Wednesday February 5 2020

A strange day again. Lois has been planning to attend a funeral in Birmingham for her friend Gillian's mother, Muriel. The plan is for me to drive Lois over to our friend Michael's house and our friends Mari-Ann and Alf will drive both Michael and Lois to Birmingham. Lois has far more friends than me, needless to say, but I'm trying to upgrade my wardrobe in a drive to become more popular soon, so watch this space. 

Lois will be out for much of the day, so a good day to upgrade our desktop to Windows 10, I think, and I go into the dining room, which doubles as our office, and set the process underway.

But when Lois comes down the stairs at 10 a.m. or so, she says she feels a little dizzy in the head and generally out of sorts. She very much wants to attend Muriel's funeral, however, so she will not make the decision immediately whether to cancel or not. She's not quite sure if it's just fatigue: she had a very tiring day yesterday - her gym class at the swimming pool, and a bible seminar last night.

one of Lois' exercise class sessions, designed

specially for old crows like us

Eventually, she decides to cancel. This afternoon, Scilla's U3A Old Norse group will be holding its regular fortnightly meeting here, so after lunch Lois goes to bed in our daughter Sarah's old room, and takes a gigantic afternoon nap. The room is in the back of the house and overlooks the backyard.

flashback to July: the window in our daughter Sarah's old room,

overlooking the backyard ... which is nice and peaceful

Sarah's old bed: now she's married and living in Australia with Francis

and their 6-year-old twins (sob sob)

There is no traffic noise in Sarah's old room, and Lois won't be able to hear the screams and cries that come from our Old Norse group meeting, as we dress up as Vikings and simulate the main character Gunnar's many fights to the death with his neighbours haha!

a tense moment during one of our typical U3A Old Norse group meetings

Lois doesn't show up downstairs until 4:30 pm, when Scilla's group members have all gone home.

Poor Lois !!!! But the Windows 10 upgrade goes like clockwork, I have to say. I take a picture at 10 pm just before going to bed.

Windows 10 installed - hurrah!

So far, only one hitch with the upgrade - my favourite picture editor (MGI Photosuite 4) no longer works, but on the other hand it did not work properly even with Windows 7: I was constantly forced to "cheat" the system in some sneaky way or other, to get the results I wanted.

Damn !!! I will have to find a new programme now, that’s for sure - damn (again) !!!!!

14:30 Scilla's group meeting starts. I give my "mini-talk", a summary of the introduction to Byock's book on "Medieval Iceland".

But my "mini-talk" is supposed to take only 15-20 minutes or so, but my comments create a lot of interest, much more than I expected, and it's only at 3:30 pm that we dig out our copies of Njal's saga and do some real work – my god, what madness !!!!

I begin my mini-talk by presenting  Byock's map of the "North Atlantic world of the Vikings" along with an excerpt from the so-called "Landnámabók" (Book of Settlements), the Old Norse book describing the Vikings' colonisation of Iceland, which was at the time more or less uninhabited.

“Wise men report that from Stad in Norway it is a voyage of seven days west to Horn in eastern Iceland, and from Snæfelsnes [in western Iceland]  it is four days' sailing west to Greenland at the point where the sea is narrowest. It is said that if one sails due west from Bergen to Cape Farewell in Greenland, one passes a half day's sailing to the south of Iceland. From Reykjanes in southern Iceland it is five days south to Slyne Head in Ireland, and from Langanes in northern Iceland it is four days northward to Svalbard in the Arctic Sea.”

Some members are surprised that the Landnámabok's author decided to choose an obscure place in Ireland, Slyne Head, to illustrate some of the distances involved in the Vikings’ long sea voyages.

However, I point out that what we see here in the map is essentially the Vikings' “backyard” - the pseudo-square area of ocean where they used to be constantly sailing back and forth, and the author's purpose is to describe the boundaries of this “backyard” - and that’s why he chose Slyne Head in Ireland because the line from Slyne Head to Reykjanes in southern Iceland represented the southern boundary of their area of ​​activities. "Simples"!

SlyneHead, Ireland, today

16:30 Lois comes down the stairs - she's feeling a little better, thank goodness, and she has dinner as usual. We spend the evening watching some television.

An interesting episode in the series "Trust Me, I'm a Doctor" is on. The programme's hosts are Michael Mosley and his team of TV doctors.

Researchers say that if you spend at least 2 hours a week in the open air in the countryside, there are significant health benefits when it comes to stress (as measured by cortisol levels), blood pressure, increased energy, heart rate, etc. If you spend less than 2 hours, then you’re wasting your time, it seems – you might as well stay glued to your computer screen: I thought so!

