Wednesday January 15 2020

09:30 Lois and I drive over to Leckhampton to buy some ready-made meals at CookShop: something for tonight when we have invited our friend Gill to dine with us, and also for future evenings whenever we are too tired to think about cooking something. On the way, we swing by the Longfields charity shop to donate some of Lois' old unwanted books.

Finally, we relax with a cup of coffee and a pastry in CookShop: the café itself is already chock-full of old crows, so we have to sit at one of the two extra tables in the shop itself, next to the entrance.

Why do all these old crows want to be out of their houses so early when they can lie in bed until the middle of the day if they feel like it. It is so thoughtless and selfish, and it ruins things for all us other old crows - what madness !!!!

Lois and I relax in CookShop with a cup of coffee

and a pastry: we have to sit in one of the store's two “overflow” tables,

because the shop’s café itself is already full of other old crows, damn it!

12:00 Lunch at home, and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. Meanwhile, Lois rushes into the kitchen to begin preparations for this year's batch of homemade orange marmalade. She bought the Seville oranges she needs when we were at the local Sainsbury’s supermarket last weekend.

15:30 Gill, a member of Lois' sect, rings at the door. She has agreed to tune our piano again, which she does regularly every 6 months or so. Soon, the house starts to resonate with loud noises as Gill hits the keys, playing loud scales and the like. I hide in Sarah's old room at the back of the house, and jump up on my exercise bike.

This year I basically have two New Year's resolutions: (1) getting fit again so I can keep up with Lois on our holiday in Australia later this year haha, and (2) improving my oral Danish which is quite pathetic, I have to admit.

I come up with a plan – to cycle 6 miles on the bike several times a week: and, as I cycle 18 mph, doing 6 miles takes 20 minutes - you do the math haha! And each of my oral Danish lessons consists of 4 dialogues. My plan while cycling is to listen to each dialogue (and parrot it) repeatedly for 5 minutes, and then move on to the next dialogue - “simples” !!!!

Meanwhile, Gill continues to tune the piano. I feel a little angry at myself once in a while that I no longer play the piano as often as I used to before. I can read music, but I find it more fun to play by ear - pop songs, jazz, "standards", popular classical themes and the like. But lately I've gotten a little tired of all that, and I'm not sure what direction I want my piano playing to go. So the jury’s still out on that one.

flashback to 2010: my piano playing skills in happier times:

I play on Victorian art critic John Ruskin's old piano in his mansion Brantwood

next to Coniston Water, in preparation for playing piano

at our daughter Sarah's wedding which was to take place there

17:00 I sit down on the couch and look at my smartphone. I see that our daughter Alison in Haslemere, Surrey, has posted a charming photo up on "Insta". The family has one of these new-fangled robot vacuum cleaners, and every morning, she has to clear up the house floors a bit so the robot can do its job. Today she found 6 footballs – my god, our 3 grandchildren are crazy about football, no doubt about that - what a madness !!!

Our grandchildren in Haslemere are crazy about football, no doubt about that !!!

NB to the left we see 9-year-old Isaac's music stand (he’s learning to play the violin)

and to the right Ed's upscale Internet-connected "Peloton" fitness bike - yikes!

17:30 Gill finishes tuning the piano and settles down with Lois in the living room. I make a cup of tea for them and rush into the dining room to lay the table. We sit down to eat at 6pm, one of the ready meals Lois and I bought this morning at CookShop - Lois and Gill want to attend their sect's monthly business meeting, taking place tonight at 7:30 pm in Tewkesbury Library. Gill will drive Lois over there and Alf, another sect member, will drive her back again at the end of the evening.

We have one of the ready-made dishes Lois and I bought

this morning at CookShop - cottage pie - yum yum!

19:00 Lois and Gill leave and I have some alone time. I sneak into the kitchen and steal a look at what Lois has been doing in the kitchen earlier in the day - a bowl full of orange slices, ready to be turned into orange marmalade tomorrow - yum yum!

