Monday, September 30 2019

10:00 Lois and I talk a bit on whatsapp with Sarah, our daughter who lives in Perth, Australia, with Francis and their 6-year-old twin daughters Lily and Jessie. Today is a holiday in Western Australia - the day that the state celebrates the Queen's birthday, which is nice.

Today, the state of Western Australia celebrates

Queen Elizabeth's birthday, which is nice

And when our politicians fail us, as they so often do, it's also nice that we still have a decent, sensible head of state - thank goodness  for that!

We talk a bit on whatsapp with Sarah,

our daughter in Perth, Australia

Yesterday Sarah's family spent the day doing a little kayaking on a wide river estuary near the coastal resort of Guilderton, located a little north of Perth. Lois and I remember the Guilderton area well - we visited it with them in March 2019. 

Flashback to March 2018: we visit the coastal resort of Guilderton WA

and the River Moore’s beautiful wide estuary, along with Sarah and her family

Lily and Sarah getting ready for a little picnic next to this beautiful river

Sarah says Jessie can now swim confidently - she does the crawl. Unfortunately, they are currently having trouble with Lily, who has found Sarah's attempts to give her confidence in the water a bit traumatic, to put it mildly. It's a bit of a shame, but I suspect Lily has more of my DNA than is good for her - yikes! Let's hope that Lily's current fears are only temporary.

11:30 I sit down at the dining table and read another chapter of Njal's saga, written in the 13th century in Iceland, although the saga itself and the events in it are much much older. Scilla's U3A Old Norse group is holding its regular fortnightly meeting here on Wednesday at 2:30 pm and this saga is the group's current project.

It seems to have become inevitable now that one or other of Gunnar's many enemies will finally succeed in killing him - almost all the people in Iceland seem to be planning to kill him, to put it mildly. And Njal, Gunnar's best friend, is advising him never to leave home without taking along several members of his social circle with him as "protection" - yikes!

Poor Gunnar !!!!!!

Gunnar (right), seen here with one of his neighbours in happier times,

before the death threats started coming in

Hliðarende’s lone postwoman, seen here

just about to deliver to Gunnar's house the latest stack of threatening letters

Now, in chapter 61, which I’m now reading, a group of men led by Sigurd and Starkaður, have decided to finally "get" Gunnar by ambushing him. Now seems a good moment because for once Gunnar is going around with only two companions, his two sons.

But Gunnar has such a terrible reputation as a fighter that Sigurd and Starkaður plan to have at least 30 of their buddies with them when they carry out the ambush. Less than 30, they believe, and the attack will surely fail. they suspect.

My god, what a man Gunnar must be, if it takes 30 men, even with the benefit of surprise, to ambush and kill him, and also his 2 sons!

12:30 Lois and I have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. I get up at 3pm and hop on my fitness bike. I ride my usual 6 miles.

I had planned to follow up my bike workout with a little light weight-training using my shiny new instruction book for the over 50’s, but I decide to read the book instead, which is less exhausting. Also, it makes sense to read a little about the exercises and read about all the health warnings, death threats etc before I try it all out. That's my excuse at least!

16:00 We relax with a cup of tea. Afterwards, I read the wikipedia article about the Great Vowel Shift that occurred in the English language between 1400 and 1600, or thereabouts. Lynda’s U3A Middle English group is holding  its regular monthly meeting on Friday in the bar of the town’s Everyman Theatre, and the Great Vowel Shift is the group’s current project.

My god, busy busy busy!

The Great Vowel Shift was an important event in the history of the English language because all of our long vowels changed pronunciation for one reason or another - no one understands exactly why it happened and most theories are contradictory: for example, some experts believe that people changed the pronunciation of their vowels to sound more French (because of the prestige of French culture, etc.), but other researchers believe that people changed the pronunciation to sound less French (the French were then our big enemies, of course): so the exact opposite, in other words !!! .

Good grief, what madness !!!