And there is no need to exert yourself a lot out there - it's enough to just walk about slowly or sit on a bench or on the grass.

I have a bit of a bad conscience when I hear Mosley's conclusions. Lois goes for a walk most days on the local football field. I myself however love most of all to be indoors, I have to admit. But maybe it's time for a change of plan. We'll have to see.

But call me an old cynic if you like, but I wonder how much of these positive health benefits come from the excitement of doing a new activity, or the excitement of being involved in a study, or of being involved in a TV programme with some vaguely famous TV-doctors. Let's hope the researchers have allowed for all that!

Some of the guinea-pigs in the study. But did they get the health

benefits from being "in nature", or from the excitement of being on tv?

Another feature in the programme is all about the so-called "brown fat" that Lois and I haven't heard of before. Babies have a lot of it and it helps them keep their bodies warm. Most of this "brown fat" disappears as we get older, but adult humans still retain small amounts of it in the neck area, and this brown fat is activated at lower temperatures: for example, 59F / 15C or so.

We see one of Mosley's team getting her forearm cooled down to 59F and afterwards a scan shows that the white patches of "brown fat" around her neck have grown larger.

"before" and "after" scans

All this is very recent research, so it may be that new studies will come up with additional results. But it’s hoped that activating the brown fat could help people burn more calories and avoid putting on too much weight.

Eating chili, or consuming caffeine, also helps activate our brown fat, it seems.

The research is brand new and the results are provisional, but Michael Mosley, the programme's charming host, suggests that in the meantime we could try cranking down the central heating a little bit (to 61-62 F or 16-17C or so), also adding chilies to our food from time to time.

However, Lois and I think this advice is a little too imprecise for us. How many hours a day do we have to freeze, Michael? So the jury is still out on all that in our house. We'll have to see.

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

Danish translation: onsdag den 5. februar 2020

En mærkelig dag igen – yikes! Lois har planlagt at deltage i en begravelse i Birmingham: hendes veninde Gillians mor, Muriel. Planen er, at jeg kører Lois over til vores ven Michaels hus, og vores venner Mari-Ann og Alf vil køre både Michael og Lois til Birmingham.

En god dag til at opgradere vores desktop til Windows 10, tænker jeg, og jeg går ind i spisestuen, der fordobles som vores kontor, og sætter processen i gang.

Men da Lois kommer ned ad trappen kl 10 eller deromkring, siger hun, at hun føler sig lidt svimmel i hovedet og generelt utilpas. Hun har meget lyst til at deltage i Muriels begravelse imidlertid, så vil hun ikke tage beslutningen umiddelbart, om at aflyse eller ej. Hun er ikke helt sikker på, om det bare er træthed: hun havde en meget umattende dag i går – hendes motionsklasse i svømmepøl, og et bibelseminar i går aftes.

en af Lois’ motionsklassesessioner til gamle krager (ligesom os)

Til sidst beslutter hun sig for at aflyse. I eftermiddag skal Scillas U3A oldnordiske gruppe holde sit regelmæssige møde hos os, så efter frokost går Lois i seng i vores datter Sarahs gamle værelse, og tager en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Værelset er i huset bagside og har udsigt over baghaven.

tilbageblik til juli: vinduet i vores datter Sarahs gamle værelse,

der har udsigt over baghaven... hvilket er rart

Sarahs gamle seng: nu er hun giftet og bor i Australien med Francis

og deres 6-årige tvillinger (hulk hulk): men tiden flyver når man har det sjovt ha ha !

Der er ikke nogen trafiklarm i Sarahs gamle værelse, og hun vil ikke kunne høre de skrig og råb, der kommer fra vores oldnordiske gruppemøde, når som helst vi klæder os ud som vikinge og simulerer hovedkarakteren Gunnars mange kampe til døden med hans naboer haha!

et anspændt øjeblik under et af vores typiske U3A oldnordiske gruppemøde

Lois viser sig ikke nedenunder indtil 16:30, da Scillas gruppemedlemmer alle er gået hjem.

Stakkels Lois!!!! Men Windows-10 opgraderingen går som urværk, det må jeg nok sige. Jeg tager et billede kl 10 lige før jeg går i seng.

Hidtil kun 1 hage ved opgraderingen – mit yndlings –billedredigeringsprogram (MGI Photosuite 4)  virker ikke mere, men til gengæld virkede det ikke ordentligt med Windows 7: jeg blev tvunget konstant til at ”snyde” systemet på en eller anden snedig måde, for at få de resultater, jeg ville have.

Pokkers!!! Jeg vil måtte finde et nyt program, det ved jeg med sikkerhed – pokkers (igen) !!!!!