I sneak into the kitchen and glance at what

Lois has been doing in the kitchen earlier in the day

20:00 I spend the evening watching some television, the first hour of an interesting 2-hour documentary on the PBS-America channel, about James Watson, the American molecular biologist, who proudly said he had spent all his life thinking, except when he was playing tennis. My god, what a man - it sounds like the perfect life (apart from the tennis ha ha)!

At the end of World War II, physicists ruled the world - Einstein's theories and the atomic bomb and suchlike. The physicists of the time, however, felt that human life was too complicated, and they did not want to go there. Watson and Crick believed otherwise, as is well known. And their discoveries are right up there with Darwin's, the experts say.

Watson and Crick, however, believed that genetics were even more important than evolution, and better and more useful generally than just reconstructing evolutionary trees based on fossils and suchlike. And they were right, of course

Watson spent a number of years at Cambridge University in the early 1950’s, where, in collaboration with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins (“not to mention” Rosalind Franklin haha), he came up with a theory about DNA's double helix structure - all 3 men were awarded Nobel-prizes 9 years later (Franklin was already dead, of cancer, most probably because of all her work with x-rays, etc.) but no one is quite sure if she, as a woman, would have been "qualified" to receive the award or not).

It's a good thing that Lois is out of the house because she would have had smoke coming out of her nostrils (and/or ears) over Watson and his opinions about female scientists, on women in general, and especially on Rosalind Franklin's contribution to the project.

Watson later wrote in his book on the subject, "The Double Helix," that he used to wonder what "Rosy" (a nickname she hated!) would look like if she took off her glasses and did something novel with her hair. My god, what madness !!!

It was Franklin, already in her 20’s probably the world's most gifted X-ray crystallographer, who came up with the incredibly high-quality x-ray image that led to the successful analysis of DNA's double helix structure. But she did not publish the photo immediately - she wanted to check her work thoroughly over and over again before she went public.

As the only woman on the project, she felt a little isolated, and excluded from their "boys' club" of discussing their ideas in the evenings in bars and pubs. And she was anxious that her work would not be derided as "just woman’s play", which would in turn reflect badly on other female scientists.

The men in the project, especially Watson but also Crick, on the other hand, were impatient and very competitive - and they were very eager to disprove the analysis of an American scientist named Linus Pauling, who mistakenly believed in a triple helix structure.

There was an incident where Franklin came close to hitting both Watson and Wilkins after Watson had burst into her lab without knocking, thus interrupting her concentration. After that, Wilkins decided to show Franklin's photo to both Watson and Crick without her permission, which was a major breach of ethical practice. But the rest is history.

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

22:00 Lois returns from Tewkesbury. I go to bed, but Lois stays up for another hour to gear down and relax after tonight's stimulating business meeting. Zzzzzzzzzzz !!!!

Danish translation: onsdag den 15. januar 2020

09:30 Lois og jeg kører over til Leckhampton for at købe nogle færdigretter i CookShop: noget til i aften, når vi har inviteret Gill til at spise sammen med os, og også til fremtidige aftener, hvor vi er for trætte til at tænke på at lave mad. På vej smutter vi ind i Longfields-velgørenhedsbutik for at donere nogle af Lois’ gamle uønskede bøger.

Til sidst slapper vi af med en kop kaffe og et wienerbrød i CookShop: selve caféen er allerede stuvende fuld af gamle krager, så vi må sidde ved ét af de to ekstra borde der står i selve butikken, ved siden af indgangen.

Hvorfor har alle disse gamle krager lyst til at komme så tidligt ud af huset, når de kan ligge inde i sengen indtil midt på dagen, hvis det har de lyst til. Det er så ubetænksomt, og det ødelægger tingene for alle os andre gamle krager – sikke et vanvid !!!!

Lois og jeg slapper af i CookShop med en kop kaffe

og et wienerbrød: vi må sidde i ét af selve butikkens to ekstra bord,

fordi caféen allerede er stuvende fuld af andre gamle krager – pokkers!