As an example, the English word "house" was initially pronounced a bit like "hoose" before the Great Vowel Shift occurred. Something similar happened in the German language, but a little earlier (first in Bavaria in the 1100’s: the word "hus" became "haus" for example).

The "Great Vowel Shift" that occurred in the English Language (c. 1400-1600)

- my goodness, how confusing !!!!

The Scottish version of English did not always adopt this hoose / house shift, which is why Robbie Burns called one of his early poems, "Ta'e a moose" instead of "Take a Mouse".

start of Robert Burns' “Tae a moose” poem

(with drawings by somebody else)

In parts of North America, e.g. in Ontario, this moose-to-mouse change has gone into reverse, and  for example the word "about" now sounds more like "a boot" - what madness (again) !!!!

The Great Vowel Shift led to many confusions in English spelling rules, to put it mildly, but it was too late to change the spelling of English words to reflect it,  because books had already begun to be printed (in the 1500’s) and people had become accustomed to the traditional ways of spelling the words.

The whole thing resulted in many discrepancies. The word "polite" was borrowed from Latin before the vowel shift, whereas the word "police" was borrowed after the vowel shift and retains the sound of the French 'i' vowel.

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

18:00 Lois and I have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching some television. The PBS America channel is showing an interesting documentary about Daphne du Maurier, the famous  writer.

DuMaurierListing

An interesting programme: du Maurier was a complicated personality to put it mildly, and she had, from childhood, the feeling, deep down inside, of having the personality of a boy who was struggling to come out. She married an army officer, but their relationship was often a little distant, both literally and otherwise - he lived and worked in London, while Daphne preferred to live in a large house in Cornwall, Menabilly, where she could concentrate on her novels.

the young Daphne du Maurier - inside her  was

a little boy "trying to get out"

Menabilly, her home a little outside the port of Fowey, in Cornwall

Tonight we see interviews with some of her biographers, and we hear lots about her alleged possibly bisexual love life, starting from her time at her finishing school in Paris, where she fell in love with the school’s female principal.

Later in life, according to the programme, she fell in love with Ellen Doubleday, the wife of her American publisher, Nelson Doubleday. And in a bizarre twist, Daphne expressed her passion for Ellen in a theatrical play about her - Daphne cast actress Gertrude Lawrence in the role, and then promptly fell in love with Gertrude as a result - what madness !!!

Lois and I discuss a bit about whether Daphne was bisexual or lesbian, but without coming to a conclusion - it's hard to be sure when you’re dealing with a period when such feelings were not admitted to in polite society.

Alone in Cornwall in her latter years, her writing finally shook off the spooky, supernatural feel which had drawn the film-maker Alfred Hitchcock to produce "Rebecca", "The Birds" etc.

Daphne died in the spring of 1989. She had stopped eating and seemed to know she was about to die, because on her last day she visited her family one last time, and after that, her beloved former home, Menabilly, at Fowey. The next morning, she was found dead in her bed.

an excerpt from Daphne's poem, "Another World" (1947)

I ponder a little about how I would spend my last day if I knew I was just about to die, but it’s a difficult question - so the jury is still out on that one. Let's just hope I don't die until I come up with some kind of detailed plan, though - ha ha ha!

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

Danish translation: mandag den 30. september 2019

10:00 Vi taler lidt på whatsapp med Sarah, vores datter, der bor i Perth, Australien, sammen med Francis og deres 6-årige tvillingedøtre Lily og Jessie. I dag er en helligdag i Western Australien – den dag, delstaten fejrer dronningens fødselsdag, hvilket er rart.

I dag fejrer delstaten Western Australia

dronning Elizabeths fødselsdag, hvilket er rart

Og når vores politikere svigter os, som de så ofte gør, er det også rart, at vi stadig har en anstændig, fornuftig statsoverhoved gudskelov – det må jeg nok sige.   

