Wednesday January 22 2020

09:00 Lois and I start cleaning up and vacuuming all over the house, because Scilla's U3A Old Norse group is holding its regular fortnightly  meeting here this afternoon, the group's first meeting after its Christmas break, and we don't want members to conclude that Lois and I live like pigs, which is actually close to the truth haha.

In particular, I spend time cleaning the bathroom, although so far no member has asked to use the toilet - but you can't be too careful considering they are all old crows haha ​​(again) !!!!! But maybe some of them have invested in a "U3A group meeting pal", in line with a "stadium pal" of the kind Howard used in the queue for the cinema in the Big Bang Theory – the device apparently has an 18 inch tube and keeps your calf warm at the same time, as Howard used to say. Happy times !!!

TV's Big Bang Theory's Howard (right) -

a devoted “stadium pal” addict in queues for the cinema

and similar emergencies

12:00 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a short afternoon nap. I get up and we get ready to take part in Scilla's U3A Old Norse group meeting. I move our car to maximize the parking spaces in front of the house, and move chairs from the living room into the dining room and the like. Lois puts the kettle on for tea and coffee. Busy busy busy !!!

14:30 Scilla and the group members show up on time and we read a few chapters of Njal's saga, written in Old Norse in the 14th century, though the saga itself and the events in it date from a few centuries earlier.

At this point in the saga, half of medieval Iceland's population is 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: my god, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

Njal's saga - written in Iceland in Old Norse in the 14th century

Yes, half the population is gunning for (or “swording for”) Gunnar - how long can he survive? So far, he seems to have a charmed life.

Lawyers in Iceland's parliament, the so-called Althing, recently struck a deal between Gunnar's friends and enemies, and part of the agreement was for Gunnar to leave the country for three winters, the so-called "Guxit" agreement. But Gunnar is a home lover, to put it mildly, and so far he has refused to leave his farm.

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. They've heard that Gunnar is "home alone" at the moment - his brother, and his friends and employees, are all out of the house, on some excursion or other, so Mord & co decide to take this unexpected opportunity to kill Gunnar once and for all. They gather a group of about 12 friends and set off for Gunnar's farm.

Unfortunately, on the way to Gunnar's farmhouse with all their weapons, Mord and his men start to feel incredibly sleepy. I can relate to that - I often feel a little sleepy, especially when I have been asked to do something I am not really keen on. I suspect one of the group started yawning and soon the others were doing the same. And maybe they had just eaten a satisfying lunch of some sort.

They decide to tether their horses in a wood, hang their shields on some nearby branches, dump their weapons on the ground, lie down and take a gigantic afternoon nap. Unfortunately, while lying there snoring, a local shepherd happens to swings by and sees them, and he manages to forewarn Gunnar that his enemies are in the neighbourhood.

One of the "two Thorgeirs" (the so-called "namesakes") taking a "power nap" - 

but I'm not quite sure which one of the two is pictured here:  

the jury still out on that one

So this latest plot to kill Gunnar comes to nothing, like all the previous ones.

Our U3A team members are eager to criticise the saga at this point. The legend says that Mord and his men took their afternoon naps in a wood.

In fact, some of our group members have travelled to Iceland in the past, and they say there are almost no trees in the entire country. And the same was true centuries ago - Icelanders had to import all their timber from Norway if they wanted to build houses, ships and the like, which must have been a bit annoying, to put it mildly.

a typical medieval Icelandic landscape, with not one tree in sight

But I silence the critics with a simple, trenchant, comment - it is actually much more exciting if a group of armed men on some vicious mission or other can hide in a wood to take an afternoon snooze.

It would not have been very exciting if Gunnar just had to look out the window to see his enemies in the distance lying down and taking a quick "power nap". And all our group members agree with me, when they hear my views, I have to say that!

16:00 The group meeting ends, and the members have to leave. Lois and I relax with a cup of tea on the couch. We are exhausted, as usual, after an "Old Norse day" - yikes, we are getting old, no doubt about that.

18:00 We have dinner, one of the ready meals we bought recently in CookShop: chicken ham and leek pie - yum yum!

one of the ready meals we bought recently in CookShop:

chicken ham and leek pie - yum yum!

During the meal, we talk a bit about Miss X, an unemployed women living on benefits who has insisted she wants to join Lois' sect. The local leadership of the sect has asked Lois and Fran, Lois's friend, to meet with Miss Xand try to determine if Miss Xis sincere or not. In my opinion, Miss X is just a freeloader who wants to join the sect so she can get little sums of money now and again to pay for this and that, but I'm just an old cynic, I know that.