14:30 Scillas gruppemøde starter. Jeg holder mit ”mini-foredrag”, en opsummering af indledningen til Byocks bog om ”Medieval Iceland”: det er meningen at mit ”mini-foredrag” tager 15-20 minutter eller deromkring, men mine kommentarer skaber en masse interesse, meget mere, end jeg forventede, og den er først 15:30, da vi graver vores eksemplarer af Njals saga frem og lave lidt ordentligt arbejde – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

Jeg starter mit mini-foredrag med at fremvise Byocks kort over "vikingernes nordatlantiske verden" sammen med et uddrag fra den såkaldte ”Landnámabók”, den oldnordiske bog, der beskriver vikingernes bosættelse i Island, som følger:

Vismænd rapporterer, at fra Stad i Norge er det en rejse på syv dage vest til Horn i det østlige Island, og fra Snæfelsnes [i det vestlige Island] er det fire dages sejlads vest for Grønland på det punkt, hvor havet er smallest. Det siges, at hvis man sejler på grund vest fra Bergen til Kap Farvel i Grønland, passerer man en halv dags sejlads til det sydlige Island. Fra Reykjanes i det sydlige Island er det fem dage syd til Slyne Head i Irland, og fra Langanes i det nordlige Island er det fire dage nordpå til Svalbard i det arktiske hav.

Nogle medlemmer er overrasket, at Landnámabóks forfatter besluttede at vælge et obskur sted i Irland, Slyne Head, for at illustrere nogle af de afstander involveret i vikingernes lange havrejser.

Jeg påpeger imidlertid, at hvad vi ser her i kortet er væsenligt vikingernes ”baghave” – det pseudo-firkantede område, hvor de plejede konstant at sejle frem og tilbage, og forfatterens formål er at beskrive grænserne af denne ”baghave” – og derfor valgte han Slyne Head i Irland, fordi linjen fra Slyne Head til Reykjanes i det sydlige Island repræsenterede den sydlige grænse af deres område af aktiviter. ”Simples” !

SlyneHead, Irland, i dag

16:30 Lois kommer ned ad trappen – hun har det lidt bedre, gudskelov, og hun spiser aftensmad som normalt. Vi bruger aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn.

De viser et interessant afsnit i serien ”Stol på mig, jeg er læger” – programmets værter er Michael Mosley og hans hold af tv-lægere.

Forskere påstår, at hvis man tilbringer mindst 2 timer om ugen i det fri ude i naturen, er der betydelige sundhedsplusser når det kommer til stressniveauer (som målt af kortisolniveauer), blodtryk, øget energi, pulsslag osv. Hvis man bruger mindre end 2 timer, så spilder man sit tid, ser det ud til - yikes!

Og det er ikke nødvendigt at bevæge sig meget derude – det er bare nok at vandre langsomt rundt eller sidde på en bænk eller på græsset – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!

Men jeg har lidt af en dårlig samvittighed, da jeg hører Mosleys konklusioner. Lois går de fleste dage en tur på den lokale fodboldbane.  Jeg selv elsker at være indendørs, det må jeg indrømme. Men måske er det tid til en ændring af planen. Vi får se.

Et andet indslag handler om det såkaldte ”brune fedt”, som Lois og jeg ikke har hørt om før. Babyer har en masse af det, og det hjælper dem med at holde deres kroppe varme.  Størstedelen af dette ”brune fedt” forsvinder, mens vi bliver ældre, men voksne menneske beholder små beløb af det i nakke-området, og dette brune fedt bliver aktiveret i lavere temperaturer: for eksempel 59F / 15C eller deromkring.  

Vi ser én af Mosleys hold få sin underarm kølet ned til 59F og bagefter viser en scanning, at de hvide pletter af ”brun fedt” omkring hendes nakke er blevet større.

Alt det her er nu forskning, så kan det være, at nye undersøgelser vil komme med andre resultater. Men det er muligt at dette brune fedt kan hjælpe folk med at forbrænde flere kalorier og undgå at tage for meget på i vægt.

Dét, at spise chili, eller forbruge koffein, hjælper også med at aktivere vores brune fedt, ser det ud til.

Forskningen er helt ny og resulaterne provisoriske, men Michael Mosley, programmets charmerende vært, foreslår, at vi kunne forsøge os med at skrue centralvarme lidt ned (61-62 F eller 16-17C eller deromkring) og tilføje chilier til vores mad fra tid til anden.

Lois og jeg synes imidlertid, at dette råd er lidt for upræcist for vores vedkommende. Hvor mange timer om dagen er vi nødt til at fryse, Michael? Så det er juryen stadig ude om i vores hus. Vi får se.

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzz!!!!