A weird day - both Lois and I are lacking in energy, and
we wonder if we are sickening for something. And my joints are aching, dammit!
I spend the morning reading one more chapter (Chapter 73)
of Njal's saga, the Old Norse saga, written down in Iceland in the 14th
century, though the saga itself and the events in it are much older. Scilla's U3A Old Norse group is holding its next meeting here on Wednesday.
At this point in the saga, half of medieval Iceland's
population are trying to kill Gunnar, one of the main characters - which Lois
and I find a little difficult to understand: he seems to be a nice chap from
our point of view.
Njal's saga - written in Old Norse in the
14th century
Yes, half the population is after Gunnar - how long can
he survive? So far, he seems to have a charmed life.
In these chapters, three of Gunnar's most deadly enemies
(Mord and "the two Thorgeirs”, two men with the same name) come up with a
new plan. They’re going to start by trying to annoy Gunnar, preparatory to
staging a massive fight with him (and then kill him haha).
The plan is as follows: one of “the two Thorgeirs"
has to annoy Gunnar by seducing one of his relatives - they choose the lovely
Ormhilda, apparently because she is “just a girl who caint say no"
(copyright Rodgers and Hammerstein haha).
Ormhilda, a girl who “caint say no”
Thorgeir has no problem seducing Ormhilda and he deliberately continues the affair for several months, for maximum
irritation value.
Gunnar starts getting annoyed as he gets news of Thorgeir
and Ormhilda's relationship, and his anger increases in the summer when
Ormhilda begins to stroll around in the town in her summer dresses and wander
around the house in next to nothing. The couple’s sex life becomes even more
active. Gunnar is about to have a fit - he has a short fuse, that’s something
all students of Njal’s saga know !!!!
This bit of the story will not end well - I have no doubts
about that!
Yikes !!!!!
Fortunately, Gunnar recently acquired a particularly
aggressive dog named Sam, whom Gunnar's friend Olaf got from the Irish king,
Moorkyartan. Let's just hope that Irish attack-dog Sam can save Gunnar from all
his nasty enemies, just like Lassie in many later Hollywood films haha, the
kind of movie I and my siblings used to watch back in the 1950’s and 1960’s on
television.
"Challenge to Sam" (MGM, 1949)
12:30 Lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a
gigantic afternoon nap. Meanwhile, Lois goes for a walk on the local football
field. I get up at 4 pm and we relax with a cup of tea on the couch.
16:30 I sit down with the computer and read 2 more pages
of Anna Grue's novel, "The Further You Fall", which is our U3A Danish
group's current project.
Anna Grue's crime novel, which is our U3A
Danish group
current project.
Anna Grue, author of the novel
Two women have been murdered: Lilliana, an Estonian
cleaning woman, and Sally, Lilliana's Nigerian roomie. Flemming Torp, a local
police detective, is in charge of the investigation and he currently has only
one clue - he has heard that a local homeless weirdo-about-town, Brune Laurits,
saw the killer stuffing one of the victims, Sally, into his car's trunk and
drive off. Unfortunately, Brune was in the way when the killer sped out of town,
and he ran Brune over in the process - Brune is now in the hospital.
Poor Burne !!!!
Police Detective Flemming Torp (Andre Barbikian)
Flemming now has to interrogate Brune in his hospital
bed, but the hospital has apparently hired a tough nurse whose responsibility
seems to be to keep all visitors away, whether they are concerned relatives or
policemen on homicide investigations.
The principle is the same with doctors’ receptionists, I
have noticed. Their responsibility is to prevent potential patients from
wasting doctors' time by asking for advice or medicines. My god, what a crazy
world we live in !!!!
a typical doctor’s receptionist
Fortunately, Flemming is ready to use his judo moves on
the nurse if needed, and he manages to get past her and run to the room where
Bruene is lying in bed.
Good grief, what madness !!!!
18:00 Dinner, and after that we want to spend the rest of
the evening watching some television, so we settle down in the living room. Our
favourite TV quizzes, "Only Connect" and "University
Challenge" are on. Usually I do better with "Only Connect",
which tests lateral thinking, while Lois performs better in "University
Challenge" because the range of her general knowledge is astonishing, to put
it mildly.
