Tuesday December 31 2019

09:00 Lois and I tumble out of the shower cubicle. I have had a mild cold in the nose and a sore throat for 3-4 days, but the symptoms have now subsided, thank goodness, and I feel less tired in the evening, which is nice. However, I still don't feel like going out of the house, and New Year's Eve is in any case a bit of a hiatus where life is on hold, so I decide to have another lazy day, with a gigantic afternoon nap after lunch, as usual. How lazy I’ve become ha ha ha!

16:00 Lois and I settle down on the couch and relax with a cup of tea and a slice of her homemade Christmas cake - yum yum!

I take a look at my smartphone and I see that our younger daughter Sarah, along with Francis and their 6-year-old twins, Lily and Jesse, have spent their last day on the beaches south of Perth, planning to travel back to their home in the city of Perth's northern suburbs tomorrow. They've spent a few days at campsites up in the Porongorup Mountains, and they're all set to return home now, says Sarah. The journey will take about 5 hours, she believes.

Porongorup Mountains

Francis posted an idyllic photo on Facebook showing Nanarup Bay, viewed from the top of some hill or cliff - Lois and I suspect that that's the family's four-wheel drive car pictured in the distance, parked on the beach, but we're not totally sure.

Nanarup Bay on the southern coast of Western Australia: Francis’s photo

It's a little worrying for Lois and me to watch the news of Australia's bushfires on television every night, but Sarah never mentions it - Western Australia is a bit luckier than the eastern states, thank goodness, though I read on the web a few weeks ago, that parts of Yanchep, one of Perth's northern suburbs where Sarah and her family lived 3 years ago, had been temporarily evacuated. Yikes !!!!! Lois has been trying to get news from her relatives in Adelaide and Melbourne, so we'll see.

17:00 It's high time to do a little work - I sit down with the computer and read 3 more pages of Anna Grue's crime novel, "The Further You Fall", which is our U3A Danish group's current project. And I compile a vocabulary list for each page, for the benefit of our group members.

Anna Grue's crime novel, our U3A Danish group's current project.

As group leader, it was my responsibility to choose this novel as our project, but I had not read it in advance - ours is a self-help group and it would take me far too long to read it. I chose it because it was the first novel in a very successful series of books: I think the author has now published about 12 books, all revolving around the hero of the novels:  Dan Sommerdahl, a balding amateur detective who works in the advertising industry.

Advertising man and amateur detective Dan Sommerdahl (right)

with his best friend, Police Detective Flemming Torp (left),

and Dan's wife, Marianne

And it in fact has so far turned out to be a really fascinating crime novel, well written, and with a lot of good vocabulary that our group is keen to master (with my help ha ha ha!).

So far, there have been two murders: firstly, a cleaning woman, Lilliana, who gets garotted in the kitchens of the Danish advertising agency where Dan, the "bald detective" works, and secondly, Sally, Lilliana's roomie, a Nigerian prostitute who gets killed and her body dumped on a deserted beach north of Copenhagen.

From time to time, however, the novel does contain a certain amount of sexual content, which is quite natural considering the two women's connections to the local sex industry.

My problem is that our self-help group is a mixed-sex group of British "old crows", brought up on Agatha Christie's more "genteel" murder mysteries, where murder is never compounded by rape, for example, and certainly not some rape where graphic physical details are required to be given, and that kind of thing - yikes!

And worst of all, during our group meetings, we read aloud every word of the text and every sentence, and translate it all into English, so it is not possible to "skip" any naughty details. My goodness! Help!!!!

Today, for example, I read that Sally, the Nigerian prostitute was certainly well and truly raped, either before or after she was killed: the police are not totally sure. In the words of the author, Sally had been “raped very thoroughly. Anally, vaginally, orally ... There was, broadly speaking, not one of her orifices that had escaped."

Yikes!

I come to the conclusion that some paragraphs in the book are just too explicit and I can't ask the group to read them aloud and translate them into English word by word, so I decide to produce censored versions of some paragraphs for the benefit of members - but that means even more work for me - damn !!! Busy busy busy !!!!

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching some television.

The second episode of an interesting drama documentary series is on, all about top people’s prostitute Christine Keeler, and the Profumo scandal that hit the headlines in Britain in the early 1960’s. John "Jack" Profumo was then Secretary of War in Harold Macmillan's Conservative government.

Profumo had an affair with Christine, who was also regularly going to bed with a Russian naval attaché working at the Russian embassy.

Lois and I did not know that Profumo had a taste for danger and liked to have sex with Christine anywhere where they might be discovered at any time.

