Lois spends the day toiling in the garden, doing tidy-up jobs for the approaching end of the growing season, while I toil indoors working on my so-called "presentation" to our little U3A group, all about how the Vikings changed our language.
When the Vikings started raiding our island by bullying some "softy" monks on Holy Island in 793 AD, there's little doubt that they thought our Anglo-Saxon language at the time "lacked punch", and was a bit "namby-pamby" and/or "hoity-toity", and they decided to "beef it up a bit", They wanted to make it more of a "real man's language".
In short, the Vikings wanted to show us what some really NASTY words sounded like, and Anglo-Saxon children in the new Viking schools lapped it up of course, as children everywhere would - my god!
a typical Viking schoolteacher gives a small group of
Anglo-Saxon children some really horrid words to start using - yikes!
Lois has promised she'll give me a session on the couch this afternoon, and hold my so-called "slides", while I spout out my stuff. I've no real idea really how long it will take to finish because I haven't fully written it out: I've mainly just got bullet points. Lynda, the group leader has allocated me 40-45 minutes, so I spent the weekend padding it out with questionable material to try and fill the allotted time, hopefully.
I'm trying to make a collection of these really horrid words, and Steve, my American brother-in-law, comes to my rescue with quite another awful one: dirt, yes common-or-garden dirt - the word has a horrid history.
Yuck - that's a nasty one all right - my god!
I'll add that to some of my existing list of nasty words we got from the Norsemen, a list which includes "scab", "scumbag", "tosser", and "arse".
14:00 Lois and I forgo our usual post-lunch nap and get down to our rehearsal on the couch. And guess what - I've been afraid I wouldn't be able to fill Lynda's 40-45 minute time-slot, and actually I find this afternoon that I've prepared far too much. After 70 minutes I still haven't got to the end, and Lois is getting restive.
But in a way I'm pleased - I can spend tomorrow cutting out some of the dross, which is nice!
Tomorrow is going to start very early in any case - I got a text from so-called "Team-Know-How": to say they're coming tomorrow morning to fix the handle on our freezer: the one that Lois broke off in an amazing "show of strength".
flashback to September 21st: I showcase the broken
freezer handle after Lois snaps it off in a "show of strength"
We're happy that Team-Know-How are coming tomorrow to fix the handle, but not so happy about the time-slot they've allocated to us: it could be "any time between 0700 and 1035", they say in their text. Oh dear!
And we're reserving judgment on the team's name "Team Know How" - we'll be the judge of that haha!
16:00 We have a cup of tea and some of Lois's delicious chocolate cake on the couch.
Flashback to yesterday: Lois's chocolate cake comes out of the oven.
It's a bit half-iced, but it tastes delicious - yum yum!
We look out of the window - the sun has come round the side of the house and is just hitting the rogue fuchsia that has been growing up inside the hedge we share with our neighbour Bob. The delicate little red flowers are really catching the sun. It looks really happy now that we've cut back the hedge a bit and supported it with a long stick.
our "rogue fuchsia" is looking really happy today
in the sunshine, which is nice!
19:30 Lois disappears into the dining-room to take part in her sect's weekly Bible Seminar on zoom. I settle down and watch the rest of Episode 4 of the 2nd series of "The Killing", the Danish crime series that Lois doesn't like.
Watching this series is turning into a really disjointed exercise for me. I think I watched the first 20 minutes of this episode sometime last week, and I'm determined to watch the remaining 40 minutes of it tonight, and to try desperately to keep on top of the plot.
A Danish army unit in Afghanistan got involved in a case of alleged civilian casualties in some remote village, but they were all cleared of guilt by the Army investigation. However, now that they're all back in Denmark, members of the unit are being murdered one by one.
First, suspicion fell on Islamic extremist groups in Denmark, but now the theory has surfaced that an unnamed Danish army officer "went crazy" out there in Afghanistan at the time of the alleged incident, but that this is all being covered up.
Is the crazy officer now murdering all his former men? I think we should be told! But we won't be - at least not for ages yet: there are still another 6 episodes to go. Damn !!!!!
21:00 Lois emerges from her zoom session and we watch one of our favourite TV quizzes, Only Connect, which tests lateral thinking.
It's nice to see presenter Victoria Coren-Mitchell back with her usual hair. Did she wear the redhead look last week for a bet or a dare, perhaps? I think we should be told, but just like last week, the hair isn't mentioned - damn!
flashback to last week: Victoria's mysterious "redhead" look
One of the easier questions tonight is to find the link between these 4 'things', which are guessed correctly to be all grounds for divorce in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - Scotland must be different, but this wasn't explained.
But who knew that in those 3 jurisdictions at least, adultery has to be with a member of the opposite sex? Even in the case of single-sex marriages eg. 2 men married to each other - it doesn't count as adultery unless one of the two men goes to bed, specifically, with a woman.
What madness!!! Wake up Parliament - there's something not joined-up here haha!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!!
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