Thursday November 28 2019

09:00 Lois and I roll out of bed - we have decided to postpone our periodic shower until later in the day, but in fact it turns out later that we forget all about this until it's evening and too late - damn! So we postpone it a second time - until Saturday, so 2 "dirty days" (today and tomorrow) in a row again. My goodness, what will become of us? !!!

10:00 We drive over to Bishop's Cleeve to go grocery shopping, first at the greengrocer’s and then at the local Tesco supermarket. Then we drive over to Webb’s garden centre to buy some Christmas bric-a-brac for friends and relatives and recharge our batteries with a cup of coffee in the garden centre cafe.

The supermarket and garden centre are packed with old crows as usual. My god, all these old people are such a nuisance, no doubt about that - and they're ruining things for all of us other old people! Damn!

Halfway through our shopping trip, with a basket bursting with Christmas bric-a-brac,

we relax with a cup of coffee and a piece of cake at the garden centre café,

which is stuffed with other old people, as usual. My goodness, what a nuisance !!!!

Lois is trying to exercise moderation this year when it comes to Christmas ornaments, etc., after a number of unpleasant incidents of over-enthusiastic Christmas decoration were reported last year on our go-to local news site, the influential Onion News.

Holiday festivities took an extreme turn on Saturday, when an unruly mob of revellers observed the shit out of the Christmas season, violently decking 11 of the area's halls.

According to police reports, at around 9 pm, after consuming large amounts of 60-proof eggnog, the frenzied throng of 40 to 50 revellers broke into the home of local resident Milton Krajcek, aggressively decking his halls with wreaths, ribbons, ceramic nativity scenes, tree ornaments, mistletoe, candy canes and "shitloads" of boughs of holly.

Once their supplies were exhausted, the crazed merrymakers rode in pickup trucks to a local ShopKo outlet to recharge their stocks, only to return and continue decking the already overburdened halls.

"I begged them to stop," Krajcek said, "but they wouldn't until every last inch of my halls were decked beyond all recognition."

My god, what a crazy world we live in !! And the whole incident clearly showed what can happen if you let your enthusiasm run out of control, no doubt about that!

11:00 We come home and I take a look at my smartphone,  and at the Gentofte area's local news website. Gentofte is a small suburb of Copenhagen: our daughter Alison and her family lived there for 6 years (2012-2018). The family has now moved back to England, but I still get a feed of news from the site, which is nostalgic.

Today's local news includes an ad for a lecture taking place later in the day in the suburb’s library: attendees can hear a speculative interpretation of the medieval Icelandic "Njals Saga" to be given by Petur Hrafn Valdimarsson.

Peter is an Icelander, saga enthusiast and employee of one of the local Copenhagen libraries. And he is going to talk in particular about  a controversial new theory that says the saga was actually written by a man named Sturla Tordsson:  something which suggests that the events portrayed in the saga were probably wholly historical.

This is very interesting for Lois and me because we are both members of our friend Scilla's U3A Old Norse group, and Njal's saga is the group's current project.

The article states that this theory "means that we have to abandon all theories about primitive folk-tales and horny monks, and instead read the saga as a historical novel and a genre-buster among the sagas".

Lois and I find this remark a bit puzzling to say the least. Who are these so called "horny monks"?????

Totally fascinating, but unfortunately we have no hope of being able to fly to Copenhagen today in time to hear the lecture - damn it!

However I send an email to Scilla and the other group members to tell them about the article. And I await their response with impatience - we'll see!

I assume that Petur Hrafn Valdimarsson, the Icelandic saga enthusiast, who is giving gives the lecture later today in Copenhagen, is not referring here to "Horny Monk" beer, but who knows? !!!

12:30 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. I get up at 4 pm and sit down with the computer.

The postman has delivered a second copy of the calendar I ordered from snapfish, the one I plan to stick on the wall on my side of the double bed: the calendar shows photos representing milestones in our relationship since we first hooked up in 1970.

Unfortunately the snapfish site has again sent a calendar of smaller size than the one I ordered: 11 x 8 inches instead of 17 x 11 or so - damn!

I start a second chat session with one of the site's customer service staff, a man called Mohammed. He advises me to order the calendar again - it will be free of charge again, he says. My god, it’s all getting a little ridiculous, I think. What a disaster this website has become !!!

now I have two calendars in the wrong size:

both 11x8 instead of 17x11 inches – my god, what madness !!!!

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching some television, an interesting and inspiring episode in the series "Storyville", all about the famous female sailor, Tracy Edwards.

The inspiring story of how Tracy Edwards, a 24-year-old cook on charter boats, became the skipper of the first all-female crew to enter the 1989 Whitbread Round the World Race.

Tracy's dream was opposed on all sides: her male competitors thought a female crew would never make it, the chauvinist sailing press were betting on how far her crew would get before failing (one forecast that they wouldn’t reach the Isle of Wight – sheer craziness!. And potential sponsors rejected her, fearing the girls would all die at sea and create bad publicity for them.