We see the couple having sex in Profumo's marital bed, for example, while Valerie, his lovely wife, was out of the house. Suddenly Profumo's scrambler-phone starts buzzing as the couple are getting busy there in the bed - it's the prime minister on the phone with a question about whether or not West Germany can be allowed to procure a short-range missile. My god, what madness !!!!

And while Profumo is on the phone in the adjoining room, we see Christine trying on some of Valery's clothing, perfume and lipstick.

Christine was a little worried that she had lost a false eyelash in the bed, but Profumo reassures her - it was the housekeeper's responsibility to clean up the bed, he said – my god, how crazy (again) !!!!

Later, we see Profumo taking her into his ministry at the weekend to have sex with her there, not in his private office (which is top secret, he says), but in the adjoining rooms where the typists worked during the week.

This incident seems particularly incredible from my point of view, but I suppose it must be true. I know very well that all security rules have been massively strengthened in the 60 years since then, and an important man like Profumo in those far-off days might perhaps not have been challenged by security personnel, even if he had  an uncleared ‘floozy’ with him when he entered the building…. but even so!

21:30 We continue to watch a bit of TV, a special Christmas edition of one of our favourite TV quizzes, Only Connect, where two 3-person teams compete to show their lateral thinking skills. The programme's host is the charming Victoria Coren Mitchell.

Lois and I get a bit of a shock, to put it mildly, when we see the opening sequences of the quiz. The programme’s charming host, Victoria Coren Mitchell, has dressed up in traditional Welsh costume.

The programme is regularly broadcast from BBC's Cardiff studios, to which Victoria often refers: and hence the Welsh costume.

My late mother was Welsh and I have always been interested in Welsh customs, costume and the like.

Steve, my American brother-in-law, has done some research on the web about traditional Welsh conical hats, and has found out many details about them, including the typical sizes: usually 8.5 up to 9.5 inches high (19-22cm) and 12.5 up to 15.5 inches wide (32-40cm) (max).

Steve recently posted details about a site where a charming image can be seen: three women in full costume, drinking tea in 1900 or so: experts believe these particular Welsh hats are the world's tallest, widest ever, which is interesting. And I have to admit - I'm not 100% sure if Victoria's hat has broken the record or not – so that's something the jury is still out on.

Welsh women in full costume drinking tea in 1900 or so

Are these Welsh hats the world's largest ever?

During tonight's programme, Lois and I, as always, try to compete with the quiz's contestants to prove to our own satisfaction that we are not yet suffering from dementia. And our linguistic skills help us with a few questions where the program participants are asked to make the connection between 4 seemingly unrelated expressions or objects.

these names all have a first syllable meaning "three" in their original language:

Hindi, Chinese, Japanese, and Greek

From our knowledge of Danish, Lois and I know that these

Swedish loan terms (tungsten, swedes, ombudsman and smorgasbord)

have these literal meanings in their original language - ie in Swedish.

"Simples" ha ha ha !!!

There is another question where the connection is 4 things airlines have put in place to save money: (1) exclusively female cabin crew (women weigh less), no logos on garbage bags (saved $300,000 a year), no olives in the salads (saved $100,000 a year) and lighter seats.

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

But Victoria has the final word as regards the relative weights of male and female cabin crew:

22:00 We go to bed. We'd rather be tucked up in bed than be out greeting the New Year somewhere, thank you very much ha ha ha!

Bye bye, 2019 ha ha ha! Zzzzzzzzzz !!!!

Danish translation: tirsdag den 31. december 2019

09:00 Lois og jeg vælter ud af brusekabinen. Jeg har haft en mild forkølelse i næsen og en øm hals i 3-4 dage, men symptomerne er nu i vis grad aftaget gudskelov, og jeg føler mig mindre træt om aftenen, hvilket er rart. Jeg har imidlertid stadig ikke lyst til at komme ud af huset, og nytårsaften er under alle omstændigheder lidt af et mellemrum, hvor livet er i venteposition, så beslutter jeg at have endnu en doven dag, med en gigantisk eftermiddagslur efter frokost, som sædvanligt. Hvor er jeg dog blevet doven ha ha ha!

16:00 Lois og jeg sætter os til rette i sofaen og slapper af med en kop te og en skive af hendes hjemmelavede julekage yum yum! Jeg kigger lidt på min smartphone, og jeg ser, at vores yngste datter Sarah, sammen med Francis og deres 6-årige tvillinger, Lily og Jesse, har tilbragt deres sidste dag på strandene syd for Perth, og planlægger at rejse tilbage til deres hjem i byen Perths nordlige forstæder i morgen. De har tilbragt nogle dage på campingpladser i Porongorup-bjergene, og de er alle klar til at vende hjem nu, siger Sarah. Rejsen vil tage omkring 5 timer, tror hun.

