Danskcolin: Monday November 23rd 2020

09:00 Our neighbour Bob drops off a couple of frozen pheasants, which is nice. He used to give pheasants and partridges to us with all their skin and feathers on, but just recently they've been all prep'd - we think he gets one of his children or grandchildren to do the work, now he's in his 80's, but we're not completely sure. So it's going to be one pheasant tonight and another one tomorrow - dinner is sorted.

Bob (right) in happier times, seen here with his grandson, home from Afghanistan

10:00 At last we get the chance to take the car our for a drive, now with its 4 new tyres and shiny new battery - hurrah! The old tyres and the old battery were just 5 more casualties of lockdown and a casualty of a car that's been standing idle on the driveway for most of the last 8 months.

As a pathetic excuse for taking the car out, we drive over to Greenmead Park so Lois can return two Jan Karon novels to our friend Fran. Lois has become addicted to these novels, which centre round an Episcopalian minister in the fictional town of Mitford, in one of the Carolinas, I forget which one. She has read about 10 or so of these novels so far, and I've got her another one for Christmas, "Home to Holly Springs".

one of my Christmas gifts to Lois

Join Father Tim on a profoundly personal journey back to his childhood home in this charming novel in #1 New York Times bestselling author Jan Karon's Mitford series. Thirty-eight years have passed since Father Tim Kavanagh left his Mississippi hometown, determined not to return. Then he receives a handwritten note postmarked Holly Springs. Cryptic and unsigned, it says only Come home. These two words compel him to make the most challenging journey of his life.

Travelling to his boyhood home doesn't merely take Father Tim across hundreds of miles. Thanks to a thousand sights and smells, he also travels back through memories--some fond and some he's tried for nearly forty years to forget, from his quick-to-anger father and his lovingly tender mother to the picturesque small town he'd tried desperately to leave behind. And once Father Tim discovers who was behind the mysterious note, a truth is revealed that will change his life--forever.

It's Mitford-madness, I tell you !!!

We drop the books off with Fran and do a bonus round-the-houses drive home via Brockworth and Leckhampton. At last the new tyres and battery feel "broken in" - it's almost like having a new car again. What a pity the car doesn't have that "new car" aroma any more. I ask Lois if you can buy that as an aerosol, but she isn't sure. The jury's still out on that one. New cars always remind me of when I used to work, and was sometimes allowed to drive rental cars on trips abroad - happy days!!!!

flashback to 1998: me and my colleague Sarah, on a business trip to Ottawa and Washington

- new car aromas and happy days !!!!!

11:00 My Hungarian penfriend, Tünde, has sent me an interesting article about the film-star George Clooney. He's apparently going to be bringing out a new film, "The Midnight Sky", a post-apocalyptic sci-fi film, in which Clooney directs and also stars, as a scientist, with the world on the brink of catastrophe, in the year 2049.

In an interview for GQ Magazine, quoted on the Hungarian 4! website, Clooney says that his film's scenario of world catastrophe is perfectly believable, given the amount of unnecessary anger and hatred that we see in the world at the moment. And Clooney singles out Bolsonaro in Brazil and Orbán in Hungary, as being prime examples of that kind of senseless attitude of aggression.

The article is also interesting for me language-wise, because I see that the Hungarian language now has what I suspect may be a new word, "orbánozni", which must mean "to do an Orbán", or "behave like Orbán", although I'm not sure what that means to the average Hungarian in detail. I see there's also a word, "hitlerezni", which I suppose means "to act like Hitler".

Does English have a verb like "to boris", I wonder? If so, I haven't seen it, but it might be useful! We've got "to trump", of course, but that's used mainly in card-games - I'm not sure if it's used in a wider context. But I think we should be told.

How fascinating!

By the way, has anybody noticed how alike Bolsonaro and Orbán look? I wonder if they're perhaps related?

Bolsonaro...

... and Orbån. Are they perhaps related?

18:30 Pheasant for dinner, with potato and "Mediterranean vegetables" - yum yum!

Lois showcases tonight's pheasant dinner - yum yum! - ....

...plus Lois's home-made mincemeat tart, with custard, for dessert

19:30 Lois disappears into the dining-room to take part in her sect's weekly Bible Seminar. I settle down on the sofa to watch a bit of TV, the first episode of a new Icelandic drama series "The Valhalla Murders".

I always struggle with crime dramas, especially in the early episodes, when I'm trying to memorise who is who and what their names are, in particular trying to distinguish actors or actresses who look similar - and a lot of Icelandic actresses are blonde with slightly chubby facial features, I've noticed.

I'm trying to sort it all out in my mind at the end of Episode 1.

(A) The murders: there have been 2 so far.

(1) Thor, a middle-aged ex-drug dealer, is the first to die. We see him at the start of the episode having sex in the toilet of a bar in Reykjavik's harbour district with his middle-aged girlfriend Iris, while another customer is banging on the toilet door - oh dear! Thor has an estranged wife who phones him when the he's finished having sex with Iris - the wife warns Thor to keep away in future from their teenage son, Fannar: it's not clear why.

Thor with Iris in the harbour district bar, shortly before he gets murdered

Thor and Iris leave the bar together but they quarrel near the quayside. Iris leaves him on his own for a few minutes, and while Iris is away, Thor gets stabbed to death by somebody - Iris comes back and finds his body: she takes his wallet and credit cards back to her place, and stores them in the fridge with her drugs. Well, wouldn't you do the same haha?!!!!

(2) A middle-aged banker/financier, Omar, is next to be killed, by someone who breaks into his house while he's in bed with his wife.

Olaf's wife hears a noise and gets him to go and check it's not a burglar - oh dear,

she never sees him alive again - yikes!!!!

Poor Olaf !!!!!

Although the two victims seem like totally different people - a drug dealer and a financier - the murderer is probably the same person in both cases, however. It's the way he stabs them haha! Especially what he does to their eyes - yikes, unpleasant to put it mildly!!!!

(B) The detective pursuing the case is the star of the show, Kati, played by Nina Dogg Filippusdottir (crazy name, crazy gal). As in all these types of dramas, Kati also has problems in her private life. Her husband/partner, Egil, has gone off with another woman, Berglind. The son that Kati and her ex-partner had together, Kari, is a young video-game fanatic (about 14 years old?), who his parents suspect of having started drinking. Oh dear!

awkward threesome: (left to right) Egil (Kati's partner), Berglind (Egil's new girlfriend) and Kati

Kati, our heroine, has just been unfairly passed over for promotion, in favour of the less experienced Helga, something which Kati is not happy about, to put it mildly.

Kati waiting expectantly, thinking she's going to be the new CID chief.

But unfortunately it's going to be her less experienced rival, Helga - poo!

Helga, accepting her new role

Also for some reason, the Police Chief doesn't want the public to know that the two murders are linked. On top of that he's called in reinforcements from Oslo, Norway - it's not clear why. Does somebody not fully trust Reykjavik's own detectives?

What crazy people the Icelanders are - but we love them !!!!!

21:00 Lois emerges from her Bible Seminar, and we watch our 2 favourite TV quizzes, Only Connect and University Challenge.