Tuesday January 21 2020

08:30 Lois and I tumble out of the shower cubicle and hurry down the stairs to the breakfast table. My friend, "Magyar" Mike normally shows up at 10 am to take part in our weekly "Hungarian hour". But in fact Mike calls me at 9 am - he says it's very foggy and the roads are very icy and slippery over there in the small town of Nailsworth where he lives, and he wants to postpone our session until next week, which is a bit of a shame. Mike has aged a lot over the past 2-3 years and he has become a bit of a nervous driver, I have to say.

I have told him many times I would be ready to meet him at his place instead of her at our place, but he seems reluctant to take this step. I suspect it is an important part of his sense of independence that he likes to brave the drive from Nailsworth on a regular basis. And it keeps him in practice behind the wheel, no doubt about that.

Flashback to 1994: "Magyar" Mike in happier times – on my first ever visit to Hungary:

me (left) with my friend "Magyar" Mike showcasing for the cameras

our newly acquired second-hand  "excellent worker" medals from the communist era

09:30 Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia, calls us unexpectedly on whatsapp - a video call, so Lois and I have to hurriedly arrange our clothing, comb our hair, etc - yikes!

Sarah's family spent the weekend moving from Ocean Reef into their new rental house in Lower Chittering, and Lily and Jessie, our 6-year-old twin grandchildren, are very eager to show Lois and me around their new home, and in particular  the room where we’ll be sleeping when we visit them later in the year - how cute they are though !!!

flashback to December 27 - Sarah, Francis and the twins on the beach:

yes, it is summer now in Australia – my god, what a crazy planet we live on !!!!

The family now has two cars - the old four-wheel-drive Land Rover and Sarah's little Hyundai, which she recently acquired. The school year starts in February in Australia, and the twins’ primary school is 5 minutes away by car, says Sarah. Her workplace is about 50 minutes away, but a new highway is about to be completed which will shorten the driving time by 20 minutes or so, which is nice.

12:00 We have lunch a little earlier than usual because Lois is going to a new exercise class with her friend Fran, a member of Lois' sect - the class takes place every Tuesday at 1 pm at the local swimming pool and its affiliated gym. A new project for Lois - and she hopes that joining the exercise class will help her solve her back and digestive problems.

After class, Lois plans to invite Fran to have a cup of tea with her in the gym’s cafeteria. Lois wants an opportunity to talk to her about Miss X, who has said she wants to be baptised and join the sect.

The sect’s local leadership want Lois and Fran to chat to Miss X a little, and explain to her what it means to join the sect - they are not entirely sure if Miss X, who is unemployed and living on benefits, is sincere or just wants to take advantage of the sect to get little sums of money for this or that, and the like. Miss X also tends to quarrel with other sect members, and she's not always polite to them, to put it mildly, if she doesn't get her way - yikes!

My goodness, what a problem! And I don't envy Lois and Fran, I have to say that. I have met Miss X a few times and my opinion is that she is a freeloader, but what do I know? Maybe I'm a little too cynical ha ha. I can certainly see that it is a real problem for all churches that they sometimes attract people who want to take advantage of their charity and generosity.

flashback to last year: Fran (no. 2 from right) in happier times

at one of the sect's Bible seminars

14:00 I have some alone time. I go to bed and take a little afternoon nap. Lois comes back from the gym at 3 pm and I get up. We relax on the couch with a cup of tea and a slice of bread with homemade/home-grown greengage jam - yum yum!

16:00 I sit down with the computer and read a few more chapters of Njal's saga, the Old Norse saga written in Iceland in the 14th century, although the saga itself and the events in it are much older. Scilla's U3A Old Nordic group will be holding its first group meeting since Christmas break, tomorrow afternoon here at our house, and Njal's saga is the group's current project.

At this point in the saga, half of medieval Iceland's population are trying to kill Gunnar, one of the main characters in the saga - which Lois and I find a little difficult to understand: he seems to be such a “darling little man” from our point of view: good grief, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

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, confusingly) come up with a new plan. First they're going to try to annoy Gunnar, thus provoking him into a fight, and then kill him.

The plan is as follows: one of “the Two Thorgeirs" will set out to seduce one of Gunnar's relatives - they choose the lovely Ormhilda, apparently because she is "just a girl who caint say no".

Thorgeir (right) with Ormhilda, the girl who

famously “caint” say no

All goes well with the seduction and Thorgeir doesn't run into any trouble continuing the affair for months afterwards: and Gunnar becomes increasingly annoyed as he sees the couple's sex life blossom and become more and more active  during Iceland’s summer months.

