A couple of early pictures of her taken over 100 years ago - what an incredibly long time that is!
The amazing thing about babies is that the babies born today look just the same as babies born 100 years ago. A baby is a baby, isn't it.
And now a couple of pictures taken after I myself first got to know my mother - in 1946: as you can see, I got to know my father fairly early on as well, which was nice! But even 74 years ago is an incredibly long time - I can see that now, and feel it !!!! I'm the little one of the three, by the way.
My mother told her it was the golden moment of her life when she found out she was going to have a baby (i.e. me). She grew up thinking she was doomed to be childless, because Hannah in the Old Testament was told she would be childless.
10:00 Oh dear – what a day! Both Lois and I are suffering from aches and pains, but we get everything ready for the fortnightly meeting of our U3A Danish group on Skype this afternoon, and then go to bed for an hour after lunch to get our strength back. Yikes – we’re getting old, no doubt about that!!!!
14:30 The meeting starts. We were hoping that the group’s Old Norse expert, Scilla would be joining us – we think she’s staying with one of her sons in Brighton, but she doesn’t make an appearance, so I guess her IT expert (her grandson) can’t work his magic for some reason – damn!
Scilla’s presence at our meetings, when we can get it, is invaluable – and she can see the Viking traits coming out in Danes, even after 1000 years have passed. She is a big fan of Higelac of the Healfdanes, who a few years ago spoke out about the decadence of today’s youth (source: Onion News):
"I am Higelac of the Healfdanes, and I have spoken: The youth of today have no valor! No courage of kings! T-shirts? Blue jeans? When I was a young man we wore bone helmets and horns that proclaimed our kinship with valorous deeds of courage.
"We wore hairshirts that ripped our flesh even as we drank our mead. And we fought for great treasures known across this middle earth!
"My son, Unferth-the-Spirited, once sacked an entire mead-hall for a bloody boar’s head hanging from the door. This was his treasure: he wore it and became known as Unferth-the-Boar’s-Head. Where is such valor today?
"Last week I spied a young man exchanging money for a Snickers bar. Money? Exchange? Where is the honor in such an act? And further, he did not even stab the cashier when he left.
"I am Higelac, son of Hrothgar, who wore Banloc, the sword of the Scyldings, as a token of his valor. I sacked for gold and jewels. I have lost patience with today’s youth, with their 'music' and their 'automobiles' . I demand Viking ships, spears, swords and torture devices."
A fair enough request, we all think, and the Government are supposedly "setting it in train", but Scilla says there has been no substantial movement on Higelac’s demands as yet. There's a long queue waiting for government money at the moment, sadly!
We hear Higelac has refused to wear a face mask, despite the pandemic, and is scornful about those who do, a bit like Donald Trump is. But do Viking beards do just as good a job at keeping the droplets in or out? I think we should be told!
Even without Scilla, we had an enjoyable meeting none the less, although it’s a bit hard on the back, sitting at the dining-table for 90 minutes concentrating on hearing what other people are saying through all the Skype background noises. We need a table to put all our papers on, but 90 minutes is quite a long time to be in that position – oh dear, are we getting soft? What would Higelac of the Healfdanes think of us? I'm sure he would have sat at tables for longer than 90 minutes if he were feasting!
I suspect that not much is known about the Vikings' back problems so an opportunity perhaps for a promising young grad studen here maybe? I bet those long ocean voyages took their toll!
20:00 We watch some TV, Mary Beard’s “Inside Culture”.
It’s so nice to see scenes from “I Claudius” again, the murderous Roman imperial family soap-opera that we both watched in the 1970’s. And it’s especially nice to see Emperor Augustus’s death bed scene again.
Augustus’s wife, Livia, (Sian Phillips) who, unknown to Augustus (Brian Blessed), has been feeding him poisoned grapes, comes in to see him, and asks in a very caring way, “Are you feeling better? There’s a delegation here from Rome. They’re waiting to see you! …. You’re a fine one! You made yourself worse with all those figs. I never heard anything so ridiculous!”
The dying Augustus has a look of horror on his face as he hears these words. And as Livia exits the room, she asks a servant to stay there with Augustus, and then adds, as an afterthought, “By the way, don’t touch the figs!”
That’s not the kind of wife to have, that’s for sure!
Poor Augustus!!!!
22:00 We go to bed – zzzzzz!!!!
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