However, Tracy refused to give up:  she remortgaged her home and bought a used boat, and put everything on the line to make sure the team got to the starting line. And with the support of her remarkable crew, she went on to shock the sailing world, proving that her women were just as capable as the men taking part in the race.

They finished last in their class in the first leg of the race - Southampton, England to Uruguay, but the press and media focused heavily on them nevertheless, albeit for all the wrong reasons.

The women considered themselves a professional team that had entered the competition with the aim of winning it. But the media just considered them a "human interest story".

The press coverage however made them even more determined to win, and in fact they won the competition's incredibly challenging 2nd leg (Uruguay to Fremantle, Australia), a true test of endurance, partly by sailing further south than the other boats, though they had to avoid a lot of icebergs - yikes, scary !!!

The women then repeated their success by winning the 3rd, more tactical leg, from Fremantle, Australia to Auckland, New Zealand.

Unfortunately, however, they did not do so well in the 4th leg of the competition - Auckland to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Expecting a lot of spiteful comments from the press, Tracy decided to take advantage of the media's chauvinistic attitudes in order to distract their attention from what she considered a failure, by coming in to the finish with the entire crew dressed in eye-catching swimsuits.

Finally, the boat got back to Southampton and got a massive hero’s welcome.

22:00 Both Lois and I have tears in our eyes as we go to bed. My god, we are getting soft in our old age, no doubt about that !!!! Zzzzzzzzzzzz !!!!

Danish translation: torsdag den 28. november 2019

09:00 Lois og jeg vælter ud af sengen – vi har besluttet at udskyde vores periodiske brusebad indtil senere på dagen, men faktisk viser det sig senere, at vi glemmer om dette, indtil det er aften og alt for sent – pokkers! Så udskyder vi det en 2. gang – indtil lørdag, så 2 ”beskidte dage” (i dag og i morgen) i træk igen. Du godeste, hvad skal der blive af os?!!!

10:00 Vi kører over til Bishops Cleeve for at gå madindkøb, først hos grøntsaghandleren og bagefter i det lokale Tesco-supermarked. Så kører vi over til Webbs-havecentret for at købe nogle julenips til venner og slægtninge og genoplade vores batterier med en kop kaffe på havecentrets café.

Supermarkedet og havecentret er propfyldt af gamle mennesker som sædvanligt. Du godeste, alle disse gamle mennesker er sikke nogle gener, ingen tvivl om det – og de ødelægger tingene for alle os andre gamle mennesker! Pokkers!

Halvvejs i vores indkøbstur, med en kurv, der bugner af jule-nips,

slapper vi af med en kop kaffe og et stykke kage på havecentrets café,

som er propfyldt af andre gamle mennesker, som sædvanligt.

Du godeste, sikke nogle gener!!!!

Lois prøver at udøve moderation i år, når det kommer til juleornamenter osv, efter en række ubehagelige hændelser af overentusiastisk juledekoration blev rapporteret sidste år på vores go-to lokale nyhedswebsted, det indflydelsesrige Onion News.

Højtiderne fandt en ekstrem vending lørdag, da en uregelig pøbel af feriegæster slog skidtet ud af julesæsonen, ved at pyntede voldsomt 11 af områdets haller.

Ifølge politirapporter, cirka kl. 21.00, efter at have indtaget store mængder 60-proof æggetoddy, brød den vanvittige mængde på 40 til 50 svirebrødre ind i hjemmet til den lokale indbygger Milton Krajcek, og pyntede aggressivt hans haller med kranser, bånd, keramiske Kristi-fødsel-scener, træ ornamenter, mistelten, slik sukkerrør og "spandevis" af kristtorngrene.

Når deres forsyninger var opbrugt, kørte de galne merrymakere i pickup-biler til et lokalt ShopKo-afsætningssted for at genoplade deres lagre, bare for at vende tilbage og fortsætte med at pynte de allerede overbelastede haller.

"Jeg bad dem om at stoppe," sagde Krajcek, "men det ville de ikke indtil hver sidste tomme af mine haller var dækket ud over al anerkendelse."

Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !! Og det hele viser tydeligt, hvad der kan ske, hvis man lader sin entusiasme løbe ud af kontrol, ingen tvivl om det!

11:00 Vi kommer hjem og jeg kigger lidt på min smartphone, og på Gentofte-områdes lokale nyhedswebsted. Gentofte er en lille forstad til København: vores datter Alison og hendes familie boede der i 6 år (2012-2018). Familien er nu flyttet tilbage til England, men jeg får stadig et feed af nyheder fra webstedet, hvilket er nostalgisk.

