Sunday 22 February 2015

Sunday Sunday

“What’s libertarian?”  Beloved couldn’t give me a definite answer. We were both guessing.

It’s late Sunday morning and we are having breakfast. I must hurry because I want to watch a programme on German TV at 10 am our time, a weekly discussion on socio-political and cultural topics. At breakfast I invariably open my IPad to check the day’s news: on the BBC, The Guardian online and HuffPost. The three teenaged girls who appear to have run away from home to join ISIS make the headlines. They’re either still in Turkey or have crossed the border into Syria by now. Their families are distraught.

“Authorities Failed Girls”, screamed one headline. Instantly I get cross. Is no one responsible for themselves anymore? Or have fathers and mothers abdicated responsibility for their underage children and expect the authorities to take over?

So then I thought of Libertarianism . I looked it up on Google. I often look up definitions on Google that I used to look up in dictionaries. I don’t think I like it. I like the idea of the weak and helpless being safe in the arms of a benevolent society until such time as they can help themselves again.

Getting back to the three teenagers. Apparently there are dozens of young people from European countries following the call. We all know that ISIS revels in unspeakable acts of cruelty and barbarity. They say these young people are brainwashed into joining; what kind of mental deficiency allows them to overlook these acts? We all have this pat little phrase: ‘I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy’. I expect we even mean it some of the time. If these girls and others like them know what they’re doing they deserve everything they’re going to get.

The discussion programme on German TV was on the Police. Your friend and helper in times of trouble on the one hand and the abuser of power on the other. It was a lively programme, spoilt for me by the sole politician member who tried to monopolise it by dragging party politics into it. I shout at the screen: ‘yes, yes’ we all know that’, 'you are repeating yourself', 'that’s not the point’, but he paid no attention to me. Politicians never do. The moderator wagged his finger at him to shut him up. Do these people not know how annoying they are? Hides like a rhinoceros, politicians.

I was glad when it was time for Sunday lunch. We have a thing about Sunday lunch. It’s special. I cook meat and several vegetables, roast in winter, and there’s often a starter and aways a pudding. Wine at lunch is not a good idea because I must walk Millie in the afternoon but the weather was foul and I knew I wasn’t going to go far, so I treated myself to an extra glass. Beloved has sherry beforehand and wine with, but then he only has to fall into his chair afterwards, where he promptly nods off. I like our Sunday lunches, they are cosy and companionable, with a table cloth, good china and glassware and candles on dark days. We had roast pork, roast root vegetables and apple tart today.

The bottom field was awash. Sue was sloshing through with Jake, a gorgeous long-haired golden retriever, about 100 years old. Jake never misses plunging into the river, Sue was racing ahead, waving at me from a distance. Normally we stop and chat. Not today. Brian was throwing tennis balls for his two collies, Murphy and Badger - Brian likes Irish stout. I lifted my golfing umbrella slightly so I could see him. ‘Filthy weather’, ‘that wind goes right through you’, etc. "Go on, get on home. Have a nice cup of tea", Brian advised me. Nice cups of tea figure high on an Englishman’s list of priorities on a day like today.

Millie didn’t seem to mind having her walk curtailed. Poor girl has to go in for yet another operation next Thursday. A growth on her belly, not a fat lump this time. I’m being extra nice to her, feeding her lots of biscuits. If she gets too fat she can’t have an operation, so I’d better watch it.

J.K. Rowling has written a couple of thrillers. I finished one of them lying on the sofa, duties done for the day. I never read her Harry Potter books, nor ‘A Casual Vacancy’, her first book for adults. The latter has been turned into a TV series; I saw the first episode, didn’t like it, and gave up on it. The thrillers aren’t great either but, what the heck, I’ll try anything once.

Which brings me to supper, very light because of the large lunch, eaten in front of another German TV programme, a cop show. English cop shows are cosy and bloodless and usually portray genteel murderers in picturesque villages, solved by bumbling policemen with a side kick who makes inane remarks. German cop shows are nastier, grittier, full of big city realism and the kind of murderer you want caught, hanged, drawn and quartered. I know which one I prefer. The English variety is soporific, asks nothing except suspension of disbelief, an ability to overlook wooden dialogue and looks pretty. What more could you ask on a wet evening in February.

There you have it, Sunday chez Friko. It might make a fitting punishment for my worst enemy, being bored to tears should describe it adequately.





35 comments:

  1. ha do politicians ever listen to anyone...
    we are not much different in that...while we have to take responsibility for ourselves
    there are those that need assistance in order to that...when a society can not look out
    for one another...well you have capitalism...i mean...ha...i read the harry potter
    series with my son...not bad, not good...i was never intrigued by her other books...
    probably for good reason then...

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  2. I feel like I just had lunch with you. :)

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  3. I love your writing!



    ALOHA from Honolulu
    ComfortSpiral
    <3

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  4. Loved this glimpse of your Sunday life.

