08:00 Lois and I wake up to the sight of thickly falling snow, set to continue most of the day, so we decide to spend another day just consorting with each other in the house, and staying in the warm - makes sense to us! The radio says that the state schools in Malvern will all be closed.
the sight that greets us as we throw open the blinds
on our bedroom window - brrrr for outside, but oooh, it's nice'n'warm in here !!!!!
So, in other words, good!
10:00 I spend the morning crafting some difficult emails, one of these being to the members of our U3A Danish group about the dates for our next meeting - we were going to meet in 2 weeks' time, but it turns out that it clashes with the funeral service for Scilla, one of our members.
Lois and I were also members of Scilla's U3A Old Norse group, which sadly had to stop meeting at the start of the pandemic and the first lockdowns.
Scilla, leader of the local U3A Old Norse group
Scilla, who spent her 20's in Iceland, was also our U3A Danish group's expert on Old Norse and the Viking colonisation of Iceland, and on the Viking discovery of North America. And after the lockdowns began, she did manage to take part in a few of our Danish meetings on Skype, helped by her son Tom in Frome, Somerset. Sadly, however, Scilla's health has not been good recently and she died a couple of weeks ago. The funeral will be in Canterbury, but will be broadcast on zoom, so Lois and I are hoping to be present online, as are many of our group members, we imagine.
Lois and I felt we were extremely lucky to be taught Old Norse by Scilla - she was a published translator of many of the sagas, evidenced by her 1997 work "The Complete Sagas of the Icelanders, including 49 tales".
And Lois and I both feel privileged to have known Scilla in her final years. We have many affectionate memories of her often-mischievous sense of humour. Rest in peace, Scilla, or "Hvíldu í friði, Scilla", as they say in Iceland.
a typical page from an Icelandic saga, written in Old Norse
When the pandemic struck in 2020, we had been reading about the duel between two Icelandic bards, Gunnlaug and Raven. They had agreed to fight a duel to decide who would have the right to have Helga, Iceland's most beautiful woman. Helga is currently married to Hrafn, but it is Gunnlaug she is in love with, and she is now refusing to have sex with Hrafn because of her feelings for Gunnlaug. How exciting life was in Iceland in the 11th century - no doubt about that!
to decide who gets the right to have Helga, the most beautiful woman in Iceland
I initially expected that the duel would be a quick affair, but no, it actually takes a REALLY long time, and I mean REALLY - several years, as it turns out. The first round, which takes place in Iceland, ends without a clear winner, and then just their bad luck: the Icelandic parliament, one of the world's oldest, decides to ban duels "going forward" as people say now.
But the two men are still determined to kill each other. Hrafn sails to Norway, where duels are still legal, and spends two winters over there.
The two finally meet the following spring and the duel takes place. It is interesting that, although Gunnlaug manages to cut Hrafn's leg off, Hrafn insists on continuing the with the duel.
It reminded me of the famous scene in the Monty Python movie "The Holy Grail", where a similar duel takes place. One of the two men, the so-called Black Knight, lost both legs and both arms, but insisted on continuing the duel just like Hrafn did with Gunnlaug. I think that today's young people are perhaps too quick to give up - there's a lesson here that we can benefit from maybe. But I'm not sure! Your views please, but only on a postcard, and by the end of the week - don't forget !!!
the so-called Black Knight (right, on the ground) - the knight who never gives up
11:00 Also this morning I craft another difficult email to our daughter Alison's lawyer husband Ed, asking advice about the financial and legal arrangements for our other daughter Sarah to buy a house back in the UK after their 7 years in Australia come to an end. Sarah and her husband Francis and their 9-year-old twin daughters Lily and Jessica are packing up their belongings at the moment, and they will be flying back to the UK via Dubai in the last week of April.
Sarah with the twins during one of our zoom sessions with Australia;
the family is now packing up to move back to the UK after 7 years down under
Tonight Roger is complaining to Joanna about their neighbour Nigel, who, Roger says, has put his bin out early again. It's Monday and the collection day is Thursday. He's also complaining about Brian's car alarm, which went off at 2 am the previous night. And he's also complaining about Katy in the local shop telling him that they haven't got any streaky bacon, because "there's no call for it" - Roger told Katy in reply that he was calling for it.
Joanna responds to this rant by saying "It's happened. You're now officially a grumpy old git". And I think this is a very real danger for men as they grow older, isn't it. I often feel the "grumpy" urge myself. So it's a nice reminder to watch what one says, especially when feeling one's age haha!
Finally Roger ends his mini-rant by threatening to put Roger's bin back inside the gate so that his rubbish doesn't get collected, and says "Revenge is mine!", and Joanna asks, "Who are you? Bindiana Jones????".
Oh dear!
21:00 We go to bed on the final episode of "Atlantic Crossing", which details the life of the Norwegian royal family, in exile in the UK and US during World War II.
More or less a happy ending occurs in the final episode, Episode 8.
With the Germans surrendering in May 1945, there's finally a healing of the rift that has developed between Crown Prince Olav who spends the war in London, and his wife, the Swedish-born Crown Princess Martha, who spends the war in the US with the royal children, and gets rather too friendly with FDR for Olav's liking.
It's interesting that the royal children have begun to feel more at home with FDR, whom they call their "Godfather", that they do with their real father, Olav, who's in London. And we find that the children normally speak English now, when talking to each other, and even when talking to their mother. Especially little Harald, who's begun to forget his Norwegian.
And there's a triumphant return to Norway by the couple, where they're welcomed by the sight of cheering crowds and a flotilla of ships assembled to greet them.
from "Atlantic Crossing" on Drama TV: Crown Prince Olav
with Crown Princess Martha on their return to Norway in 1945
... and this is a news picture of the actual event from 1945
flashback to 1982: return of HMS Invincible from the Falklands
We notice that the episode is called "A Queen Returns", but Martha never actually became queen, due to her untimely death in 1954. And Prince Harald, the youngest of Olav's and Martha's 3 children, the one who for a time forgot his Norwegian, is now King Harald V of Norway, and still going strong at 86 years.
Fascinating stuff !!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz!!!!!
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