Vi taler lidt på whatsapp med Sarah,

vores datter i Perth, Australien

I går brugte familien dagen på at dyrke lidt kajakroning på en bred flodmunding i nærheden af badebyen Guilderton, der ligger lidt nord på Perth. Lois og jeg husker godt Guilderton-området – vi besøgte det i marts 2019, sammen med Sarah og familien.

tilbageblik til marts 2018: vi besøger badebyen Guilderton WA

og floden Moores brede flodmunding, sammen med Sarah og hendes familie

Lily og Sarah forbereder sig på en lille picnic ved siden af denne smukke flod

Sarah siger, at Jessie nu kan svømme selvsikkert – hun svømmer cravl. Desværre har de i øjeblikket problemer med Lily, der har fundet Sarahs forsøg på at give hende selvtillid i vandet lidt traumatiske, for at sige mildt. Det er lidt af en skam, men jeg mistænker, at Lily har mere af min dna, end er godt for hende – yikes! Lad os håbe på, at Lilys nuværende frygter kun er midlertidige.

11:30 Jeg sætter mig ved spisebordet og læser endnu et kapitel af Njals saga, skrevet i det 13. århundrede i Island, selvom selve sagaen og begivenhederne derinde er meget meget ældre. Scillas U3A oldnordiske gruppe holder sit regelmæssige fjortendagsmøde på onsdag kl 14:30 hos os og denne saga er gruppens nuværende projekt.

Det er blevet begyndt at virke uundgåeligt nu, at det snart vil lykkes én eller anden af Gunnars mange fjender endelig at dræbe ham – det virker næsten, at alle de mennesker i Island planlægger at slå ham ihjel, for at sige mildt. Og Njal, Gunnars bedste ven, råder ham ikke til at rejse hjemmefra, uden at han tage flere medlemmer af sin omgangskreds med, som ”beskyttelse”– yikes!

Stakkels Gunnar !!!!!!

Gunnar, set her i lykkeligere tider,

før dødtruslerne startede at strømme ind

Hliðarendeis kvindelige postbud, set her

lige ved at levere til Gunnars hus den seneste stak af truende breve

Nu, i kapitel 61 har en gruppe mænd, ledt af Sigurd og Starkaður, besluttet at angribe Gunnar fra baghold, nu hvor Gunnar har kun 2 kammerater med sig. Men Gunnar har sådan en frygtelig omdømme, at de planlægger at 30 af deres medlemmer af deres omgangskreds kommer med i bagholdet. Mindre end 30, tror de, og angrebet skal mislykkes. mistænker de.

Du godeste, sikke en mand må Gunnar være, at for en sikkerheds skyld var der brug for 30 mænd, selv med fordelen af overraskelse, for at angribe og dræbe ham og hans 2 sønner!

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15 og hopper op på min kondicykel. Jeg cykler mine sædvanlige 6 miles.

Jeg havde planlagt at følge min cykeltræning op med lidt let vægttræning ved hjælp af min spritnye instruktionsbog, men jeg beslutter at læse bogen i stedet for, hvilket er mindre udmattende. Også giver det mening, at læse lidt om øvelserne og læse om helbredsadvarsler osv, før jeg afprøver det hele. Det der er min undskyldning i hvert fald.

16:00 Vi slapper af med en kop te. Bagefter læser jeg den wikipedia-artikel, der handler om den store vokalskifte, som forekom i det engelske sprog mellem 1400 og 1600 eller deromkring. Lyndas U3A middelengelske gruppe holder sit regelmæssige møde på fredag på byens Everyman-teater, og den store vokalskifte er gruppens nuværende projekt.

Du godeste, travlt travlt travlt !

Det store vokalskifte var en vigtig begivenhed i historien af det engelske sprog, fordi alle vores lange vokaler skiftede udtale af en eller anden grund – ingen forstår, præcis hvorfor det skete og de fleste teorier er modstridende: for eksempel tror nogle forskere at folk skiftede udtalen af deres vokaler for at lyde mere fransk (på grund af prestigen af fransk kultur osv), men andre forskere tror, at folk skiftede udtalen for at lyde mindre fransk (franskmændene var dengang vores store fjender naturligvis):  altså det præcis modsatte!!!.

Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!

For eksempel, det engelske ord ”house” blev oprindeligt udtalt lidt som ”hoose” før den store vokalskifte forekom. Noget lignende skete i det tyske sprog, men lidt tidligere (først i Bayern i 1100-tallet: ordet ”hus” blev til ”haus” eksempelvis).

Det engelske sprogs ”store vokalskifte” (1400-1600)

– du godeste, hvor forvirrende !!!!

Den skotske version af engelsk adopterede ikke altid dette hoose/house skift, og derfor kaldte Robbie Burns et af sine tidlige digte, ”Ta’e a moose” i stedet for ”Take a Mouse”.

Burns’ “Tae a moose”-digt

Det store vokalskift førte til mange forvirrelser i engelske stavelsesregler, for at sige mildt, men det var for sent at skifte stavningen af engelske ord, fordi bøger allerede var begyndt at blive printet (i 1500-tallet), og folk var blevet vant til de gamle måder at stavne ordene.

Det hele resulterede i mange uoverenstemmelser. Ordet ”polite” blev lånt fra latinsk før vokalskiftet, mens ordet ”police” blev lånt efter vokalskiftet og opbevarer lyden af den franske ’i’-vokalen.

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

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. PBS America-kanalen viser en interessant dokumentarfilm om Daphne du Maurier, den berømte engelske forfatterinde.

Et interessant program: du Maurier var en kompliceret personlighed for at sige mildt, og hun havde lige fra barndom, den følelse, inderst inde, af at have personligheden af en dreng, der kæmpede at komme ud. Hun giftede sig med en militær officer, men deres forhold var ofte lidt fjern, både bogstavelig talt og ellers – han boede og arbejdede i London, mens Daphne foretrak at bo i et stort hus i Cornwall, hvor hun kunne koncentrere sig om sine romaner.

den unge Daphne du Maurier

Menabilly, sit hjem lidt uden for havnebyen Fowey, i Cornwall

Og vi ser interviewer med nogle af hendes biografer, og vi hører masser om hendes angiveligt, muligvis biseksuelle, kærlighedsliv, startende fra sin tid på sin pigeinstitut i Paris, hvor hun forelskede sig i institutens kvindelige rektor.

Senere på livet forelskede sig, ifølge programmet, med Ellen Doubleday, konen af sin amerikanske udgaver, Nelson Doubleday. Og i et bizart twist udtrykkede Daphne sin lidenskab til Ellen i et teaterstykke om hende – Daphne udvalgte skuespillerinden Gertrude Lawrence til rollen, og forelskede sig umiddelbart i Gertrude som resultat – sikke et vanvid!!!

Lois og jeg diskuterer lidt om, om Daphne var biseksuel eller lesbisk, men uden at komme til en konklusion – det er svært at være sikker, når det drejer sig om en periode, hvor sådanne følelser ikke blev indrømmet i det normale samfund.

Daphne døde i foråret 1989. Hun havde holdt op med at spise, og vidste, hun var ved at dø, fordi hun på sin sidste dag besøgte sin familie én sidste gang, og derefter sin elskede tidligere hjem, Menabilly, lidt uden for havnebyen Fowey i Cornwall. Den næste morgen blev hun fundet død i sin seng.

et uddrag fra Daphnes digt, ”Another World” (1947)

Jeg overvejer lidt, om hvordan jeg ville tilbringe min sidste dag, hvis jeg vidste, jeg var lige ved at dø, men det er et svært spørgsmål – så er juryen stadig ude om det. Lad os håbe på, jeg ikke dør, før jeg er kommet med en eller anden detaljeret plan ha ha ha!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzz!!!!!