Lois says she expects herself and Fran to have to meet with Miss X several times over the course of several weeks to "instruct" her in the sect's doctrines and "prepare" her for baptism. I suggest the café attached to the town’s  "Everyman Theatre" as an appropriate venue, but I must admit, I feel a little annoyed at the thought that the sect's local leadership has relinquished this responsibility and handed it to Lois and Fran, women who are both in their 70’s, and who have already taken on a lot of small ongoing tasks on behalf of the sect’s members. Grrrr !!!!!

And the worst part is that I'm almost sure it's all going to be a bit of a waste of time from Lois' point of view. I find it hard to believe that Miss X is truly sincere, I must say, or that she has enough intelligence to grasp the sect's complicated doctrines, but we'll see. Maybe Clare will surprise me haha.

20:00 We spend the rest of the evening watching some television, two programmes designed to improve our health and welfare - yikes! How many more of these can Lois and I cope with? !!!!

Want to know how best to cut down on snacks during work day? Well....

Staff at a busy Cardiff medical centre were separated into two groups: one stopped snacking and drank peppermint tea instead, and the other group had to remove a number of padlocks before they could access the snack cupboard, which took 25 seconds on average. The results were the same for both groups - calorie consumption dropped by 60%, but the main factor was that staff became more aware of what they were doing to themselves by snacking on and off all day, the programme's experts say.

One of the show's hosts, former TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, apparently suffers a lot of stress (probably because he has had to reinvent himself as a health expert, an environment which is only slightly less competitive than the TV chef world).

During tonight's show, Hugh finds that lying in cold water in a bathtub every day reduced his stress levels by 50% or so, an experience that researchers have confirmed in several studies, it seems. My god, what a crazy world we live in !!!!!

What to do about people who spend too much time staring at electronic screens? A busy mother discovered that if she swapped her smartphone for one with a screen limited to black-and-white images, she used it far less often - “far less exciting ", she said.

And the programme proves that electronic abdominal muscle toner belts do not work. The programme's "guinea pigs" discovered that after several weeks they were no closer to developing "six-pack" abdomens than when they started. No surprise there!!! The programme contacted the product's manufacturers, who, however, insisted that the product works if used in conjunction with an appropriate system of healthy eating and exercise haha ​​!! To get any benefits you would have to crank the toners level up to "UN- defined torture level" setting, apparently.

no six packs in sight - oh dear!

Enough said - but Lois and I are not quite sure which of these initiatives we are inclined to adopt - life is so confusing for us old crows, I have to admit. But cold baths are out of the question at our age we think haha! But we’ll see haha ​​(again) – it’s our shower day tomorrow haha ​​!!!!

21:00 We continue to watch some television, an interesting edition of the series "Trust me, I'm a doctor" - the programme's hosts are Michael Mosley and his team of TV doctors.

The programme confirms that a diet consisting, among other things, of a combination of high fibre foods (onions, whole grains, leeks, berries and the like), plus fermented foods (kombucha (?), kimchi (?), sauerkraut and the like) plus probiotic yogurts, can improve our mental health in both the short and the long run: the stress levels of the guinea pigs decreased by 31%, for example.

But Lois and I are a little tired of being lectured about our diet, I have to admit.

For us, the most interesting part of the programme is a study on how best to wash up, if you want to remove as many bacteria as possible from dishes, etc after meals. It seems that 50% of the British, like Lois and me, have not invested in a dishwasher.

It turns out that the temperature of the water is not very important - it does not have to be very hot. The most important thing is the power of our scrubbing action. And it is also important to leave  the dishes etc., to dry naturally, and not to use a tea-towel that simply contributes extra "fresh" bacteria - my god! This is one idea Lois and I can adopt immediately, starting from tomorrow. We kind of knew about this already, but it really brings it home to us when we see all the extra bacteria under a microscope on our TV screen - yuck, nasty !!!

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz !!!!!

Danish translation: onsdag den 22. januar 2020

09:00 Lois og jeg går i gang med at rydde op og støvsuge overalt i huset, fordi Scillas U3A oldnordiske gruppe holder dens regelmæssige fjortendagsmøde i eftermiddag hos os, gruppens første møde efter sin julepause, og vi vil ikke have, at medlemmerne kommer til den konklusion, at Lois og jeg lever som svin, hvilket er tæt på sandheden haha.

Især bruger jeg tid på at gøre badeværelset rent, selvom  hidtil har intet medlem lånede toilettet – men man kan ikke være for forsigtigt i betragtning af, at de alle er gamle krager haha (igen) !!!!! Men måske har nogle af dem investerede i en ”U3A møde-pal”, på linje med en ”stadium pal” af den slags, Howard brugte i køen til biografen i Big Bang Theory – det har en 18 tommers tube, og holder din læg varm på samme tid, plejede Howard at sige. Lykkelige tider!!!