Flashback to 1949: Thorgeir and Ormhilda's affair was later showcased

as the love interest in a biopic about Gunnar's aggressive Irish dog, Sam

Gunnar is starting to get really mad now. This is not going to end well - I have no doubts about that! Yikes !!!!!

In chapters 74 and 75, which I read this afternoon, lawyers make yet another effort to settle the dispute peacefully at a session of the "Althing", the Parliament of Iceland. They finally come up with an agreement.

Yes, the feud is getting to look more and more like the “Brexit Saga”, a saga for our times, although nobody’s got killed in that one yet ha ha. Though there’s still time though – nine days to go!!!!

According to the new agreement worked at the Icelandic parliament between the warring parties, let’s call the agreement “Guxit” - Gunnar and his brother, Kolskegg, have to travel abroad and not return to Iceland until 3 winters have passed.

However, just as Gunnar is riding down to the quayside to get on board a ship, probably bound for Norway, the country where most Icelanders used to spend vacations in those days, his horse happens to stumble and throw him off its back.

In an emotional scene, Gunnar shows us his "softer" side. Suddenly and unexpectedly thrown to the ground by his horse, he catches sight of his home in Hlidarendi, and sees how beautiful it is. And he vows that he will never leave it and will never travel abroad, as the “Guxit” agreement stipulated.

Kudos Gunnar! And it is nice to see the man's "softer" side, after all the bloody accounts about all the men he killed with his massive halbard. And his charming wife, Hallgerd, is very happy to have him back, no doubt about that. But his mother is strangely silent about the whole turn of events.

Gunnar’s  mother isn't happy because she knows full well that the downside of Gunnar's decision to stay in Hlidarendi means that he will certainly die in the very near future, killed by one of his many enemies.

Poor Gunnar !!!!

Hlidarendi, Iceland, today, in sadder times

17:30 We have dinner, a little earlier than usual, because Lois is going to her sect's weekly Bible seminar, which takes place every Tuesday night in Brockworth library. She drives over to her friend Mari-Ann's house, and Mari-Ann and Alf will drive her over to Brockworth, where all 3 will attend the seminar.

Very encouraging to me that Lois has been driving a car twice today. For weeks she has depended on me to drive her here and there, because of her back problems. Let's hope that all that is now a thing of the past.

20:00 I have some alone time and spend the evening listening to the radio, an episode in the series "Word of Mouth", a series that deals with various language issues. The series is about topics I am interested about a lot, though the programme itself is often a little disappointing, I think.

A guest expert, Professor Dawn Archer, talks tonight about recent research into how to distinguish whether someone is telling the truth or not. And for the purpose of this radio show, she confines herself to linguistic aspects, and she does not cover, for example, body language, gestures, facial expressions, self-comforting hand gestures (such as stroking one's hair or hand, and the like), etc., which is a bit of a shame. I would very much like to learn more about those aspects too, I have to admit. But that has to wait for another day apparently.

It turns out that most of us are very poor at identifying liars, she says. Liars themselves, and also criminals, are much better at identifying other liars, it seems, than are the general public. A popular misconception is that the liar does not look us in the eye, for example, but the opposite is often the case, especially if they are not ashamed of the lies they are telling. They don't STOP looking at us!

Researchers apparently look primarily for changes in pitch, tone, speed, volume, and flow that occur when someone switches between speaking the truth, and lying. And liars often switch between different pronouns when they start lying, alternating perhaps between "me" and "us" or "them", or omitting pronouns and using passive constructions, and the like.

The programme's most interesting feature was audio recordings of two murderers, who immediately after committing their crimes took part in press conferences, set up by the police for them to appeal for more information from the public, but where they instead spent time trying to explain their (of course wholly innocent) part in the events, in an attempt to lead the public, journalists and police astray.

Ian Huntley, who murdered two girls in Soham in 2002, gave a lengthy speech at a press conference, much longer than the situation called for. The official purpose of the event was to encourage the public to help the police with any information they had, but Huntley gave a long, rambling account covering his angle on the story, a cunning mixture of truth and lies, as it turned out later.

He insisted that the girls had approached him, and not the other way around. And he insisted he didn't know the murdered girls, which was unnecessary. He had not been asked to confirm or deny anything. He came up with a lot of information, not all relevant, designed to keep talk limited to the subject-areas he considered "safe" from his own point of view and away from "unsafe topics", ie topics on which he would be forced to lie, and suchlike.

