Friday July 14th 2023

06:00 Lois and I are in bed. I look at my smartphone, and browse the quora forum website. I'm delighted to see that one of our favourite pundits, Krister (crazy name, crazy guy!) has been weighing in on the vexed subject of "Why are Scandinavians more pro-British than the other continental Europeans?"

I'll have to tell Lois about this issue, when she wakes up. We've both noticed that almost all European nationalities don't really like us Brits, and we've never been able to figure out why. 

After all, aren't we as nice as anybody? Even nicer sometimes, surely? The other Continentals almost always vote against the British song in the Eurovision Song Contest, don't they, even when it's a really good one. The exception to this is the Scandinavians, who always seem okay with us, even when the UK song is a really bad one, as it usually is. 

How-come?

Crazy Swedish pundit Krister Sundelin says that it's because of the war and the Beatles.

"Up until about World War 2, Scandinavia was pretty much pro-German, and German was often the second language we learned in school. Germany was closer, and while we did have a lot of economic and cultural exchange with the UK (especially on the west coast), the ties to Germany was simply stronger. It was once said that you learned French for diplomacy, German for science and English for trade. Well, for us, we really didn’t need English to trade that much: German was enough.

Then the war happened, Denmark and Norway were invaded, and generally, shit hit the fan. Not surprisingly, Germany stopped being the second language we learned in school after the war, and English became the second language instead. And the old saying about language also had to change: you could use English instead of French for diplomacy (much because the US stopped being isolationists), and English instead of German for science.

Aaaand then.... the Beatles happened. Every kid wanted to sing along to their songs, and English became immensely popular among the young. So within a generation, German was completely replaced by English. Sure, there were kids who preferred the Stones, but they sing in English too. And there was that chap across the ocean, Elvis? Also singing in English. The point is that pop culture became a thing, and English dominated that scene.

Now, where on the planet close to Scandinavia do they speak English?

Ah, yes: the UK.

This answer is interesting for me, because I never realised the extent of German influence in Scandinavia before World War II. Who knew? [I expect a lot of people knew that! - Ed]. 

I'm aware that the Swedish king was very pro-German and also that Germany was the chief customer for Swedish iron ore before the war. And I know that even as late as the German invasion of Norway in 1940, the Norwegians were as suspicious of British ambitions as they were of German ambitions. And  they kept at arms' length the early British efforts to aid them.

Europe in 1941-2

I look again at the old stamp album that our son-in-law Francis has loaned us - the one his father owned as a boy, the one published either late 1938 or late 1939. 

The page for Germany, even at this late stage, published only months before World War II breaks out, has a description which, in my judgment, is surprisingly favourable to the Nazi regime.

Isn't history fascinating !!!! 

06:30 Still in bed, I check my texts from last night. Our daughter Sarah must have texted me late last night to say that she and the twins, Lily and Jessica, would like to stay with us again for two nights - tonight and tomorrow night. The family have only been back in the UK for about 2 months, on return from their 7 years in Australia.

We always love having them here but Lois and I have been trying to get Sarah to give us a bit more notice of these weekend stays, and this is a definite improvement, so that's all to the good.

flashback to Friday two weeks ago: Sarah and the twins

arrive to spend two nights with us

The catch today, however, is that Sarah says the her husband Francis could be dropping the twins off here some time earlier in the day today, while Sarah's at work, so I ask her to make sure this doesn't happen too soon, say, not till mid-afternoon at the earliest. Lois and I only got back from visiting our other daughter Alison yesterday after a 3-hour drive from Headley, Hampshire. We're both pretty tired, and we need time to tidy up, get the house ready, move our miscellaneous stuff out of the guest bedrooms, make up the guest beds, also reconfigure and expand the dining-table, plan meals etc. Busy, busy, busy!

07:45 We can't linger in bed, anyway, as much as we might like to - damn! We roll out from under the covers super-early this morning in case the Morrison supermarket delivery comes at the early point of its one-hour slot, i.e. 8:30 am - but it doesn't come till 9:15 am, luckily.

a typical delivery from a Morrisons supermarket

But it's another first today - for the first time ever, there isn't a single "substitution". For the first time ever, everything we ordered was in stock, which seems weird. The delivery woman says it's normally the more unusual items that they run out of and have to substitute for. I am able to tell her that Lois and I are probably a couple of their more boring customers, which is nice, because it brings a bit of logic into the madness, and makes it seem less weird, which is always a comfort!

our Morrisons order: is this the first time in the history of the world

that there are no substitutions? - I think I should be told, and quickly!

[Can I just say, I don't think this is earth-shattering news? - Ed]

[No sorry, we haven't got time for comments like that !  - Colin]

17:00 Francis arrives in the Land Rover with the twins, drops them off and heads back to the rental home the family are living in temporarily, in Alcester. Sarah arrives here in her electric Mini Cooper an hour later, coming straight from her accountancy job in Evesham.

the twins arrive with their scooters and their shiny-new helmets,

bless them! - Awwwwwwwwwwww !!!!!

21:00 While Sarah reads the twins a goodnight story, Lois and I wind down for bed in the living room with the latest episode of the long-running sitcom "Not Going Out", starring stand-up comic Lee Mack.

It's a bit of a weird episode tonight. Lee goes on a drunken stag-do for his funeral-director cousin Andy, who's getting married the following day. For a joke, the other stag-do guests nail Lee into a coffin at the funeral director's offices - but the joke goes wrong when the coffin gets taken away and possibly buried in a local churchyard - although nobody's quite sure which one. Oh dear!

Luckily all is not lost, because Lee has his mobile phone with him in the coffin. This turns out to be a big help because the phone's locational facility tells him which churchyard he's been buried in, which is nice!

Well, let's face it, Lee's got a good point there, no question about that!

And all the stag-do guys want to know what network Lee is on, and can't resist trying to finding out which, even though it isn't really the right moment for that kind of a conversation. But Lee's pal Michael is particularly curious and is determined to find out right now, because "we might not get the chance later".

It's not all good news however. And it's amazing how annoying a mobile phone can also be, when you're trying to concentrate and achieve something genuinely challenging. And while Lee is trying to ease the lid off the coffin from the inside, he's plagued by the usual sales-calls, for instance, which doesn't really help.

What a crazy world we live in !!!!!!

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!