Tonight during Only Connect, however, I show more my
ability to doze laterally (also horizontally) than to think that way, which is
a bit of a shame. And I miss the first 20 minutes of the programme - Lois tries
to wake me by shaking my shoulders violently and smacking my face hard but without
success. Damn!
20:30 We stay sitting for the latest edition of
University Challenge. As usual, Lois and I try to compete with the fresh young
brains of the quiz's participants, and we come up with correct answers to many
of the questions. Unfortunately we have only one answer that the students don't
come up with as well, which is a bit of a shame - Lois and I score with our
knowledge of Henry James' novels, as it turns out. But it is usually our
ambition to "beat the students" at least 3 times during the programme.
Damn! Poor performance by us!
One of the two teams, Corpus Christi Cambridge, is fantastic
tonight, and super relaxed and also very very self-confident - they treat the
quiz like they’re having a huge party and enjoy themselves immensely. They are
so relaxed, in fact, that the programme's host Jeremy "Paxo" Paxman starts
to get a little annoyed, Lois and I suspect.
"Paxo" prefers it if the participants are a
little afraid of him, and a little nervous of him, we think.
What madness !!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz !!!!
Danish
translation: mandag den 20. januar 2020
En underlig dag – bade Lois og jeg mangler energi, og vi
spekulerer på, om vi er ved at blive syg af ét eller andet. Og jeg har ondt i
ledene – pokkers!
Jeg bruger
formiddag på at læse endnu ét kapitel (kapitel 73) af Njals Saga, den
oldnordiske saga, skrevet i Island i det 14. århundrede, selvom selve sagaen og
begivenhederne derinde er meget meget ældre.
På dette
tidspunkt er halvdelen af det middelalderlige Islands befolking i gang med at
forsøget at dræbe Gunnar, én af sagaens hovedfigurer – det finder Lois og jeg
lidt svært at forstå: han synes at være sikke en sød mand set ud fra vores
synspunkt: du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!
Njals
saga – skrevet i oldnordisk i det 14. århundrede
Ja, halvdelen
af befolkingen er ude efter Gunnar – hvor længe kan han overleve? Hidtil synes
han at have et charmeret liv.
I disse
kapitler kommer tre af Gunnars mest dødelige fjender (Mord og ”de to
”Thorgeir-er”, to mænd med samme navn) på en ny plan. Først har de lyst til at
irritere Gunnar, i forberedelse på at starte et massiv slågsmål med ham.
Planen er som
følger: en af de to ”Thorgeir” skal forføre én af Gunnars slægtninge – de
vælger dejlige Ormhilda, formodentlig fordi hun bare er ”en pige, der ikke kan
sige nej”.
Ormhilda,
en pige, der ikke kan sige nej
I hvert fald,
skrider den fremad med forførelsen og Thorgeir løber ikke i nogle problemer med
at fortsætte affæren gennem flere måneder: Gunnar bliver straks irriteret, da
han få nys om Thorgeir og Ormhildas forhold, og hans vrede øger videre om
sommeren, når Ormhilda begynder at spankulere rundt i sine sommerkjoler og
daske rundt i huset i næsten ingenting, og parrets sexliv bliver endnu mere
aktiv. Gunnar kommer snart til at få et føl på tværs – han har en kort lunte,
som alle ved!!!!
Dette vil ikke
ende godt - det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl om! Yikes!!!!!
Heldigvis har
Gunnar for nylig skaffet en særlig aggressiv hund ved navn Sam, som Gunnars ven
Olaf fik af den irske kong, Moorkyartan. Lad os bare håbe på, at irske Sam kan
redde Gunnar fra alle hans ubehagelige fjender, ligesom Lassie i mange senere
Hollywood film haha, den slags film jeg og min søskende plejede at se tilbage i
1950’erne og 1960’erne i fjernsyn.
"Challenge to Sam" (MGM, 1949)
12:30 Frokost
og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. I
mellemtiden går Lois en tur på den lokale fodboldbane. Jeg står op kl 16 og vi
slapper af med en kop te i sofaen.
