least. And he says he couldn't defend it in front of his boss.

Nevertheless, Dan argues that Flemming can justify it by noting that Dan comes free of charge and that he is also an expert in figuring out what people are like by seeing how they live - a few years ago Dan became a Danish TV celebrity, and one of the regular participants in TV2's "Show Me Your Style", where a succession of experts competed on knowledge of consumption patterns and lifestyle.

My goodness, a bit of a thin excuse, to say the least! And what an odd kind of a tv show! I’m glad we don’t have anything like that on British television, I must say. We have enough rubbish programmes as it is ha ha ha!!!

But this is the way amateur detectives muscle in on crime novels, and proceed to solve murder after murder: this crime novel, "The Further You Fall" is just the first in a long line of crime novels written by Anna Grue, all revolving around Dan, and his success in pinpointing the killer before the police can. My god, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

17:00 Lois’s back still hurts, so I hurry into the kitchen and make dinner: two servings of my signature dish: fish fingers, boiled potatoes and peas yum yum! Peas is good food, no doubt about that ha ha ha!

18:00 We have dinner and afterwards I start loading up the car with some of our daughter Sarah's old unwanted trinkets, ornaments, books and old VHS tapes etc, which we will donate to two charity shops tomorrow.

20:00 We spend the rest of the evening watching a bit of television. The latest episode of the TV quiz University Challenge is on. Tonight, Birmingham University and Bristol University are the two teams we see, and the programme's host is, as always, the charming Jeremy Paxman.

Lois and I have the habit of trying to come up with the right answers before the fresh young brains can, because we imagine it proves that we are not yet suffering from dementia. But tonight, unfortunately, is not one of our best performances, I have to say.

The participants are mostly a bunch of science students, and we recently discovered that this programme's questions are designed to reflect the participants' specialties:  and unfortunately, science is not one of our strong points, to put it mildly.

Fortunately, there is one question about music where we can shine, and where the teams strike out. They have to listen to a short extract from 3 classical works, and give the composer in each case.

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

Danish translation: Mandag den 5. august 2019

10:00 Lois og jeg går I gang med at rydde op i spisestuen, hvor vi har gemmet en masse af vores datter Sarahs uønskede nips og feriesouvenirs, som hun efterlod hos os, da hun for 3,5 år siden flyttede til Australien sammen med Francis og deres (dengang) 2,5-årige tvillinger. Jeg har for nylig stødt på alle disse gamle ejendele i loftet.

Det er lidt pressende at rydde op i spisestuen, fordi Scillas U3A oldnorske gruppe holder sit regelmæssige fjortendagsmøde på onsdag eftermiddag – for første gang samles gruppen hos os her i vores spisestuen, i stedet for på baren af det lokale teater, som for nylig er blevet for højlydt på grund af andre U3A grupper, der samles der – du godeste, ren galskab!!!! De er sådanne nogle sjufter, de der andre U3A grupper!

11:00 Jeg går i gang med at læse de næste to kapitler af Njals saga, som er gruppens nuværende projekt – kapiterne 52 og 53, for at være præcis.

I det 52. kapitel udvikler en lidt pinlig situation sig mellem 2 af bogens figurer, Runolf og Otkell. Runolf har flere gange inviteret Otkell til at besøge ham derhjemme i Dal-området. Otkell synes overfladisk at være glad for Runolfs indbydelse, men han udskyder konstant sit planlagte besøg.

Runolf – han venter stadig på, at Otkell besøger ham –

du godeste, stakkels Runolf!!!

Otkell – han har stadig ikke besøgt Runolf,

på trods af mange påmindelser og rykkerbreve: sikke et vanvid!!!!

Runolf begynder at føle sig idt krænket, at Otkell stadig ikke har besøgt ham, og Runolf gentagende gange sender nogle af sine ansatte for at minde Otkell om invitationen. Men stadig er besøget ikke sket – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

Jeg sympatiserer lidt imidlertid med Otkell. Han kan ikke særlig meget lide Runolf – i det mindste er det helt åbenbart – men han er samtidig langt  for høflig til at afvise invitationen, så han siger bare, at han lover at besøge ham ”inden for længe”. Det er også muligt, at Otkell er lidt af en introvert, ligesom mig, og han har tendens til at prøve at undgå sociale situationer, når som helst det er muligt. Men det er jeg ikke helt sikker på – juryen er stadig ude om det.

I det næste kapitel (nr. 53) bliver Otkell i hvert fald involveret i en lidt ubehagelig ulykke på en lokal mark. Markens eje, Gunnar, er i gang med at så et bundt frø på marken, da Otkell kommer ridende én af sine heste ind på marken. Han ser Gunnar ikke, fordi selvfølgelig bøjer Gunnar sig for at sø frøene i jorden: men Otkell rider for hurtigt i hvert fald – der er normalt en hastighedsbegrænsning på 30 miles/t i denne del af Island.

Otkells spore sårer desværre Gunnars øre og det starter at bløde, hvilket er lidt af en skam for at sige mildt.