Mick Philpott, who killed 6 of his own children in a house fire in 2012, also did not stick to the "script" when he spoke at a police press conference immediately after the fire. He was supposed to just ask the public for any information they might give the police. But he started by thanking a lot of people for their support, including his surviving children, the police, the ambulance people, every Tom Dick and Harry. And in an emotional plea he begged the public and the press to leave his family in peace so they could mourn in private. He became very emotional - the audio recording suggests he was breaking down in tears, but from the video footage there was no evidence of tears in his face.

There were also many redundant repetitions in Philpott's speech to journalists, another sign of lying, says Prof. Archer.

Prof. Dawn Archer -

she can recognise a liar when she sees one, no doubt about that !!!!

Prof. Archer runs a lot of courses for policemen, to help them investigate further if they see any of these kinds of signs. She does not claim that they are conclusive evidence of guilt, but merely grounds for the police to investigate further, no more than that.

How fascinating! And maybe Lois and Fran should take one of Prof Archer's courses so they can decide if Miss X really wants to be baptised and join their sect, or whether she is just another  "freeloader" haha!

22:00 Lois returns from Brockworth. I go to bed, but Lois needs to relax and wind down after tonight's stimulating Bible seminar, so she stays up a bit longer. She jumps into bed with me at 10:30 pm or so. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz !!!!

Danish translation: tirsdag den 21. januar 2020

08:30 Lois og jeg vælter ud af brusekabinen og skynder os ned ad trappen til morgenmadbordet. Min ven, ”Magyar” Mike skal dukke op hos os kl 10 for at deltage i vores ugentlige ”ungarske time”. Men faktisk ringer Mike til mig kl 9 – han siger, det er meget tåget og vejene er meget glatte derover i den lille by Nailsworth, hvor han bor, og han har lyst til at udskyde vores session indtil næste uge, hvilket er lidt af en skam. Mike er ældes meget de seneste 2-3 år, og han er blevet til lidt af en nervøs fører, det må jeg nok sige.

Jeg har mange gange fortalt ham, jeg ville være klar til at mødes hos ham, i stedet for hos os, men han synes modvillig til at tage dette skridt. Jeg mistænker, det er en vigtig del af hans sans for uafhængighed, at han godt kan lide at trodse kørslen fra Nailsworth på regelmæssig grundlag. Og det holder ham i øvelse bag rettet, ingen tvivl om det.

Tilbageblik til 1994: ”Magyar” Mike i lykkeligere tider -  mit første nogensinde besøg i Ungarn:

mig (til venstre) med min ven ”Magyar” Mike i gang med at fremvise

vores nykøbte brugte ”udmærket arbejder”-medaljer fra den kommunistiske æra

09:30 Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien, ringer til os uforventet på whatsapp – et videoopkald, så Lois og jeg skal skynde os at ordne vores tøj, rede håret osv – yikes!

Sarahs familie brugte weekenden på at flytte ind til deres nye lejhus i Lower Chittering, og Lily og Jessie, vores 6-årige tvillingebørnebørn er meget ivrige for at vise Lois og mig deres nye hjem, og vise os, det værelse, hvor vi skal sove på, når vi besøger dem senere på året – hvor er de dog søde!!!

tilbageblik til den 27. december  - Sarah, Francis og tvillingerne på stranden:

det er sommer i Australien – du godeste, sikke en skør planet vi lever på!!!!

Familien har nu to biler – den gamle firehjulstrækkede Land Rover og Sarahs lille Hyundai, som hun skaffede for nylig. Skoleåret starter i februar i Australien, og tvillingernes folkeskole er 5 minutter væk med bil, siger Sarah. Hendes arbejdsplads er omkring 50 minutter væk, men en ny motorvej er ved at blive færdig, som vil afkorte kørselstiden med 20 minutter eller deromkring, hvilket er rart.

12:00 Vi spiser frokost lidt tidligere, end normalt, fordi Lois skal til en ny motionsklasse med sin veninde Fran, et medlem af Lois’ sekt – klassen finder sted hver tirsdag kl 13 på den lokale svømmepøl og dens tilknyttede motionscenter. En ny projekt for Lois – og hun håber, at dét, at deltage i motionsklassen vil hjælpe hende med at løse hendes problemer med ryggen og fordøjelsessystem.

Efter klassen planlægger Lois at invitere Fran til at drikke en kop te med hende i motionscentrets cafeteriet. Lois vil have en lejlighed til at snakke med hende om Frøken X, der har sagt, hun har lyst til at blive døbt og slutte sig til sekten.