Porongorup-bjergene

Francis har lagt et idylliske foto op på Facebook med Nanarupbugt, set fra toppen af en eller anden bakke eller klint – Lois og jeg mistænker, at det er familiens firehjulstrækkede bil afbildet i det fjerne, parkeret på stranden, men det er vi ikke helt sikre på.

Nanarupbugt på Western Australiens sydlige kyst

Det er lidt bekymrende for Lois og mig at se nyhederne om Australiens hærgende ildebrande i fjernsynet hver dag, men Sarah nævner det aldrig – Western Australia er lidt heldigere, end de østlige delstater, gudskelov, selvom jeg for et par uger siden, læste på nettet, at dele af Yanchep, én af Perths nordlige forstæder, hvor Sarah og hendes familie boede for 3 år siden, var blevet evakueret midlertidigt. Yikes!!!!! Lois har været i gang med at prøve at få nyheder fra sine slægtninge i Adelaide og Melbourne, så får vi se.

17:00 Det er på høje tid at gøre lidt arbejde – jeg sætter mig med computeren og læser endnu 3 sider af Anna Grues krimiroman, ”Dybt at fald”, som er vores U3A danske gruppes nuværende projekt. Og jeg udfærdiger en ordforrådliste til énhver side, til fordel for vores gruppemedlemmer.

Anna Grues krimiroman, der er vores U3A danske gruppes nuværende projekt.

Som gruppeleder var det mit ansvar at vælge denne roman som vores projekt, men jeg havde ikke læst den på forhånd – vores er en selvhjælpgruppe, og det ville tage mig alt for længe til at læse den. Jeg valgte den på grund af, at det var den første roman i en meget succésfuld serie af bøger: jeg tror, at forfatteren nu har udgivet omkring 12 bøger, der alle kredser om romanernes helt: Dan Sommerdahl, en skaldet amatørdetektiv, der arbejder i reklamebranchen.

Reklamemanden og amatørdetektiven Dan Sommerdahl (til højre)

sammen med sin bedste ven, politidetektiven Flemming Torp (til venstre),

og Dans kone, Marianne

Og den er en sandeligt fascinerende krimiroman, velskrevet, og med en masse af godt ordforråd, som vores gruppe er opsat på at mestre (med min hjælp ha ha ha!).

Hidtil har der været 2 mord: for det første en rengøringskone, Lilliana, der bliver garrotteret i køkkenerne i det danske reklamebureau, hvor Dan, ”den skaldede detektiv” arbejder, og for det andet Sally, Lillianas roomie, en nigeriansk prostitueret, der bliver slaget ihjel og dumpet på en øde strand nord for København.

Fra tid til anden imidlertid indeholder romanen nødvendigt en vis kvantitet af seksuelt indhold, som er helt naturligt i betragtning af, kvindernes forbindelser til den lokale sex-industri.

Mit problem er, at vores selvhjælpgruppe er en blandetkøngruppe af britiske ”gamle krager”, opdragede på Agatha Christies mere ”høflige” mordmysterier, hvor mord er aldrig forværres af eksempelvis voldtægter, og helt sikkert ikke nogle voldtægter, hvor grafikke fysiske detaljer bliver krævet, og den slags – yikes!

Og under vores gruppemøder læser vi højt hvert ord i teksten, og hver sætning, og oversætte det hele til engelsk, så er det ikke muligt at ”springe over” frække detaljer. Du godeste! Hjælp!!!!

I dag læser jeg for eksempel, at Sally, den nigerianske prostituerede var godt og grundigt voldtaget, enten før eller efter, hun blev dræbt:  det er politiet ikke helt sikkert på. Med forfatterindens ord, blev hun “voldtaget meget grundigt. Analt, vaginalt, oralt … Der var groft sagt ikke en kropsåbning, der var gået fri.”  Yikes!

Jeg kommer til den konklusion, at nogle paragraffer er for eksplicitte og jeg kan ikke bede gruppen om at læse dem højt og oversætte dem til engelsk ord efter ord, og jeg beslutter at producere censurede versioner af nogle paragraffer til fordel for medlemmerne – men det betyder endnu mere arbejde for mig – pokkers!!! Travlt travlt travlt!!!!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn.

De viser det 2. afsnit i en interessant dramadokumentarserie, der handler om den toptunede prostituerede Christine Keeler og Profumo-skandalen, der ramte overskrifterne i Storbritannien først i 1960’erne. John ”Jack” Profumo var dengang krigsminister i Harold Macmillans konservative regering.