TVsBig Bang Theorys Howard (til højre) –

en hengivet ”stadium pal”-vanebruger i køer til biografen

og lignende nødsituationer

12:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en kort eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op og vi forbereder os på at deltage i Scillas U3A oldnordiske møde. Jeg rykker vores bil for at maksimere parkeringspladserne foran huset, og rykke stole fra stuen inde til spisestue og den slags. Lois sætter vand over til te og kaffe. Travlt travlt travlt!!!

14:30 Scilla og gruppemedlemmerne dukker op til tide og vi læser et par kapitler af Njals saga, skrevet på oldnordisk i det 14. århundrede, selvom selve sagaen og begivenhederne derinde daterer fra et par århundrede tidligere.

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.

Advokater i Islands parlament, det såkaldte Altinget, slog en aftale for nylig mellem Gunnars venner og fjender, og en del af aftalen var, at Gunnar skulle forlade landet i tre vintre, den såkaldte ”Guxit”-aftale. Men Gunnar er en hjemelsker, for at sige mildt, og hidtil har han nægtet at rejse.

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. De har hørt, at Gunnar er ”hjemme alene” for tiden – hans bror, og hans venner og ansatte, er ude af huset, på en eller andet udflugt, så Mord & Ko beslutter at benytte denne uforventede lejlighed for at dræbe ham engang for alle. De samler en gruppe af omkring 12 venner og tager af sted i retning af Gunnars gård.

Desværre på vej til Gunnars stuehus med alle deres våben, starter Mord og hans mænd at føle sig utrolig søvnige. Det kan jeg relatere til – jeg føler mig ofte lidt søvnig, især når jeg er blevet bedt om at gøre noget, jeg i virkeligheden ikke er særlig opsat på. Jeg formoder, at én af gruppen startede at gabe, og snart var de andre i gang med at gøre det samme. Måske havde de trods alt lige spist en tilfredsstillende frokost af en eller anden slags.

De beslutter at tøjre deres heste i en skov, hænge deres skjolde på nogle nærliggende grene, dumpe deres våben på jorden, lægge sig og tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Desværre, mens de ligger og snorker,  kommer en lokal hyrde tilfældigvis forbi, og han formå at advare Gunnar, at hans fjender er i nabolaget.

Én af ”de to Thorgeirer” (de såkaldte ”navnebrødre”) i søvn – men jeg er ikke helt sikker på,

hvilken af de to er afbildet her: det er juryen stadig ude om

Så bliver denne seneste sammensværgelse mode Gunnar ikke til noget, ligesom alle de tidligere.

Vores U3A gruppemedlemmer er ivrige for at kritisere sagaen på dette tidspunkt. Sagadigten siger, at Mord og hans mænd tog deres eftermiddagslure i en skov.

Faktisk har nogle af vores gruppemedlemmer rejst før i tiden til Island, og de siger, at der er næsten ingen træer i hele landet. Og det samme var sandt for århundreder siden – islændinge skulle importere alt deres træ fra Norge, hvis de havde lyst til at bygge huse, skibe og lignende, hvilket må have været lidt irriterende, for at sige mildt.

et typiske middelalderlig islandsk landskab, med ikke ét træ i syne

Men jeg bringer kritikkerne til tavshed med en simpel bemærkning – det er faktisk meget mere spændende, hvis en gruppe bevæbnede mænde på en eller anden ondskabsfuld mission, kan gemme sig i en skov, når de har lyst til at tage en eftermiddagslur.

Det ville ikke have været særligt spændende, hvis Gunnar bare skulle kigge ud af vinduet for at se sine fjender i det fjerne lægge sig ned og tage en hurtig ”skraber”. Og det er alle vores gruppemedlemmer enige med mig i, det må jeg nok sige!

16:00 Gruppemødet slutter, og medlemmerne skal af sted. Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop te i sofaen. Vi er udmattede, som sædvanligt, efter en ”oldnordisk dag” – yikes, vi bliver gamle, ingen tvivl om det.

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad, én af de færdigretter, vi købte for nylig i CookShop: kylling skinke og purre pie – yum yum!

Vi snakker lidt om Frøken X, en arbejdsløs kvinder, der lever af bistand, der har insisteret på, at hun ønsker at slutte sig til Lois’ sekt. Sektens lokale ledenskab har bedt Lois og Fran, Lois’ veninde, om at mødes med Frøken X og prøve at afgøre, om Frøken X er oprigtig eller ej. Efter min mening er Frøken X bare en nasser, der har lyst til at slutte sig til sekten, så hun kan få små summer penge af og til for at betale for dette og hint, men jeg er bare en gammel kyniker, det ved jeg godt.