Sektens lokale lederskab vil have Lois og Fran til at tale lidt med Frøken X, og forklare hende dét, det betyder at blive medlem af sekten – de er ikke helt sikre på, om Frøken X, der er arbejdsløs, er oprigtig, eller bare vil udnytte sekten til at få små summer penge for dette eller hint, og den slags. Frøken X har også tendens til at skændes med andre sektmedlemmer, og hun er ikke altid høflig overfor dem, for at sige mildt, hvis hun ikke få sin vilje – yikes!

Du godeste, sikke et problem! Og jeg misunder ikke Lois og Fran, det må jeg nok sige. Jeg har mødt Frøken X et par gange, og min mening er, at hun er en nasser, men hvad ved jeg? Måske er jeg lidt for kynisk ha ha. Jeg kan se, det er et reelt problem for alle kirker, at de nogle gange tiltrykker folk, der har lyst til at udnytte deres menneskekærlighed og generositet.

tilbageblik til sidste år: Fran (nr 2 fra højre) i lykkeligere tider

til ét af sektens bibelseminarer

14:00 Jeg har lidt alenetid og går i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Lois kommer tilbage fra motionscentret kl 15 og jeg står op. Vi slapper af i sofaen med en kop te og et stykke brød med hjemmelavet reineclaude-marmelade – yum yum!

16:00 Jeg sætter mig med computeren og læser endnu et par kapitler af Njals saga, den oldnordiske saga, skrevet i Island i det 14. århundrede, selvom selve sagaen og begivenhederne derinde er meget meget ældre.  

Scillas U3A oldnordiske gruppe skal holde sit første gruppemøde siden julepausen i morgen eftermiddaag her hos os, og Njals saga er gruppens nuværende projekt.

På dette tidspunkt i sagaen 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, og dermed at provokere ham til et slagsmål og dræbe 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”.

Thorgeir (til højre) sammen med Ormhilda, den pige, der

berømt 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: og Gunnar bliver mere og mere irriteret, da han ser parrets sexliv blive mere og mere aktivt i løbet af sommeren.

Tilbageblik til 1949: Thorgeir og Ormhildas affære var senere fremvist

som kærlighedsinteressen i en film, der handlede om Gunnars aggressive irske hund, Sam

Dette vil ikke ende godt - det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl om! Yikes!!!!!

I kapitlerne 74 og 75, som jeg læser i eftermiddag, gør advokater endnu en indsats for at bilægge striden fredeligt. På en session af ”Altinget”, Islands parlament.

Ifølge den nye aftale mellem de stridende partier må Gunnar og hans bror, Kolskegg, rejse til udlandet og ikke vende tilbage, indtil 3 vintre er gået.

Gunnar forbereder sig til at rejse med skib, sandsynligvis til Norge, det land, hvor de fleste islændinge dengang plejede at holde ferier. Men mens han rider sammen med sin bror mod kajen,  snubler hans hest tilfældigvis og kaster ham af.

I en følelsesmæssig scene, viser Gunnar os sin ”blødere” side. Pludselig og uforventet kastet på jorden får han øje på sit hjemsted i Hlidarendi, og ser hvor smukt det er. Og han lover, at han aldrig vil forlade det og aldrig vil rejse til udlandet.

Ros til dig Gunnar! Og der er rart at se mandens ”blødere” side, efter alle de blodige beretninger om, alle de mænd, han har dræbt ved hjælp af sin massiv hellebard. Og hans charmerende kone, Hallgerd, er meget glad for at få ham tilbage, ingen tvivl om det. Men hans mor er underligt tavs over det hele.

Moren ved godt, at ulempen ved Gunnars beslutning at blive boende i Hlidarendi betyder imidlertid, at han helt bestemt kommer til at dø i det nærmeste fremtid, dræbt af én eller anden af sine mange fjender.

Stakkels Gunnar!!!!

Hlidarendi, Island i dag, i mere vemodige tider

17:30 Vi spiser aftensmad, lidt tidligere, end normalt, fordi Lois skal til sin sekts ugentlige bibelseminar, der finder sted hver tirsdag aften i byen Brockworths bibliotek. Hun kører over til sin veninde Mari-Anns hus, og Mari-Ann og Alf skal køre hende over til Brockworth, hvor alle 3 vil deltage i seminaret.

Meget opmuntrende for mig, at Lois har kørt i bil to gange i dag. I flere uger har hun bedt mig om at køre hende her og der, på grund af sine rygproblemer. Lad os håbe bare på, at alt det der er en ting af fortiden.

