Sunday October 20 2019

09:00 Sarah, our 42-year-old daughter in Perth, Australia, calls us on whatsapp - Lois and I are in the middle of getting dressed, but luckily it's just an audio call, with no video, which is a bit of a relief. Sarah, Francis and their 6-year-old twin daughters are on their way home from a 4-day camping trip in the Margaret River region located just south of Perth - temperatures have reached 25C (70’s F), comments Francis, which has felt quite comfortable, he says: the lucky buggers ha ha!!!

They've visited the small town of Harvey, and Sarah says the twins remembered they had visited the town before when Lois and I were with them (April 2018), which is nice - the twins' memories are getting much sharper, no doubt about it.

Flashback to April 2018: we visit the small town of Harvey WA,

along with Sarah and the twins

And whilst on this current camping trip, the family has selected a number of places and sights they would like to see again next year when Lois and I visit them for the 3rd time, which is nice.

09:30 The call ends and Lois and I talk a bit about the prospects of our upcoming holiday in Australia, and the joys of going on camping trips and the like.

Camping trips are very popular in our local neighbourhood, no doubt about it. A group of local men hit the headlines recently when they told reporters about their recent expeditions into the countryside, according to our go-to local news site, Onion News.

Saying they had been looking forward to the excursion all summer, local friends Sam Webber, Rob Dempsey and Drew Hutchinson recently packed up all their gear and took off on their annual camping trip for complaining about camping.

“We three have been doing this for years; it's such a nice change of pace, to take a long weekend and drive out in the countryside where we can repeatedly complain about the disadvantages of being out in the countryside," Weber told local reporters, adding that their three-day packed itinerary included cursing the unpredictable weather, mumbling about how no fish are biting, and lamenting everything from the dwindling snack supply to the awful sleep they got in their poorly padded sleeping bags.

“There is nothing like getting together with your best friends, finding a quiet place in the woods and complaining every waking second about how annoying it is to pitch a tent in the dark or start a campfire with all this damp wood. This is truly a special getaway for us each summer. "

At press time, the long-time friends had already got their camping trip off to a strong start by launching themselves into 20 minutes of collective anger over the traffic on the way out to the campsite.

I know for sure that many local people read that article and immediately wanted to try out the joys of camping trips for themselves, which is nice. And the 3 friends, Webber, Dempsey and Hutchinson, turned into something approaching local celebrities, as well as enthusiastic ambassadors for the camping life!

10:00 Lois has to go out. She wants to attend her sect's two worship services taking place today in Tewkesbury library.

I have some alone time, and climb up the loft-ladder to the attic to collect a number of broken toys and other useless items that we have stored up there for years.

The council’s garbage truck now comes only every second Wednesday, but Lois and I, two old crows with a very simple lifestyle, can still only manage to fill about 33% of our wheelie bin, which is a bit of a shame. I've been trying for months to reduce all the crap we have stored up there in the attic, as part of my downsizing mini project, but my success has been a bit limited to say the least - damn!

flashback to July: I collect a load of assorted unwanted belongings

in the only well-documented area of ​​the attic – the part right next to the entrance hatch

11:30 I relax with a cup of coffee and sit down with the computer. I have a pen pal in Budapest, Tünde, and I owe her an email, to put it mildly.

Tünde, my pen pal in Budapest: a recent picture

Nowadays I find it harder and harder to write in Hungarian - my friend, “Magyar” Mike, with whom I study the language, has become increasingly unreliable when it comes to attending our weekly language sessions: it's supposed to happen  that we meet up every Tuesday, but more often than not, he has some excuse not to show up - he has aged a lot in the last 1-2 years and he has become a bit of a nervous driver, to say the least. Damn!

Flashback to 2010: "Magyar" Mike in happier times, in France:

(from left to right) me, Lois, "Magyar" Mike and "Magyar" Mary

Now I have something I want to write to Tünde about, so I dig out my big Hungarian dictionaries and go to work.

I recently heard an interesting radio programme about Tivadar Puskas, who started the world's first "radio station" back in the 1890’s, ie 25 years before stations in the UK, such as the BBC - except that his "radio service" was not actually broadcast by radio, but over telephone lines. The service was called "Telefon Hirmondo". The programmes included all the elements found today in regular radio services: news, weather forecasts, sports, music, concerts, plays, etc., and everything was broadcast live, of course. Nobody had ever put such a service together before Puskas - it was all his idea.

If you paid for Telephone Hirmondo, you got a visit from one of the company's engineers who installed the necessary lines into your home, and you listened to the programmes using headphones or speakers, connected to the telephone jack - "simples" !

Telefon Hirmondo: the world's first "radio station" -

and it started in the 1890's, thanks to the genius of Hungarian Tivadar Puskas

Hungarians are very good ideas people, to say the least. I think there are more Nobel laureates from Hungary than from any other country, relative to population size.