12:00 Frokost herhjemme, og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. I mellemtiden skynder Lois sig ind i køkkenet for at starte forberedelser på dette års krukker af hjemmelavet appelsinmarmelade. Hun købte de nødvendige seville-appelsiner, da vi var i det lokale Sainsburys-supermarked i weekenden.

15:30 Gill, et medlem af Lois’ sekt, ringer på døren. Hun har aftalt at stemme vores klaver, hvilket hun gør hver 6. måneder eller deromkring. Snart begynder huset at genlyde med høje lyde, som Gill rammer tangenterne, spiller højlydte skalaer og den slags.  Jeg gemmer mig på Sarahs gamle værelse i bagsiden af huset, og hopper op på min kondicykel.

I år har jeg grundlæggende to nytårsforsæt: (1) at blive rask igen så jeg kan holde trit med Lois på vores ferie i Australien senere på året haha, og (2) at forbedre mit mundlige dansk, som er ganske elendigt – det må jeg indrømme.

Jeg kommer med en plan – at cykle 6 miles på kondicyklen flere dage om ugen: jeg cykler i 18 miles i timen, så dét, at tilbagelægge 6 miles, tager 20 minutter – you do the math haha! Og mine mundlige dansk-lektioner består af 4 dialoger. Min plan er at lytte til hver dialog (og efterplapre den) i gentagende gange i 5 minutter, og så komme videre til den næste dialog – ”simples” !!!!

I mellemtiden fortsætter Gill at stemme klaveret. Jeg føler mig lidt sur på mig selv engang imellem, at jeg ikke længere spiller klaver så ofte som før. Jeg kan læse musik, men jeg finder det sjovere at spille efter gehør – popsange, jazz, ”standarder”, populære klassiske temaer og lignende. Men på det sidste er jeg blevet lidt træt af alt det der, og jeg er usikker på, hvilke retning jeg vil have mit klaverspil at gå i. Pokkers! Så er juryen stadig ude om alt det der.

tilbageblik til 2010: mine klaverspillende færdigheder i lykkeligere tider:

jeg spiller den viktorianske kunstkritik John Ruskins gamle klaver i hans palads Brantwood

ved siden af Coniston Water, i forberedelse på at spille klaver

til vores datter Sarahs bryllup, der fandt sted i paladset

17:00 Jeg sætter mig til rette i sofaen og kigger lidt på min smartphone. Jeg ser, at vores datter Alison i Haslemere, Surrey, har lagt et charmerende foto op på ”Insta”. Familien har en af disse nymodens robot-støvsugere, og hun skal hver formidddag, rydde op lidt på husets gulve, så robotten kan klare sit arbejde. I dag fandt hun 6 fodbolde – du godeste, vores 3 børnebørn er vilde med fodbold, ingen tvivl om det – sikke et vanvid!!!

Vores børnebørn i Haslemere er vilde med fodbold, ingen tvivl om det!!!

NB til venstre ser vi 9-årige Isaacs nodestativ (han lærer at spille violin)

og til højre Eds toptunede internet-forbundede ”Peloton” kondicykel – yikes!

17:30 Gill stemmer færdigt klaveret og sætter sig til rette med Lois i stuen. Jeg laver en kop te for dem og skynder mig ind i spisestuen for at dække bordet. Vi sætter os til at spise kl 18, én af de færdigretter Lois og jeg købte i morges i CookShop – Lois og Gill ønsker at deltage i deres sekts månedlige forretningsmøde, der finder sted i aften kl 19:30 i byen Tewkesburys bibliotek. Gill vil køre Lois derover, og Alf, et andet sektmedlem, skal køre hende tilbage igen ved slutningen af aftenen.

Vi spiser én af de færdigretter, Lois og jeg købte i morges i CookShop –

cottage pie – yum yum!

