Date: 31 July 2008 14:24:19
I had barely had time to unpack my bag from Paris before the Ancient Roman City was invaded by the Danes. It was a relatively peaceful invasion compared to the battles fought over a thousand years ago. BigBruv and his twin children, Northern Star and Big Lad, came to visit the Humble Abode.
The twins (9 years old) have been brought up in both Danish and English. Danish is their stronger language at the moment on account of their mother being Danish, their schooling and life in general being conducted in that language. BigBruv tries to speak only English with them but sometimes it's not possible. His Danish is very fluent and so the family switches naturally between the two languages barely noticing when which one they are using.
Northern Star and I made some of JtL's hummus together. Northern Star was a bit confused for a while, however, because she misheard me and thought she was going to be making something with lobster. Lobster in Danish is “hummer”!
We had a whale of a time visiting several museums, playing in the park, playing crazy golf (I was amazed when Northern Star knew the phrase “a hole in one” - not an everyday phrase - and celebrated her brother's success. Auntie Kerensa's skill was somewhat less pronounced - and was particularly handicapped after she managed to whack her golfball into a pond...) and pig spotting. This seemed to be an appropriate activity for the grandchildren of a Danish pig farmer. The Ancient Roman City was ruled 3000 years ago by the legendary King Bladud who as a boy suffered from leprosy. He was banished from court and lived as a swineherd. The pigs also suffered from a skin disease and, one day, one of the pigs got stuck in the hot muddy boggy waters in the area. Bladud plunged into the bog to rescue the pig and when both returned to firm ground found that their respective skin diseases had been cured.
This summer the Ancient Roman City has a hundred model pigs sponsored by various organisations on public display in the streets. The pigs have been decorated in the most imaginative ways. Some are at street level, some on rooftops and others are suspended in trees. The twins loved spotting the pigs and chose their favourites. My favourite (so far) is the one that looks like a Roman soldier.
After a whirlwind 48 hours, the Danes left to stay with my LilSis and use her homestead as their camp from which to invade London.