Wednesday 7 August 2019

08:00 Lois and I tumble out of the shower cabinet, and after that the time just flies today - I spend the morning clearing up the house because Scilla's U3A Old Norse group is gathering  this afternoon at 2:30 pm here in our dining room.

This is a bit of a problem because our dining room doubles as an office and computer room, and I have piles of my Danish dictionaries and other reference works around my laptop. I tidy up the bookshelves, and drag a bunch of unwanted books up the stairs to the bedroom and dump them in my wardrobe.

the three bookshelves in the corner of our dining room after I've dragged

a lot of books up the stairs to the wardrobe in our bedroom

- good grief, what madness!

But now there are only a few books, instead of about 100,

 sitting on top of other books, which is a comfort

I have far too many books, especially books about foreign languages ​​- I know that for sure. I am always moving books from one room to another - what madness !!!

I finish up by vacuuming everywhere, in the dining room, and also on the stairs that act as the bathroom route, in case some group member wants to pee, in other words, if they forgot to "go” before they came – my god, what a sick world we live in!

This is the first time that 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!

10:00 I take a little look online and I find Morten Ingemann's latest cartoon and I get a bit of a shock, to put it mildly.

Danske Morten Ingemann, my favourite cartoonist

Ingemann the Dane is my favourite cartoonist - no doubt about that. He is particularly interested in ugly, overweight, middle-aged or elderly people, the kind of people that most cartoonists rarely pay attention to.

In this morning's cartoon strip we see an old man trying to buy a train ticket at a Danish railway station. He tells the ticket seller that he is going to Nykøbing. However, the ticket seller needs more information - he asks the old man if he meant Nykøbing in Funen, or Nykøbing in Zealand etc - there are at least 3 cities in Denmark called Nykøbing.

The old man replies that that isn’t important - because his son is going to be picking him up at the station.

And I can see the man's logic: it totally doesn't matter to him. And I sympathise with him in terms of his trust in his son. It is very reassuring when, for example, our daughter Alison takes the lead and sorts out all my and Lois’s uncertainties when we’re travelling around with her, I know that for sure. It’s such a relief, like when your parents looked after you when you were small - happy days!

11:00 I read even more pages of Njal's saga, written in the 13th century in Iceland, although the saga itself and the events are much older. This saga is the group's current project.

Njals Saga

12:30 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed to take a short afternoon nap. I get up at 1:45 pm and prepare for Scilla's group meeting.

14:30 pm Group members arrive and I offer them all a cup of tea and a biscuit.

We study Old Norse for an hour and a half. As usual, I am constantly trying to delay the group's progress through the saga, by asking Scilla as many questions as I can think of - Scilla always tends to gallop through the text, and I find it much more interesting to make use of Scilla's vast knowledge of medieval Iceland and learn more about the background of the saga and the culture of the time, etc.

I bet the other members all hate me ha ha!

We discuss the famous "gossip-women" who used to go around getting free  board and lodging at houses, which they "paid for" by passing on the latest juicy gossip. On this occasion, the gossip-women got a free night at Hallgerd's place, but disappointingly they then told Hallgerd sorry they didn't have any gossip right now.

It was a slow gossip day evidently and their eventual lead item was just another late breaking news story about Njal, who was said to be "hard at work sitting down". A poor "headline", we feel, and Hallgerd had to tease it out of them as well, but we decide to let that one slide, because the gossip women are getting on a bit now, poor souls! We wondered if some of them might be going deaf, which might be a handicap if you're a gossip woman.

16:00 The meeting ends and the members leave. I feel totally exhausted for some reason. Lois and I relax with a cup of tea and a biscuit on the couch.

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching a bit of television. An interesting documentary is on, all about the Plas Newydd mansion on the island of Anglesey in north Wales. The programme's host is the charming Alan Titchmarsh, the former TV gardener.

is this the most unflattering picture ever of Alan?

Plas Newydd has been home to the Paget family for 200 years. And we hear a lot tonight about the famous Lady Caroline Paget, a socialite who moved a lot in fashionable circles between the two world wars.

The Plas Newydd mansion, home to the Paget family

The famous artist Rex Whistler fell madly in love with Caroline, and when he painted a giant mural for the family to hang on the wall in the mansion, he included a lot of details that secretly expressed his passion for her, if you read between the lines. There are lots of subtle hints in the picture, for example he portrayed himself and Caroline as Romeo and Juliet in the balcony scene in the mural, and also as two intertwined trees a bit further to the right, and so on.

the giant mural that Rex Whistler painted

to declare his love for Lady Caroline

Later he painted Caroline naked, but the picture was apparently pure imagination - she never let him touch her, let alone pop into her bedroom with his easel while she was having  her afternoon nap.

Poor Rex !!!!

a stark naked Lady Caroline, but she never posed for him -

Whistler had a great imagination though ha ha ha!

Lois thinks Lady Caroline must have found Rex's attention a little creepy, to put it mildly, and she's not at all surprised that Caroline gave him the brush-off, and I can see her point.

