The big event today for Lois and me is going to be our dear friend Scilla's funeral at Canterbury, which we're going to log into on zoom at 1:20 pm. We got to know her when she became a member of our U3A Intermediate Danish group, about 4 years ago or so. She lived only about a mile away from our former house in Cheltenham, and only a quarter of a mile from the Racecourse. We soon realised that she seemed to know all about the Vikings, but we weren't sure why.
Then we found out that she could "speak" Old Norse, so would have been "all right" if she'd bumped into an actual Viking - probably a less-than-one-in-million chance maybe, but who knows. It happened to Lois a few years ago - so don't rule it out haha!
flashback to May 2013: Lois chats with a Viking woman
at Ladby, Denmark: luckily the woman spoke English, so no problem that time!
We eventually found out that Scilla had studied in Iceland in her youth, and was actually a published translator of several Icelandic sagas - what are the chances of that happening eh?
Scilla and the title of her book
flashback to 2020: with Scilla (top) Lois and I prepare
to launch a zoom session of our U3A Danish group
- happy days!
09:00 We bear the time of Scilla's funeral in mind as we launch into our morning tasks.
We moved into this new-build home in Malvern at the end of October last year, and British Gas, our new energy supplier, for both gas and electricity, still hasn't managed to create a formal gas account for us, even though they are already billing us for electricity. Their helpdesk has repeatedly promised that they are "ready" to create the gas account, but nothing happens - why? What's so difficult about that? Isn't that one of the basic things they're paid to do?
This morning I decide to lodge a formal complaint to their complaints department, which gives the company about 9 weeks to solve the problem and if it's not fixed by then, I can complain to the ombudsman. So we'll see !!!!
13:15 After lunch, Lois and I settle down on the couch to log into zoom and see our dear friend Scilla's funeral at Canterbury.
It's total madness!!!!
British Gas say they are "looking after our world" haha!
Well maybe they are, but meanwhile why aren't they doing their job?
- it's total madness. I tell you !!!!
Another job I have to do this morning is to make a statement to HM Customs and Excise to confirm that our daughter Sarah is returning to the UK in a month or so, after 7 years in Australia with husband Francis and their now 9-year-old twins, Lily and Jessica. This statement will enable Sarah to avoid certain customs duties, which I'm all in favour of - call me a bolshy anarchist if you like haha!
flashback to 2021: our granddaughters in Australia, Lily and Jessica,
prepare to celebrate Halloween in blazing hot Perth sunshine
- seems all wrong now, doesn't it! What a crazy planet we live on !!!!
11:30 It's going to rain this afternoon, so Lois and I decide to take a walk now round the half-finished 300-house new-build estate where we live, and inspect progress on "The Leap", the mini-park that's just started to appear in the centre of the complex. Lois says they've actually planted some trees, which will be a big step forward, that's for sure!
You always find out lots of things you didn't know about the dear, departed one, when you hear their funeral eulogy, don't you.
the celebrant (right) gives the eulogy - in the front 2 rows
are Scilla's three children Clare, Ben and Tom, and other family members
We didn't know anything about Scilla's liking for men-in-shorts, the pride of the tennis courts, at Wimbledon, especially Björn Borg, Stefan Edberg and Roger Federer, and we knew nothing about her partiality to David Hasselhof, or to the sitcom "Ever Decreasing Circles", which Lois and I also liked.
I never knew that Scilla liked the occasional gin and tonic, like me. And I never knew that Scilla and I shared the same favourite poet, Philip Larkin. During the ceremony today the celebrant reads out a short Larkin poem today, his "Days", chosen by Scilla's son Tom, a Bath University librarian, who looked after Scilla in her final months at his flat in Frome, Somerset.
And Tom remembers one particular phrase of his mother's that he frequently has cause to recall: "Think about the context, and try to enjoy it!"
There are lots of references to Iceland and to the Vikings this afternoon. And we hear also a poem suggested by Tom, a poem that Lois and I didn't know, by Lilith Meredith, called "Meet Me in Valhalla".
What a great poem for Scilla's funeral! And who knows, perhaps we will see Scilla again in Valhalla - we can't rule it out!
And as the ceremony comes to a close, we discover something else that links Scilla to both of us - for the closing music we hear one of our favourite songs - George Harrison singing "Here Comes The Sun". I remember I included this recording on a message tape I sent to Lois from Japan during my student year over there, in the spring of 1971, when we were coming out of winter and Lois was on her way to see me.
the congregation stands while the ceremony comes to a close
with George Harrison singing, "Here Comes The Sun"
Farewell Scilla, we feel so glad and privileged to have known you in your final years. Rest in peace and see you in Valhalla for a gin and tonic!
20:00 We wind down on the sofa by watching an interesting documentary on Charlie Chaplin on the Sky Arts Channel.
Fascinating stuff !!!!
This is the first episode we have seen of this comedy, and based on this one, it looks like it may be a comedy aimed at a 30- or 40-something audience, who will immediately recognise Simon's awful parents, well-meaning but daft, interfering, overly solicitous : you name it haha! Oh dear! Some episodes of "Friends" used to be like that! Are Lois and I just like these parents, we wonder haha (again) !!!! Oh dear!!!
flashback to spring 1971: and I feel that ice is slowly melting
- Lois visits me in Japan
Lois and I find that there are lots of things we didn't know about Chaplin, or had forgotten. And it's interesting to see how modern some of his more socially-aware films seem today, like "Modern Times" (1936).
Lois in particular is always very vocal in her criticism of working conditions in firms like Amazon, JD Sports etc, firms which allegedly time how long their workers spend in the bathroom etc.
Who remembers now, that this practice featured in this old 1936 film of Chaplin's, when assembly-line worker Chaplin goes to the bathroom, and finds that the CEO is watching him and talking to him from a big screen?
21:30 We go to bed on the first programme in a new sitcom series, new to us, called "The Cockfields", all about a couple, Simon and Donna, who we see going on a visit to Simon's parents on the Isle of Wight, so that he can celebrate his 40th birthday there and also introduce his girl-friend Donna to his mum and step-dad.
And so much of the humour of the programme derives from the awfulness of Simon's mum and step-dad and step-brother David, that we wonder what the series will be like when they're not visiting parents, or parents-in-law. Well, we'll see in a few weeks' time, perhaps!!!
Tonight, the first night of the couple's stay, they go to bed to get a bit of "them" time, but they find they are continually interrupted by the parents' or the step-brother's knocks on their bedroom door, asking if they're all right, and whether they need anything etc.
Well, Lois and I don't do that, at least!
Simon's mum and step-brother keep knocking on the couple's bedroom door
after they've gone to bed, asking if they need anything. What madness!!!
What a crazy world people live in, down there on the Isle of Wight !!!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz!!!
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