09:00 It's come at last! After a 2-3 month summer break, this afternoon it's our first meeting on Skype of the new study year for the local U3A Intermediate Danish group that Lois and I run, and we spend the morning preparing.
First decision is where we do it - in the bedroom? Maybe not, because outside, the builders of this new-build housing estate in Malvern have decided to tear up the pavement for the 100th time [Shome exaggeration, shurely? -Ed], and the sound of their pneumatic drills will only add to the difficulties of trying to speak and understand Danish. Pneumatic drills is the last thing you want, really, isn't it, when you're listening to somebody trying to speak Danish - be honest !!!!
Danish is often described as "like speaking with a potato in your mouth" - oh yes, believe me, it's true. Oh yes!
14:30 The meeting starts - Lois and I have decided to do it in the kitchen. And we have a lot of fun with our members as always, although, as usual, we don't spend a lot of time on the actual Danish, more on chatting - in English - about the usual old codger stuff: what the grandchildren are doing, what our latest aches and pains are etc etc - you know the type of thing!
Oh dear!!!
And there's plenty more chat (in English) again today, because, of course, we're all discussing what we've done over the summer.
Joy, who was widowed a couple of years ago, has recently paired up with a man called Nick, we hear. And she tells us about the Single Old Codgers Meet-'n'-Eat group that Nick is a member of. Joy isn't allowed to join it as an official member, but she "tags along" sometimes, she says, despite the fact that this is breaking one of the group's rules.
The rules of the group are that it has to have exactly 10 single members of each sex at any one time. And if you pair up with another member, both have to leave, which creates one vacancy for each sex, which is nice.
However, there's a long waiting list of local single old codgers wanting to join, especially for women - there's more of a quick turnover of members on the men's side. I wonder why?
Maybe it's just the men who are "looking for looooooooove", and the women just go along to chat to the rest of the "girls", do you think?
I wonder.....!!!!
15:15 After the usual 45 minutes of chat, we eventually persuade the members to get down to doing some Danish.
We're all enjoying our current Danish whodunnit, which is based around an affair between a 53-year-old menopausal woman, Ursula, who's a teacher in the local college's visual arts department, and her young lover, the 29-year-old Jakob, who makes the paints that Ursula uses in her art room at the college.
It's obviously "an affair made in heaven" now, you've got to admit that!
Ursula and Jakob first get together after he demonstrates to Ursula the non-toxicity of his paints by suggestively sticking his finger into one of his paints and then licking it clean, while looking her straight in the eye. A bit of a cliché, I know, but maybe a lot of affairs start with this simple gesture like this - Lois and I aren't sure. It could be just a Danish thing.
Does anybody know?
Ursula has various problems because of the 24-year age gap with young Jakob - the couple's love-life has given Ursula intermittent backache, but on the plus side, her hot flushes keep her warm when Jakob turns over and takes the duvet with him.
This afternoon, however, we hear also about Ursula's vision problems - I imagine she's long-sighted but she understandably doesn't like wearing her reading glasses when they're in bed together, so Jakob's face is all blurry to her.
Poor Ursula !!!!!
But it's all the most tremendous fun to read about. You would not BELIEVE !!!!
16:00 The meeting finishes and Lois and I relax on the sofa with a cup of tea and a slice of bread with Nutella spread on it, in case you're interested. [Do you need to ask?!!!! - Ed]
I tell Lois about an email that's come in from Steve, our American brother-in-law, all about the latest upset in the long saga of Stonehenge and historians' attempts to uncover what it was all about.
Will the Stonehenge enigma ever be fully solved? Just when researchers think they're starting to understand what it was all about, another mystery pops up.
Researchers now think that the altar stone, which was the centre-piece and focal point of this prehistoric monument in Wiltshire probably came from a totally different part of the country from the other blue stones, which all came from Pembrokeshire in Wales. Scientists now suspect that the altar stone was acquired later than the other large stones, and may have been brought a really long way, from the north of England or even Scotland
But why? Did the stone happen to be "on special offer", and the Druids, famously careful with money, decided to snap it up perhaps??
Was it just an end of season "clearance item" or just "slightly foxed", maybe? It certainly looks "slightly foxed" now, but then this is 5000 years later, isn't it, so fair enough!
Fascinating stuff !!!!
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