Lois siger, at hun forventer at hun og Fran skal mødes flere gange over flere uger med Frøken X for at ”undervise” hende i sektens doktriner og ”forberede” hende på at blive døbt. Jeg foreslår caféen tilknyttet byens ”Everyman-teater” som en passende mødested, men jeg må indrømme, jeg føler mig inderst inde lidt irriteret ved tanken om, at sektens lokale ledeskab har fralagt sig dette ansvar og rakt det til Lois og Fran, begge to i 70’erne, som allerede har påtaget sig en masse små igangværende opgaver på vegne af dens medlemmer. Grrrr!!!!!

Og det værste er, at jeg er næsten helt sikker på, at det hele vil være lidt af et spild af tid fra Lois’ synspunkt. Jeg finder det svært at tro, at Frøken X er virkelig oprigtig, det må jeg nok sige, eller at hun har den tilstrækkelig intelligens til at fatte sektens komplicerede doktriner, men vi får se. Måske vil Frøken X overraske mig haha.

20:00 Vi bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn, to programmer designede til at forbedre vores sundhed og velfærd – yikes! Hvor mange flere kan vi hamle op med?!!!!

Hvordan skal man formå at skære ned på snacks under arbejdsdag? Personalet på et travlt lægehus i Cardiff blev skilt i to grupper: den ene holdt op med at snacke og drak pebermynte te i stedet for, og den anden gruppe måtte fjerne en række hængelåse før de kunne få adgang til snacks-skabet, hvilket tog 25 sekunder i gennemsnit. Resultaterne var det samme for begge grupper – forbruget af kalorier dalede med 60%, men konklusionen var, at den vigtigste faktor var, at personalet blev mere klar over, hvad de gjorde til sig selv ved at snacke af og til hele dagen, sagde programmets eksperter.

Én af showets værte, den tidligere tv-kok Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, lider tilsyneladende af en masse stress (sandsynligvis på grund af, han har måttet genopfinde sig selv som sundhedsekspert, et miljø kun lidt mindre konkurrenceagtigt, end tvkok-verden). I løbet af aftenens show opdager han, at det at ligge i kold vand i et badekar hver dag reducerede sine stressniveauer med 50% eller deromkring, en oplevelse, som forskere har bekræftet i flere undersøgelser, ser det ud til. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!!

Folk, der bruger for mange tid på at stirre på elektroniske skærmer: en travlt mor opdagede, at hvis hun byttede sin smartphone for én med en skærm begrænset til sort-og-hvide images, brugte hun den langt mindre ofte – ”langt mindre spændende”, sagde hun.

Og programmet beviser, at elektroniske abdominalle muskeltonere ikke virker. Programmets ”prøvekaniner” opdagede, at de efter flere uger var ikke tættere på at udvikle ”six-pack”-underliv, end da de startede. Ingen overraskelse der!!!  Programmet kontaktede produktens producenter, der imidlertid insisterede på, at produktet virker, hvis brugt i forbindelse til et passende system af sund kost og motion haha!!

ingen 6-packs i syne - oh dear!

Nok sagt – men Lois og jeg er ikke endnu helt sikre på, hvilker af disse iniatitiver vi hælder til at adoptere – livet er så forvirrende for os gamle krager, det må jeg indrømme. Men kolde badekar er ude af spørgsmål i vores aldre synes vi haha! Men vi få se haha (igen) – det er vores brusekabine-dag i morgen haha!!!!

21:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn, et interessant afsnit i serien ”Stol på mig, jeg er læger” – programmets værter er Michael Mosley og hans hold tv-lægere.

Programmet bekræfter, at en kost bestående, blandt andet, af en kombination af fiberrige fødevarer (løg, fuldkornsbrød, purre, bær og den slags), plus fermenterede fødevarer (kombucha, kimchi, sauerkraut og lignende) plus  probiotiske yogurter, kan forbedre vores mentale sundhed både i det korte og i det lange løb: prøvekaninernes stressniveauer dalede med 31%, for eksempel.

Men Lois og jeg er lidt trætte af, at blive belæret om vores kost, det må jeg indrømme.

For os er programmets mest interessante del en undersøgelse om, hvordan man bedst skal vaske op, for at fjerne så mange bakterier som muligt fra tallerkener osv.  Det ser ud til, at 50% af briterne, ligesom Lois og mig, ikke har investeret i en opvaskemaskine.

Det viser sig, at vandets temperatur ikke er særlig vigtig – det behøver ikke at være meget varm. Det er kraften af vores skrubbeaktionen, der er det vigtigste. Og det er vigtigt også at sætte tallerkerne osv til at tørre naturligt af sig selv, og ikke at bruge et viskestykke, som simpelthen bidrager med ekstra "friske" bakterier – du godeste! Dette er én idé Lois og jeg kan adoptere umiddelbart, startende fra i morgen. Vi vidste dette ligesom allerede, men det går for alvor op til os, da vi ser de ekstra bakterier under en mikroskop på vores tv-skærm – yuk, ækle !!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzz!!!!!