16:30 Jeg
sætter mig med computeren og læser endnu 2 sider af Anna Grues krimiroman, ”Dybt
at falde”, som er vores U3A danske gruppes nuværende projekt.
endnu 2 sider
af Anna Grues danske krimiroman, ”Dybt at falde”, som er vores U3A danske
gruppes nuværende projekt.
Anna
Grues krimiroman, der er vores U3A danske gruppes
nuværende
projekt.
Anna
Grue, romanens forfatter
To kvinder er
blevet myrdet: Lilliana, en estisk rengøringskvinde, og Sally, Lillianas
nigerianske roomie. Flemming Torp, en lokale politidetektiv, står for efterforskningen,
og han har i øjeblikket kun et spor – han har hørt, at en lokal hjemløs original,
Brune Laurits, så morderen proppe Sally ind i sin bils bagagerum og køre væk.
Desværre var Brune i vejen, da morderen susede væk, kørte han Brune ned i
processen, og han ligger nu på hospitalet.
Stakkels Brune!!!!
politidetektiven
Flemming Torp (Andre Barbikian)
Flemming skal
nu afhøre Brune i sin hospitalseng, men hospitalet har åbenbart ansat en skrap
sygeplejerske, hvis ansvar synes at være at holde alle besøgere væk, uanset de
er bekymrede slægtninge eller politimænd på mordefterforskninger.
Princippet er
det samme med lægehuses receptionister, har jeg bemærket. Deres ansvar er at
forhindre potentielle patienter i at spilde lægernes tid ved at bede om råd
eller lægemidler. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!
en typisk receptionist i et lægehus
Heldigvis er
Flemming klar til at bruge sine judo-bevægelserne på sygeplejersken hvis
nødvendigt, og han formår at klemme sig udenom hende og løbe hen til stuen,
hvor Bruene ligger inde i sengen.
Du godeste,
sikke et vanvid!!!!
18:00
Aftensmad, og derefter bruger vi resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn, og
vi sætter os til rette i stuen. De viser vores yndlings-tv-quizzer, ”Only
Connect” og ”University Challenge”. For det meste begår jeg mig bedre med ”Only
Connect”, som tester lateral tænkning, mens Lois begår sig bedre i ”University
Challenge”, fordi viften af hendes generelle viden er forbløffende, for at sige
mildt.
I aften under
Only Connect viser jeg imidlertid snarere min evne til at døse lateralt også
horisontalt hen, hvilket er lidt af en skam. Og jeg går glip af programmets
først 20 minutter – Lois prøver at vække mig ved at ryste mind skuldre voldsomt
og smækker mit ansigt hård, men uden held. Pokkers!
20:30 Vi fortsætter
med at se lidt fjernsyn, det seneste afsnit af University Challenge. Som
sædvanligt prøver Lois og jeg at dyste med de friske unge hjerner af quizzens
deltagere, og vi kommer med korrekte svar på mange af spørgsmålende, men desværre
kun ét svar, som de studerende ikke kommer med også, hvilket er lidt af en
skam. Lois og jeg scorer med vores viden om Henry James’ romaner. Men det er
normalt vores ambition at ”sætte de studerende til vægs” i det mindste 3 gange
i løbet af programmet. Pokkers!
Én af de to
hold, Corpus Christi Cambridge, er så fantastiske i aften, og meget meget
selvsikre – de behandler quizzen som en kæmpe fest og de hygger sig enormt. De
er så afslappede faktisk, at programmets vært Jeremy ”Paxo” Paxman begynder at
blive lidt irriteret, mistænker Lois og jeg. ”Paxo” kan hellere lide det, hvis
deltagerne er lidt bange for ham, og lidt nervøse, synes vi. Du godeste, sikke
et vanvid!!!!
Sikke et
vanvid!!!!
"Paxo" udtrykker sin medfølelse med det tabende hold,
Magdalen College, Oxford (ud af synet)
22:00 Vi går i
seng – zzzzzzz!!!!
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