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

Danish translation

08:00 Lois og jeg vælter ud af brusekabinen, og derefter flyver tiden af sted – jeg bruger formiddagen på at rydde op i huset, fordi Scillas U3A oldnordiske gruppe samles i eftermiddag kl 14:30 her i vores spisestue. Dette er lidt af et problem, fordi vores spisestue fordobles som et kontor og computerrum, og jeg har bunkevis af mine danske ordbøger og andre referenceværker omkring min bærebare. Jeg rydder op i bogreoler, og slæber en masse uønskede bøger op ad trappen til soveværelset og gemmer dem i min garderobe.

de tre bogreoler i hjørnet af vores spiseestue, efter jeg har slæbt

en masse bøger op ad trappen til garderoben i vores soveværelse

- du godeste, sikke et vanvid!

Men nu er der kun et par bøger, der sidder ovenpå andre bøger, hvilket er en trøst

Jeg har langt for mange bøger, især bøger der handler om fremmede sprog – det ved jeg med sikkerhed. Altid rykker jeg bøger fra det ene værelse til det andet – sikke et vanvid!!!

Jeg ender med at støvsuge overalt, i spisestuen også pa trappen, der fungerer som ruten til badeværelset, for det tilfælde, en eller anden gruppemedlem har lyst til at tisse, med andre ord, hvis de har glemt at ”gå på toilettet” før de kom – du godeste, sikke en syg verden vi lever i !

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!

10:00 Jeg kigger lidt på nettet og jeg finder Morten Ingemanns seneste tegneserie og jeg får lidt af et chok, for at sige mildt.

Danske Morten Ingemann, min yndlingstegner

Danske Ingemann er min yndlingstegner  – ingen tvivl om det! Han interesserer sig især for grimme, overvægtige, midaldrende eller ældre folk, de slags mennesker, som de fleste tegnere sjældent giver opmærksomhed til.

I formiddagens tegnestribe imidlertid ser vi en gammel mand, der prøver at købe en togbillet på en dansk banegård. Han fortæller billetsælgeren, at han skal til Nykøbing. Billetsælgeren har imidlertid brug for flere information – han spørger den gamle mand, hvis det skal være Nykøbing i Funen, eller Nykøbing i Sjælland – der er mindst 3 byer i Danmark, der hedder Nykøbing.

Den gamle mand svarer at det der ikke er vigtigt – fordi hans søn skal hente ham på stationen. Og jeg kan se mandens logik: det er ham totalt ligegyldigt. Og jeg sympatiserer med ham hvad angår hans tillid til hans søn. Det er meget beroligende, når vores datter Alison, for eksempel, fører an og løse alle mine og Lois' usikkerheder, det ved jeg med sikkerhed!!!

11:00 Jeg læser endnu flere sider af Njals saga, skrevet i det 13. århundrede i Island, selvom selve sagaen og begivenhederne er meget ældre. Denne saga er gruppens nuværende projekt.

Njals Saga

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en kort eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 13:45 og forbereder mig på Scillas gruppemøde.

14:30 Gruppemedlemmer ankommer og jeg tilbyde dem alle en kop te og en kiks.

Vi studerer oldnordisk i en time og en halv. Som sædvanligt prøver jeg konstant at forsinke gruppens fremskridt gennem sagaen, ved at stille Scilla så mange spørgsmål, som jeg kan finde  på – Scilla har tendens altid til at galopere gennem teksten, og jeg finder det mere interessant at benytte mig af Scillas enorme viden om det middelalderlige Island og lære mere om sagaens baggrund og den daværende kultur osv.

16:00 Mødet slutter og medlemmerne skal af sted. Jeg føler mig totalt udmattet af en eller anden grund – yikes! Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop te og en kiks i sofaen.

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om Plads Newydd-palæet på øen Anglesey i det nordlige Wales. Programmets vært er den charmerende Alan Titchmarsh, den tidligere tv-gartner.

Plads Newydd har i 200 år været hjem til Paget-familien. Vi hører meget om den berømte Lady Caroline Paget, der bevægede sig meget i det moderigtige selskabsliv mellem de to verdenskrige.

Plas Newydd-palæet, hjem til Paget-familien

Den berømte kunstner Rex Whistler blev højt forelsket i hende, og da han malede et kæmpe vægmaleri, som familien kunne hænge på væggen i palæet, inkluderede han en masse detaljer, som udtrykkede sin lidenskab, hvis man læser mellem linjerne. Han skildrede sig selv og Caroline som Romeo og Juliet i en balkonscene i vægmaleriet, og også som to sammenflettede træer. Senere malede han Caroline nøgen, men imaget var tilsyneladende ren indbildningskraft – hun lod ham aldrig røre ved hende, endsige træde ind i sit soveværelset under sin eftermiddagslur !!!!

Stakkels Rex !!!!

det kæmpe vægmaleri, som Rex Whistler malede,

for at erklære sin kærlighed til Lady Caroline

en splitternøgen Lady Caroline, men hun poserede ikke for det

Whistler havde en stor indbildningskraft ha ha ha!

Lois synes, Lady Caroline må have fundet Rex’ opmærksomheder  lidt uhyggelige, for at sige mildt, og hun er slet ikke overrasket, at Caroline fejede ham af, og jeg kan se hendes point.

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzz!!!