19:00 Lois og Gill tager af sted, og jeg har lidt alenetid. Jeg sniger ind i køkkenet og kaster et stjålent blik på dét, Lois har været i gang med at lave i køkkenet tidligere på dagen – en skål propfyldt af appelsineskiver, klar til at blive omdannet til appelsinmarmelade i morgen – yum yum!

Jeg sniger ind i køkkenet og kaster et stjålent blik på dét,

Lois har været i gang med at lave i køkkenet tidligere på dagen

20:00 Jeg bruger aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn, den 1. time af en interessant 2-timerlang dokumentarfilm på PBS-America-kanalen, der handler om James Watson, den amerikanske molekylærbiolog, som sagde stolt, at han havde tilbragt hele sit liv på at tænke, bortset fra dengang, han spillede tennis. Du godeste, sikke en mand – det lyder som det perfekte liv (bortset fra tennissen ha ha)!

Ved slutningen af den 2. verdenskrig regerede fysikerne verden – Einsteins teorier og den atomiske bombe og den slags. De daværende fysikere mente imidlertid, at det menneske liv var for kompliceret, og de havde ikke lyst til at gå dertil. Watson og Crick mente ellers, som er velkendt. Og deres opdagelser er deroppe med Darwins, siger eksperterne, men Watson og Crick mente, at genetikken var endnu vigtigere, end evolution og bedre end dét at analysere evolutionære træer på grundlag af fossiler og den slags. Og det havde de ret i selvfølgelig

Watson tilbragte en række år på Cambridge University først i 1950’erne, hvor han i samarbejde med Francis Crick og Maurice Wilkins (for ikke at nævne Rosalind Franklin haha) kom med et teori om DNAs dobbelthelix-struktur - alle 3 mænd fik tildelt nobel-priser 9 år senere (Franklin var allerede død, af kræft, højt sandsynligvis på grund af sin arbejde med røntgen osv) men ingen er helt sikker på, om hun som kvinde ville have været ”kvalificeret” til at få prisen eller ej).

Det er en god ting, at Lois er ude af huset, fordi hun ville have røget i totterne på Watson og hans meninger om kvindelige videnskabsfolk, om kvinder generelt, og især om Rosalind Franklins bidrag til projektet. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!

Watson skrev senere i sin bog om emnet, ”The Double Helix”, at han undrede sig, hvordan "Rosy" (et kælenavn, hun hadede!) ville se ud, hvis hun tog brillerne af og gjorde noget nyt med sit hår. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!

Det var Franklin, der i 20’erne højt sandsynligvis var verdens mest begavede røntgenkrystallograf, der kom med det utroligt høj-kvalitet foto, som førte til den succésfulde analyse af DNAs dobbelthelixstruktur. Men hun publicerede ikke fotoet umiddelbart – hun havde lyst til at tjekke sit arbejde gennemgående for hundrede og syttende gang først.

Som projektets eneste kvinde følte hun sig lidt isoleret, og udelukket fra deres ”boys’ club”, hvori hendes mandlige kollegaer diskuterede deres idéer om aftenen på barer og pubber. Og hun var ivrig efter at hendes arbejde ikke bliver nedsablet som ”bare kvindeleg”.

Mændene i projektet, især Watson men også Crick på den anden side, var utålmodige og meget konkurrenceagtige – og de var meget ivrige efter at modbevise analysen af en amerikansk forsker ved navn Linus Pauling, som fejlagtigt troede på en tredobbelhelixstruktur.

Efter en hændelse, hvor Franklin var tæt på at slå både Watson og Wilkins for at brase ind i hendes laboratorium uden at banke på døren, og dermed afbryde hendes koncentration, besluttede Wilkins at vise Franklins foto til Watson og Crick uden hendes tilladelse, hvilket var et større brud af etisk praksis for videnskabsfolkene. Men resten er historie.

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

22:00 Lois kommer tilbage fra Tewkesbury. Jeg går i seng, men Lois bliver oppe endnu i en time for at geare ned og slappe af efter aftenens stimulerende forretningsmøde. Zzzzzzzzzzz!!!!