Friday 6 September 2019

09:00 Lois and I hop out of the shower cubicle and after breakfast I start reading some more pages of Chaucer's medieval poem "The Miller’s Tale", because Lynda's U3A Middle English group is holding its regular meeting this afternoon, and this tale is the group's current project.

The miller's tale

The story is one of the saucier ones in the book - all the elements are there already - a rich elderly carpenter, John, who has stupidly married a sexy 18-year-old teenage girl, Alison. And Chaucer comments immediately that this kind of match is not the best from the man's point of view unless he wants his circle of friends to be laughing at him behind his back as soon as girl’s eyes begin to wander.

John and Alison own an Oxford hostel where a young astronomy student, Nicholas, is lodging, and right from the start of the story, the young man's hands are finding their way onto Alison's thighs and crotch.

The young astronomy student Nicholas,

seen here with Alison, his elderly landlord’s lovely young wife

To begin with, Alison refuses to kiss him back, and tells him to take his hands off her: and that's where the group stopped reading at the previous meeting.

At the beginning of this month's excerpt, however, Alison changes her mind and agrees to give Nicholas a quickie. And when they’re finished he clears off somewhere. But he is not done yet. He has greater ambitions as far as Alison is concerned - he wants to spend one or possibly two nights and days with her in her marital bed.

A little ambitious maybe - up to 48 hours together in Alison's matrimonial bed - but Nicholas is serious, and he and Alison set out to create a plan to get Alison's jealous husband John out of the way for 2 days or so.

And Nicholas also makes sure that he and Alison have 2 days’ worth of food and drink on hand for their marathon session. Good grief, what madness!

What a crazy world we live in.

11:30 I hurry into the kitchen and make just one serving of lunch, a cheese-and-cucumber sandwich with mini-tomatoes, and an apple: yum yum! Afterwards, I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap.

Lois wants to have her lunch a little later than usual today - she has a busy afternoon and evening ahead: this afternoon she will be walking around the corner to the local library to help the library staff organize and manage their weekly "Baby Bounce & Rhyme" session for local young mothers and their young children. And afterwards, she has to drive to somewhere near Gloucester - she has been invited to the 90th birthday party of Edna, one of Lois's sect's Bible seminar participants.

My god, busy busy busy.

13:30 I get out of bed and kiss Lois goodbye till tonight.

I walk around the corner to the bus stop where I fall into conversation with a retired Anglican vicar who lives in the local retirement home where Lois worked until 2006.

The local retirement home for vicars, run by the Anglican Church,

where Lois worked until 2006

It is quite unusual for a stranger to talk to me - I try to make it clear through my body language that I am not interested in talking to them. But today, either by chance or by mistake, I must have my "friendly" face on.

The man also sits next to me when we get on the bus and he talks to me all the way into town. He is a South African ex-vicar from Durban, who, along with his wife, moved into the nursing home 3 years ago. Unfortunately, he has some sad news about one of Lois' former work colleagues, Mary - she died 2 days or so ago, of cancer: poor Mary. I will have to give Lois this sad news tonight.

14:30 Lynda's Middle English group’s meeting starts, as usual, in the bar of the town’s Everyman Theatre:  there are only 4 of us today - Margaret is on vacation and Anthony and Barbara have medical appointments: yikes - we're all old crows, and old age is not for sissies , no doubt about that.

However, it does us a lot of credit, I think, that we old crows immediately identify with the young lovers Nicholas and Alison - and we express our sincere hope that they get their 2 uninterrupted days and nights in bed together. And we do not identify at all with Alison's jealous husband, Carpenter John, who is more "our age" - we have to admit ha ha ha!

It does us old crows a lot of credit that we don’t at all

identify with the elderly carpenter John, Alison's jealous husband,

who is more "our age" ha ha ha!

16:00 The meeting ends and I take the bus home again. I hurry into the kitchen and make one portion of dinner: my signature dish - fish fingers, boiled potatoes and peas yum yum yum!