Dagens lokale nyheder indeholder en annonce til et foredrag, der finder sted senere på dagen på forstadens bibliotek: og man kan høre en spekulativ læsning af den middelalderlige ”Njals Saga” ved Petur Hrafn Valdimarsson, som er islænding, sagaentusiast og medarbejder på ét af de lokale biblioteker. Og han taler i særdeleshed om en kontroversiel ny teori om, at sagaen faktisk var skrevet af en forfatter, der hed Sturla Tordssøn: hvilket betyder, at begivenhederner i sagaen sandsynligvis var helt historiske.

Det er meget interessant for Lois og mig, fordi vi begge to er medlemmer af vores ven Scillas U3A oldnordiske gruppe, og Njals saga er gruppens nuværende projekt.

I artiklen står der, at denne teori ”betyder blandt andet, at man kan forlade alle teorier om ur-fortællinger og liderlige munke, og i stedet læse den som en historisk roman og en genrebryder blandt sagaerne”. Men Lois og jeg finder denne bemærkning lidt gådefuld for at sige mildt. Hvem er disse såkaldte ”liderlige munke”????? Fascinerende, men desværre har vi ikke noget håb om, at kunne flyve til København i dag i tide til at høre foredraget – pokkers!

Men jeg afsender en mail til Scilla og de andre gruppemedlemmer for at fortælle dem om artiklen. Og jeg venter på deres reaktion med utålmodighed – vi får se!

Jeg antager, at Petur Hrafn Valdimarsson, den islandske sagaentusiast, der senere på dagen holder foredraget i København, henviser ikke til ”Horny Monk” øl, men hvis ved?!!!

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at taget en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 16 og sætter mig med computeren.

Postbudet har leveret et 2. eksemplar af den kalender, jeg har bestillet fra snapfish, dén, jeg planlægger at stikke på væggen ved min side af dobbeltsengen, men snapfish-webstedet har igen sendt en med mindre størrelse, end dén, jeg bestillede:11 x 8 tommer i stedet for 17 x 11 eller deromkring – pokkers! Kalenderen fremviser fotoer, der er milepæle i vores forhold siden vi først fandt sammen i 1970.

Jeg begynder en 2. chat-session med én af webstedets kundeservicemedarbejdere, der hedder Mohammed. Han råder mig til at bestille kalenderen engang til – det bliver gratis igen, siger han. Du godeste, det hele bliver lidt latterligt, synes jeg. Sikke en katastrof dette websted er blevet til !!!

nu har jeg to kalendere i den forkerte størrelse:

begge to 11x8 i stedet for 17x11 tommer – du godeste, sikke et vanvid !!!!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn, et interessant og inspirende afsnit i serien ”Storyville”, der handler om den berømte kvindelige sejler, Tracy Edwards.

Den inspirerende historie om, hvordan Tracy Edwards, en 24-årig kok på charterbåde, blev skipperen for det første hele kvindelige besætning, der kom ind i Whitbread Round the World Race i 1989.

Tracy's drøm blev modsat fra alle sider: hendes mandlige konkurrenter troede, at en kvindelig besætning aldrig ville klare det, den chauvinistiske sejladspresse satsede på, at hendes mislykkedes, og potentielle sponsorer afviste hende, og frygtede, at pigerne ville dø på havet og skabe dårlig publicitet.

Tracy nægtede dog at give op: Hun genoptag lån i sit hjem og købte en brugte båd og satte alt på linjen for at sikre, at holdet kom til startstregen. Med støtte fra sin bemærkelsesværdige besætning fortsatte hun med at chokse sejlverdenen og bevise, at kvinder er ligestillet med mænd.

De kom sidst i mål i deres klasse i løbets første omgang– Southampton, England til Uruguay, men pressen og medierne fokuserede massivt på dem, om end alt af de forkerte grunde.

Kvinderne betragtede sig selv som et professionelt hold, der var kommet ind i konkurrencen med det formål, at vinde den. Men medierne betragtede dem bare som en ”menneskelige interesse historie”.

Men pressens dækning gjorde dem endnu mere determineret at vinde, og faktisk vandt de konkurrencens utrolig udfordrende 2. omgang (Uruguay til Fremantle, Australien), en sand test af udholdenhed, ved at sejle mere sydpå, end de andre både, selvom de måtte undgå en masse isbjerge – yikes, skræmmende!!!

Kvinderne gentog deres succés ved at vinde den 3., mere taktiske omgang, fra Fremantle, Australien til Auckland, New Zealand.

Men desværre begik de sig ikke så godt i konkurrencens 4. omgang – Auckland til Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Tracy forventede en masse spydige kommentarer fra pressen, så besluttede hun at udnytte mediernes chauvinistiske holdninger for at distrahere dem fra, hvad hun betragtede som en fiasko i denne omgang, ved at komme i mål, med hele besætningen klædte i iøjnefaldende badedragter.

Endelig kom båden tilbage til Southampton og fik en massiv velkommen hjem.

22:00 Både Lois og jeg har tårer i øjnene, da vi går i seng. Du godeste, vi bliver bløde i vores alderdom, ingen tvivl om det!!!! Zzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!