Du godeste, så dårligt held for begge parter! Og jeg er helt sikker på, at ulykken bliver til et slagsmål og måske vil være bare starten på en langvarig og blodig fejde, der vil involvere både dem og deres efterkommere i århundreder.  Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

Gunnar, fotograferet her med sit beskadigede øre,

efter den uheldige ulykke på én af sine marker - stakkels Gunnar!!!!

12:00 Jeg skynder mig ind i køkkenet og laver frokost. Lois har ondt i ryggen igen i dag, og kan ikke lave mad, så jeg kommer med min signaturret, hvad angår frokost: to portioner pochede æg på toast – yum yum! Én time senere går jeg i seng for at tage en kort eftermiddagslur.

15:00 Jeg står op og går i gang med at læse endnu 2 sider af Anna Grues krimiroman, ”Dybt at falde”, der er vores U3A danske gruppes nuværende projekt. Du godeste, travlt travlt travlt! Men jeg har besluttet at prøve at læse 2 sider om dagen og også udarbejder 2 ordforrådslister, en til hver side – dette vil spare vores gruppemedlemmer for at slå de svære ord op i en ordbog. Jeg er så varmhjertet ha ha ha!

Anna Grues krimiroman, ”Dybt at falde”,

som er vores U3A danske gruppes nuværende projekt

Romanens helt hedder Dan – han er en dansk reklamekonsulent. Et mord er fundet sted i Dans reklamebureau:  Lilliana, én af bureauets rengøringsdamer blev garrotteret én aften i bureauets køkkener, efter alle bureauets personalemedlemmer (bortset fra morderen ha ha!) er gået hjem.

Tilfældigvis er det Flemming, en politidetektiv og Dans bedste ven, står for politiundersøgelsen, og Flemming beder Dan om at hjælpe ham ved at forsyne oplysninger om bureauets personale.

Desværre bliver Dan mere og mere fascineret over idéen, at han selv kan finde ud af, hvem af hans arbejdskollegaer er morderen, og han er begyndt at overtræde visse grænser.

Det største af politiets problemer i deres undersøgelse er, at ingen på bureauet ved nogle nyttige detaljer om Lilliana, den myrdede rengøringsassistent. Hendes adresse og selve hendes efternavn er uklart.

Men Dan har nu nået at opdage, at Lilliana boede med en ung afrikansk kvinde, Sally, der desværre er forsvund sporløst i grov træk samtidig med, at Lilliana blev myrdet. Han har også opdaget identiten af en pige, der var de to kvindes nabo i etageejendommen. Han fortæller sin ven, politidetektiven Flemming, og Flemming beslutter at besøge denne pige.

Og her ser vi Dan ivrig efter at overtræde de normale grænser mellem civilister og politiet, og benytte sig af sin venskab med Flemming. Han beder Flemming om han må komme med, når Flemmng taler med nabopigen.

Flemming synes imidlertid, at dét ville overtræde en vigtig grænse og ville være dybt ureglementeret, for at sige mildt. Og han siger, han ikke kunne forsvare det over for sin chef.

Dan argumenter imidlertid, at Flemming kan begrunde hans tilstedeværelse ved at bemærke, at Dan er ganske gratis, og at han også er en ekspert i at regne ud, hvordan folk er, ved at se hvordan de bor – Dan blev for nogle år siden en tv-kendis, og én af de faste deltagere i TV2s ”Vis mig din stil”, hvor skiftende eksperter konkurrende på viden om forbrug og livsstil.

Du godeste, lidt af en tynd undskyldning, for at sige mildt!

Men dette er den måde, amatørdetektiver masser sig ind på krimiromaner, og kommer videre til at løse mord efter mord på: denne krimiroman, ”Dybt at falde” er bare den første i en lang rækker af krimiromaner skrevet af Anna Grue, der kredser om Dan, og hans succés i at udpege morderen, før politiet kan det. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

17:00 Lois har stadig ondt i ryggen, så skynder jeg mig ind i køkkenet og laver aftensmad:  to portioner af min signaturret: fiskepinder, kogte kartofler og ærter yum yum! ærter er god mad, ingen tvivl om det ha ha ha !

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bagefter går jeg i gang med at læsse bilen med nogle af vores datter Sarahs gamle uønskede nips, ornamenter, bøger og gamle vhs-bånd osv, som vi i morgen vil donere til to velgørenhedsbutikker.

20:00 Vi bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser det seneste afsnit af tv-quizzen University Challenge. I aften er Birmingham University og Bristol University de to hold, vi ser. Programmets vært er den charmerende Jeremy Paxman.

Lois og jeg har for vane at hygge os med at prøve at komme med de rigtige svar, før de friske unge hjerner kan, fordi vi forestiller os, det beviser, vi endnu ikke lider af demens. Men i aften desværre er det ikke én af vores bedste præstationer, det må jeg nok sige.

Deltagerne er for det meste et bundt videnskab-eksperter, og vi opdagede for nylig, at programmets spørgsmål genspejler deltagernes specialiteter: videnskab er desværre ikke ét af vores forcer, for at sige mildt.

Heldigvis er der ét spørgsmål, der handler om musik, hvor vi kan brillere:

22:00 Vi går nynnende i seng ha ha ha – zzzzzzzz!!!!!