20:00 Jeg har lidt alenetid og bruger aftenen på at lytte lidt til radioen, et afsnit i serien ”Fra mund til mund”, der handler om forskellige sprogspørgsmål. Serien handler om emner, jeg interesserer mig meget for, selvom selve programmet ofte er lidt skuffende, synes jeg.

En gæstekspert, Professor Dawn Archer, taler om nylig forskning, der kredser om, hvordan man kan skelne, om nogen taler sandheden eller ej. Og til formål af dette radioprogram, begrænser hun sig til sproglige aspekter, og dækker ikke for eksempel kropsprog, gestusser, ansigtsudtryk, selvforkælende håndbevægelser (eksempelvis stryge ens hår eller hånd og den slags) osv, hvilket er lidt af en skam. Jeg vil meget gerne lære mere om de aspekter, det må jeg indrømme. Men det må blive en anden dag, lader det til.

Det viser sig, at de fleste af os er meget dårlige til at identificere løgnerne, siger hun. Selve løgnere, også forbrydere, er meget dygtigere til at identificere andre løgnere, lader det til. En populær misforståelse er, at løgneren ikke se os i øjene, for eksempel, men det modsatte er ofte tilfældet, især hvis de skammer sig ikke over løgnen.

Forskere leder efter forandringer på tonefald, stemmeleje, hastighed, volume, og strøm, når nogen skifter mellem det, at tale sandheden, og det, at lyve.

Hvad angår sprog, plejer løgnere ofte at skifte mellem forskellige pronominer, når de starter at lyve, skiftende måske mellem ”mig” og ”os” eller ”dem”, eller udeladende pronominer og bruger passive konstruktioner, og den slags.

Programmets mest interessante indslag var lydoptagelser af to mordere, der umiddelbart efter deres forbrydelser (uløst på det tidspunkt), gav pressekonferencer for at forklare deres (uskyldige) del i hændlingerne for at lede journalisterne og politiet på vildspor.

Ian Huntley, der i 2002 myrdede to piger i Soham, holdt en lang tale på en pressekonference, meget længere, end situationen krævede – formålet var, at han opmuntrede offentligheden til at hjælpe politiet med nogle informationer som helst, de havde. Men Huntley gav en lang, spredt beretning, en blanding af sandhed og løgne, som det viste sig senere.

Han insisterede på, at pigerne havde henvendt sig til ham, da han talte med dem på sin dørtrin, og ikke omvendt. Og han insisterede på, at han ikke kendte de dræbte piger, hvilket var unødvendigt.  Han var ikke blevet bedt om at bekræfte eller nægte noget som helst. Han kom med en masse oplysninger, ikke alle relevante, sandsynligvis at holde emnet indenfor de områder, han betragtede som ”sikre” fra sit eget synspunkt, og væk fra ”usikre emner”, dvs områder, hvor han ville blive tvunget for at lyve, og lignende.

Mick Philpott, der dræbte 6 af sine egne børn i en husbrand i 2012, også holdt sig ikke til ”scriptet”, da han gav sin pressekonference umiddelbart efter branden. Det va meningen, at han bare skulle bede offentligheden om information, de kunne give politiet. Han startede med at takke en masse folk for deres støtte, inklusive sine overlevende børn, politiet, ambulancefolkene, gud og hver mand. Og han tiggede med offentligheden og pressen om at lade sin familie i fred og ro, så de kunne sørge i privat. Han blev meget følelsesmæssig – audiooptagelsen foreslår, at han brød sammen i gråd, men set ud fra videooptagelsen var der ingen tegn på  tårer i ansigtet.

Der var også mange overflødige gentagelser i Philpotts tale til journalister, endnu et tegn af løgne, siger Prof. Archer.

Prof. Dawn Archer –

hun kan kender en løgner, når hun ser én, ingen tvivl om det!!!!

Prof. Archer styrer en masse kurser for politimænd, for at hjælpe dem med at undersøge videre, hvis de ser nogle af disse slags tegn. Hun påstår ikke, at de er fældende bevis på skyld, men blot grunder til at politiet at undersøge videre, ikke mere, end det.

Hvor fascinerende! Og måske bør Lois og Fran tage ét af Prof Archers kurser, så de kan beslutte, om Frøken X oprigtigt har lyst til at blive døbt og slutte sig til deres sekt eller forblige endnu én ”nasser” haha!

22:00 Lois kommer tilbage fra Brockworth. Jeg går i seng, men Lois trænger til at slappe af og geare ned efter aftenens stimulerende bibelseminar, så hun bliver oppe lidt længere. Hun hopper op i sengen til mig kl 22:30 eller deromkring. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!