19:30 I spend the rest of the evening watching some television: the latest concert in the BBC's Prom Concert Series, which includes Mozart's 23rd piano concerto. The programme's host is the charming Suzy Klein.

You often see Chinese soloists these days, but relatively rarely do you see Chinese orchestras, so it's nice tonight to see the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, which was actually founded way back in the 19th century.

Is China a free country yet? In some ways yes, but in most ways no. It's a weird mix in my opinion. When tonight’s  programme presenter, the BBC's charming Suzy Klein, asks the orchestra's president Fedina Zhou about what happened to music during the country's so-called cultural revolution, I feel Fedina seems a little embarrassed by the issue, to put it mildly - or is it just my imagination?

21:00 Lois comes back from Edna's party and we relax on the couch.

I take a look at my smartphone and I see that our daughter Alison has posted a charming photo on Instagram of her daughter Josie's birthday cake, that Alison made earlier in the day - Josie turns 13 tomorrow, the first of Lois's and my 5 grandchildren to become a teenager.

our grandchild Josie's birthday cake, all baked and ready for tomorrow,

when she turns 13 and becomes a teenager

A grandchild who is now a teenager: another stage in Lois's and my life as old crows. I recall that it was by chance the very day we both retired in February 2006, that Alison called us to tell us she was pregnant for the first time.

Yikes - time really starts to fly the moment you turn into an old crow, no doubt about that.

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

Danish translation:  fredag den 6. September 2019

09:00 Lois og jeg hopper ud af brusekabinen og efter morgenmad går jeg i gang med at læse endnu nogle sider af Chaucers middelengelske digt ”Møllerens fortælling”, fordi Lyndas U3A middelengelske gruppe holder sit regelmæssige møde i eftermiddag, og denne fortælling er gruppens nuværende projekt.

Møllerens fortælling

Fortællingen er én af de mere sjofle i bogen – alle de elementer er dér allerede – en rig ældre mand, John, en tømrer, der giftede sig med en sexet, ung, 18-årig teenagepige, Alison. Forfatteren kommenterer med det samme, at denne slags arrangement er ikke den bedste fra mandens synspunkt, hvis han ikke vil have sin omgangskreds til at grine af ham bag hans ryg, så snart hendes øjne begynde at vandre.

John og Alison ejer et vandrehjem i Oxford, hvor en ung astronomi-studerende, Nicholas, opholder sig, og allerede lige fra starten er den unge mands hænder på Alisons lår og skridt – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!

Den unge astronomi-studerende Nicholas,

sammen med Alison, den lokale tømrers dejlige unge kone

For at begynde med, nægter Alison at kysse ham tilbage, og hun er i gang med at fortælle ham, han må tage hænderne væk fra hende: og det var dér, gruppen holdt op med at læse på sidste måneds møde.

I begyndelsen af denne måneds uddrag har Alison aftalt at give Nicholas et quickie, og bagefter stikker han af for øjeblikket. Men han har større ambitioner, hvad angår Alison – han har lyst til at tilbringe én eller muligvis to nætter og dage med hende i hendes ægteskabelige seng.

Lidt ambitiøst måske – op til 48 timer i Alisons ægteskabelige seng, men Nicholas er seriøs – og han og Alison går i gang med at skabe en plan om at sikre, at Alisons jaloux mand er af vejen i 2 dage eller deromkring.

Og Nicholas sikrer også, at han og Alison har 2 dages værdi af mad og drikk ved hånden til deres maratonsession. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!

Sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

11:30 Jeg skynder mig ind i køkkenet og laver en portion frokost, en ost-og-agurk sandwich med mini-tomater: yum yum! Bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur.

Lois vil spise frokost lidt senere, end normalt – hun har en travlt eftermiddag og aften i vente: i eftermiddag skal hun gå rundt om hjørnet til det lokale bibliotek for at hjælpe bibliotekets personale med at organisere og lede deres ugentlige ”Baby Bounce & Rhyme”-session for lokale unge mødre og deres små børn. Og bagefter skal hun køre til byen Gloucester – hun er blevet inviteret til den 90.  fødselsdagsfest for Edna, en af Lois’ sekts bibelseminardeltagere.