13:00 I am exhausted after writing my Hungarian email. I sit down in the living room and have lunch in front of the TV. Afterwards, I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. Meanwhile, Lois returns from Tewkesbury. I get up at 3 pm and we relax with a cup of tea and a slice of bread with homemade gooseberry jam - yum yum!

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching some television. An interesting documentary is on, all about Neapolis, once an ancient Roman city on today's Tunisian coast.

Most of the city, including the port, gradually sank beneath the Mediterranean over the centuries: the process started with a famous tsunami that also hit the city of Alexandria in 375 AD, and later earthquakes only made the problem worse because the land beneath the city became so soggy and squelchy. Yuck, disgusting !!!!

the former Roman city of Neapolis on today's Tunisian coast -

most of the city, including the port, gradually sank below the Mediterranean

Neapolis was known for the production of garum, a kind of fermented fish sauce made from anchovies and various herbs. The Romans ate it with almost every meal. It became known as "the ketchup of the ancient world".

Archaeologists have found garum, perfectly preserved, under Pompeii's volcanic ash, and they have analysed the ingredients. And they have found tons of old bottles that once contained it all over the Roman empire - even in England, in the old Roman military camps at Hadrian's Wall.

And there was such a great demand for the sauce that the Romans had to set up a whole system to bulk-export tons of it in large batches to every house and every military camp in the Roman Empire.

My god, what madness !!! Everything they ate must have tasted of anchovies - even burgers and suchlike! What a crazy world they lived in in those times !!!!

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

Danish translation: søndag den 20. oktober 2019

09:00 Sarah, vores 42-årige datter i Perth, Australien, ringer til os på whatsapp – Lois og jeg er midt i at klæde os på, men heldigvis er det bare et audio-opkald, uden video, hvilket er lidt af en lettelse. Sarah, Francis og deres 6-årige tvillingedøtre er på vej hjem fra en 4-dages campingtur i Margaret River-regionen, der ligger lidt syd for Perth – grader er nået til 25C (70’erne F), kommenterer Francis, hvilket har været ganske behageligt, siger han.

De har besøgt den lille by Harvey, og Sarah siger, tvillingerne huskede, at de besøgte byen før sammen med Lois og mig, hvilket er rart – deres hukommelser bliver meget skarpere, ingen tvivl om det.

 tilbageblik til april 2018: vi besøger den lille by Harvey WA,

sammen med Sarah og tvillingerne

Og i løbet af deres kampingtur har familien udvalgt en række steder og seværdigheder, de har lyst til at se igen næste år, når Lois og jeg besøger dem for 3. gang, hvilket er rart.

09:30 Opkaldet slutter og Lois og jeg snakker lidt om udsigter til vores kommende ferie i Australien, og glæderne ved at gå på campingture og den slags.

Campingture er meget populære i det lokale nabolag, ingen tvivl om det. En gruppe lokale mænd ramte overskrifterne for nylig, da de fortalte journalister om deres seneste oplevelser ude på landet, ifølge vores go-to lokale nyhedswebsted, Onion News.

Idet de sagde, at de havde set frem til udflugten hele sommeren, pakkede de lokale venner Sameer Weber, Rob Dempsey og Drew Hutchinson deres udstyr og ting, og tog torsdag af sted på deres årlige campingtur til at klage over camping. ”Vi tre har gjort dette i årevis; det er en sådan dejlig tempoændring, at tage en lang weekend og køre ud på landet, hvor vi gentagne gange kan klage om ulemperne ved at være ude på landet,” fortalte Weber til lokale journalister, og han tilføjede, at deres propfyldte  tre-dages rejseplan inkluderede dét, at forbande det uforudsigelige vejr, mumle om, hvordan ingen fisk bider, og beklage alt fra den svindende snackforsyning til den forfærdelige søvn, de fik i deres dårligt polstrede soveposer.

”Der er ikke noget som at samles med dine bedste venner, finde et roligt sted i skoven og klage hvert vågne sekund over, hvor irriterende det er at slå telt i mørket eller starte et bål med alt dette fugtige træ. Dette er virkelig en særlig getaway for os hver sommer. ”

Ved pressetid havde de mangeårige venner allerede fået deres campingtur til en stærk start ved at lancere sig i 20 minutters kollektiv vrede over trafikken på vejen til campingpladsen.

Jeg ved med sikkerhed, at mange lokale mennesker læste artiklen og havde lyst umiddelbart til at afprøve glæderne ved campingture for sig selv, hvilket er rart. Og de 3 venner, Webber, Dempsey og Hutchinson, blev til lidt af en flok af lokale kendisser udover til ivrige ambassadører for campinglivet, for at sige mildt!

10:00 Lois skal af sted. Hun ønsker at deltage i sin sekts to gudstjenester, der finder sted i dag i byen Tewkesburys bibliotek.