Profumo havde en affære med Christine, som også dengang med jævne mellemrum gik i seng med en russisk marineattaché, der arbejdede på den russiske ambassade.

Lois og jeg vidste ikke, at Profumo havde en smag for fare, og godt kunne lide at have sex med Christine hvor de kunne blive opdaget når som helst.

Vi ser parret i gang med at have sex i Profumos ægteskabelige seng eksempelvis, mens Valerie, hans dejlige kone, var væk hjemmefra.

Pludselig begynder Profumos krypto-forsatstelefon at brumme, da parret er i sengen – det er premierministren med et spørgsmål om, om Vesttyskland kan få lov til at anskaffe en missil med kort rækkevidde, eller ej.  Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

Mens Profumo er på telefon i det påstødende værelse, ser vi Christine prøve nogle af Valeries tøj, perfume og læbestift.

Christine var lidt bekymret over, at hun havde tabt en forloren øjenvippe i sengen, men Profumo beroliger hende - det var husholderskens ansvar at rydde op i sengen, sagde han  - du godeste, sikke et vanvid (igen) !!!!

Senere ser vi Profumo tager hende med ind i sit ministerium i weekenden for at have sex med hende der, ikke på sit privatkontor (det der er tophemmeligt, siger han), men på det påstødende værelser, hvor maskinskriverner arbejdede i hverdagene.

Denne hændelse virker utrolig fra mit synspunkt. Jeg ved godt, at alle sikkerhedsregler er blevet massivt forstyrket siden da, og en vigtig mand som Profumo i de der fjerne dage måske ikke kunne været blevet udfordret af sikkerhedspersonale, but even so!

21:30 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjersyn, et specielt jule-udgave af én af vores yndlings-tv-quizzer, Only Connect, hvor to 3-mandshold dyster for at vise derese evner til lateral tækning. Programmets vært er den charmerende Victoria Coren Mitchell.

Lois og jeg får lidt af en chok, for at sige mildt, da vi ser quizzens åbnende sekvenser.  Quizzens charmerende vært, Victoria Coren Mitchell, har klædt sig ud i traditionel walesiske kvindekostume.

Programmet bliver regelmæssigt udsendt fra BBCs Cardiff-studier, hvilket Victoria ofte henviser til.

Min afdøde mor var waliser, og jeg har altid interesseret mig for walesiske vaner, påklædning og den slags.

Steve, min amerikanske svigerbror, har gjort lidt forskning på nettet om traditionelle walesiske koniske hatte, og har fundet ud af mange detaljer om dem, inklusive den typiske størrelser: normalt 8,5 op til 9,5 tommer høj (19-22cm) og 12,5 op til 15,5 tommer bred (32-40cm) (max).

Han sendte for nylig detaljer om et websted, hvor et charmerende billede kan ses: tre kvinder i fuld kostume, i gang med at drikke te i 1900 eller deromkring: eksperter tror, at disse hatte er verdens højeste, bredeste nogensinde, hvilket er interessant. Og jeg må indrømme - jeg er ikke 100% sikker på, om Victorias hat har slaget rekorden eller ej – det er juryen stadig ude om.

Walesiske kvinder i fuld kostume i gang med at drikke te i 1900 eller deromkring

Er disse walesiske hatte verdens største nogensinde?

Under aftenens program prøver Lois og jeg, som altid, at konkurrere med quizzens deltagere for at bevise til vores egen tilfredssstillelse, at vi ikke endnu lider af demens. Og vores sproglige færdigheder hjælper os med et par spørgsmål, hvor programmets deltagere bliver bedt om at komme med forbindelsen mellem 4 tilsyneladende uforbundne udtryk eller objekter.

disse navne har alle en først stavelse, der betyder ”tre” på deres oprindelige sprog:

hindi, kinesisk, japansk, og græsk

fra vores kendskab til dansk, ved Lois og jeg, at disse

svenske lånord (tungsten, swedes, ombudsman og smorgasbord)

har disse betydninger i det oprindelige sprog – altså på svensk.

”Simples” ha ha ha !!!

Der er et andet spørgsmål, hvor forbindelsen er 4 ting, flyselskaber har indført for at bespare penge: (1) udelukkende kvindelige kabinesætning (kvinder vejer mindre), ingen logos på affaldsposer (besparede 300.000 dollar om året), ingen oliver i salaterne (besparede 100.000 om året) og lettere sæder.

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

Men Victoria har det sidste ord, hvad angår vægten af kabinesætninger:

22:00 Vi går i seng. Vi vil hellere være gemt i sengen, end at være ude at hilse nytåret  ét eller andet sted ha ha ha – farvel, 2019. Zzzzzzzzzz!!!!