Du godeste, travlt travlt travlt.

13:30 Jeg står op og kysser Lois farvel indtil i aften.

Jeg går rundt om hjørnet til busstoppestedet, hvor jeg falder i snak med en pensioneret anglikansk præst, der bor i det lokale plejehjem, hvor Lois arbejdede indtil 2006.

Det lokale plejehjem, drevet af den anglikanske kirke,

hvor Lois arbejdede indtil 2006

Det er helt usædvanligt at en fremmed snakker med mig – jeg prøver at klargøre det ved hjælp af mit kropssprog, at jeg ikke er interesseret for at snakke med dem. Men i dag må jeg enten tilfældigvis eller ved fejltagelse have mit ”venlige” ansigt på.

Han sætter sig også ved siden af mig, da vi stiger i bussen og han snakker hele vejen ind til byen. Han er sydafrikaner, som sammen med sin kone flyttede ind i plejehjemmet for 3 år siden. Desværre har han nogle triste nyheder om én af Lois’ tidligere arbejdskollegaer, Mary – hun døde desværre for 2 dage siden, af kræft: stakkels Mary. Jeg må overbringe Lois denne triste nyhed i aften.

14:30 Lyndas gruppemøde starter, som sædvanligt, på baren af byens Everyman-teater:  vi er kun 4 i dag – Margaret er på ferie og Anthony og Barbara har lægeaftaler: yikes – vi er alle gamle krager, og alderdom er ikke for tøsedrenge, ingen tvivl om det!!!!

Det gør os imidlertid en masse ære, synes jeg, at vi gamle krager ikke tøver med at identificere os umiddelbart med de unge kærester Nicholas og Alison – og vi håber inderligt, at de får deres 2 uafbrudte dage og nætter i sengen sammen. Og vi identificerer os overhovedet ikke med Alisons jaloux mand, tømreren John, som er mere ”vores alder” – det må vi indrømme ha ha ha!

Det gør os gamle krager meget ære, at vi overhovedet ikke

identificerer os med tømreren John, Alisons jaloux mand,

som er mere ”vores alder” ha ha ha!

16:00 Mødet slutter og jeg tager bussen hjem igen. Jeg skynder mig ind i køkkenet og laver en portion aftensmad: min signaturret – fiskepinde, kogte kartofler og ærter yum yum yum!

19:30 Jeg bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn: den seneste koncert i BBCs Prom Concertserie, der inkluderer Mozarts 23. klaverkoncert. Programmets vært er den charmerende Suzy Klein.

Man ser ofte kinesiske solister, men forholdsvis sjældent kinesiske orkestrer, så det er rart i aften at kunne se Shanghai  Symphony Orchestra, der faktisk blev grundlagt i det 19. århundrede.

Er Kina et frit land endnu? På nogle måder ja, på andre måder nej. Det er en underlig blanding efter min mening. Da programmets vært, BBCs charmerende Suzy Klein, spørger orkestrets præsident Fedina Zhou om musik under landets såkaldte kulturelle revolution, føler jeg at Fedina viser sig lidt pinlig over spørgsmålet, for at sige mildt.

21:00 Lois kommer tilbage fra Ednas fest og vi slapper af i sofaen.

Jeg kigger lidt på min smartphone, og jeg ser, at vores datter Alison har lagt et charmerende foto op på Instagram af sin datter Josies fødselsdagkage, som hun har lavet tidligere på dagen – Josie fylder 13 år i morgen, den første of Lois’ og mine børnebørn til at blive teenager.

vores barnebarn Josies fødselsdagskage, klar til i morgen,

da hun fylder 13 år og bliver til teenager

En barnebarn, der nu er teenager: endnu en trin i Lois’ og mit liv som gamle krager. Jeg mindes om, at tilfældigvis var den dag, vi gik på pension i februar 2006, da Alison ringede til os for at fortælle os, hun var gravid for første gang.

Yikes – tiden flyver virkelig af sted, så snart man bliver til en gamle krage, ingen tvivl om det!!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzz!!!!