Jeg har lidt alenetid, og klatre op ad trappestigen til loftet for at samle en række brudte legetøj og andre unyttige ejendele, som vi har opbevart deroppe i årevis.

Kommunens skraldebil kommer nu kun hver 2. onsdag, men Lois og jeg, to gamle krager med en helt simpel livstil, kan kun formå at fylde omkring 33% af vores hjulede affaldsbeholder, hvilket er lidt af en skam. Jeg har i flere måneder været i gang med at prøve at mindske al det lort, vi har gemt deroppe i loftet, som en del af mit downsize mini-projekt, men min succés har været lidt begrænset for at sige mildt – pokkers!

Tilbageblik til juli: jeg samler en masse forskellige uønskede egenskaber

i loftets eneste veldokumenterede område lige ved siden af loftlemmen

11:30 Jeg slapper af med en kop kaffe og sætter jeg med computeren. Jeg har en penneveninde i Budapest, Tünde, og jeg skylder hende en email, for at sige mildt.

Tünde, min penneveninde i Budapest: et nyligt billede

Nu til dags har jeg sværere og sværere ved at skrive på ungarsk – min ven, ”Magyar” Mike, som jeg studerer sproget sammen med, er blevet mere og mere upålidelig, når det kommer til at deltage i vores ugentlige sprogsessioner: det er meningen, at vi mødes hver tirsdag, men oftere, end ikke, har han én eller anden undskyldning for ikke at dukke op – han har meget ældes i de seneste 1-2 år, og han er blevet til lidt af en nervøs chauffør, for at sige mildt. Pokkers!

Tilbageblik til 2010: ”Magyar” Mike i lykkeligere tider, i Frankrig:

(fra venstre til højre) mig, Lois, ”Magyar” Mike og ”Magyar” Mary

Nu har jeg noget, jeg har lyst til at skrive en email til Tünde om, så graver jeg mine store ungarske ordbøger frem og går til værks.

Jeg hørte et interessant radioprogram for nylig, der handlede om Tivadar Puskas, som startede verdens første ”radiostation”, tilbage i 1890’erne, dvs 25 år før stationer i Storbritannien, såsom BBC – bortset fra dét, at hans ”radiotjeneste”  faktisk ikke blev sendt via radio, men gennem telefonlinjer. Tjenesten hed ”Telefon Hirmondo”. Programmerne inkluderede alle de elementer man finder i dag i almindelige radiotjenester:  nyheder, vejrudsigter, sport, musik, koncerter, teaterstykker osv, og alt blev udsendt live direkte selvfølgelig.

Hvis du betalte for Telefon Hirmondo, fik du besøg fra en af selskabets ingeniører, der installerede de nødvendige linjer i din bolig, og du lyttede til programmerne ved hjælp af hovedtelefoner eller højtalere, sluttet til telefonstikket – ”simples” !

Telefon Hirmondo: verdens første ”radiostation”,

der startede i 1890’erne, takket være ungarske Tivadar Puskas

Ungarerne er meget gode idémennesker, for at sige mildt. Jeg tror, at der er flere ungarske nobelprisvindere fra Ungarn, end fra alle andre lande, i forhold til landets befolkning.

13:00 Jeg er udmattet efter at skrive min ungarske email. Jeg sætter mig til rette i stuen og spiser frokost foran fjernsynet. Bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. I mellemtiden kommer Lois tilbage fra Tewkesbury. Jeg står op kl 15 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 en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om Neapolis, en romersk by på nutidens tunesiske kyst.

Hovedparten af byen, inklusive havnen, sank gradvist under Middelhavet over århundreder:  processen startede med en berømt tsunami, der også ramte byen Alexandrien i 375 e.Kr , og senere jordskælv gjorde problemet bare værre, fordi jorden under byen blev så opblødt og klæg. Yuk, modbygeligt!!!! 

den romerske by Neapolis på nutidens tunesiske kyst –

hovedparten af byen, inklusive havnen, sank gradvist under Middelhavet

Neapolis var kendt for fremstillingen af garum, en slags fermenteret fiskesovs lavet af ansjovser og forskellige urter. Romerne spiste den til næsten hver måltid. Den blev kendt som ”den antikke verdens ketchup”.

Arkæologer har fundet garum, perfekte bevaret, under Pompejis vulkanske asker, og de har analyseret ingredienterne. Og de har fundet tonsvis af gamle flasker, der engang indeholdt den, endda i England, i de gamle romerske militære lejrer ved Hadrians mur.

Og det var sådan en stor efterspørgsel for sovsen, at romerne blev nødt til at oprette et helt system til at eksportere tonsvis af den i store partier til hvert hus og hver militær lejr i det romerske rig.

Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!  Alt, hvad de spiste, må have smag af ansjovser, endda burgere og den slags! Sikke en skør verden de levede i de der tider!!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzz!!!!