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  5. Hi, first time commenting. Having been an American expat in Germany for a total of ten years, would kill for German TV. Heck, I cannot even get the Bundesliga-British football yes, German no.

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  6. I feel like I just spent my Sunday with you. Your cozy lunch sounded wonderful.. the news - not so much. And speaking of news, I hope we hear only good news about Millie's upcoming surgery. Please keep us posted?

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  7. I don't feel that such a day would bore me to tears...a proper lunch, a programme to shout at, something suitably bloodthirsty to watch and the joy of a warm home to return to after a wet walk. Not to speak of the company of your husband.

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  8. I like your idea of having a special lunch on Sunday noons. Our big meal of the day was always at noon.

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  9. Is it "Tatort" you watch on Sunday nights? My Mum and my sister watch it every Sunday, too, but they say they often don't like it as much anymore as they used to. It's never been "my" programme, but I know it is a Sunday night tradition in many households here.
    Yesterday, I read an article in the ZEIT about how the difference in cultures and mentality mean that, very often, parents from countries such as Turkey expect their children's education largely be done by their school teachers and by their Imams. I've just tried to find the article online for you but couldn't. I think you'd find it very interesting.

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  10. I don't think it sounds boring. I think it sounds perfect in every way!

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  11. I think all the Moslem botheration would disappear if they experienced an English Sunday lunch such as you presented. 'Sunday lunch available at your local until 8pm'. Why oh why can't they appreciate being British.

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  12. Politicians do not listen anywhere - they are all the same lot, eh. I cannot understand what would change in these young girls minds to go off to Isis and be a part of this horrible people. Your lunch, romp, little bit of read, followed by light supper, entertained with "cop" shows sounds rounded to me.Seems to me that the British solve everything with a cuppa tea. ha,ha I do have some favourite "cop shows", that I watch on Netflix from British TV. I do not think your day sounds boring and I would have joined you for the romp with Millie too. Have a wonderful day - we are experiencing more snow - I do not mind - just part of winter and spring is just around the corner.

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  13. I have also wondered about those girls. I cannot imagine what they will run into, and what they think life is like for women in a Caliphate. Shaking my head in sadness for them. I had a nice Sunday, drove south to take myself out of an airplane, it was pretty wonderful and not at all boring. :-)

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  14. This raised every sort of interesting thought for me: "I like the idea of the weak and helpless being safe in the arms of a benevolent society until such time as they can help themselves again." My first thoughts were strongly negative. Then, I considered. When I wa a child and youth, there were Benevolent Societies everywhere. The coal miners had one, and my grandparents belonged. The Croatians had one, and a neighbor belonged. My best friend's family belonged to one, thought I don't remember which.

    The point was that, in time of need, the Benevolent Society (or Mutual Aid Society) would help. Funeral costs.Illness, Mine injury. Eyeglasses. Food. Each month, members paid a contribution, and the assistance was funded by those monies.

    The point being, of course, that none of that was governmental. Today, the truth is I'm not sure that a government can be benevolent, or compassionate. Our government, at least, is filled with bureaucrats who are more concerned with their own advancement and salaries than with the well-being of the people they're meant to serve. In fact, a reality I first faced in my years as a social worker has spread: the sad fact that people in such agencies often prefer to keep people weak, helpless, and dependent, to ensure the continuation of the system.

    But those are just musings on a very cold, very nasty Monday. Filthy weather, as you say. I face an indoor day, and no work, so perhaps I'll finally get caught up on my blog reading, and do something truly useful, like the laundry.

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  15. Hmm. There have been "gritty" crime series in the UK, alongside the traditional "cosy" school. And I seem to remember seeing a German series set in a small town in Bavaria with a couple of comedy cops not far removed in style from the late Will Hay.

    As for the missing girls, I don't disagree with you, but I have to wonder why nobody thought it worth at least double-checking on teenagers travelling unaccompanied to Istanbul.

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  16. Well, I think your Sunday mode is exemplary, though I would probably trim down what passes for the news. Here the big headline today--though of course it's Monday--was the Oscars. I'm so glad I was persuaded by J to stop watching them some time back. If I want to, I can get the results in one minute instead of five interminable hours. I love your description of English cop shows, which we watch, too, for just the reasons you name. Best of all in your litany is that lovely Sunday lunch.

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  17. I actually liked JK Rowling's new books. I like the main character, that one legged man. These books certainly won't stand the test of time like Harry Potter, but I'm glad old JK is still at it, not just sitting back and spending her money.

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  18. I feel like I have had lunch with you
    also.
    Still snowed in
    but kind friends came yesterday and rescued me.
    Truck full of groceries brought home.
    Still this one cannot leave home
    because of icy conditions on her rural road...

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  19. I'm with you on the various thrillers, except I like the British 'Shetland' series, and 'Vera' both by the same author. Finally began recording the new Tatort last evening. We get it on an educational channel. Also like reruns of 'Beck' and Italian series.

    I never look at U.S. TV shows, except weather and local news. I had the Rowling book and sent it back. Reading real history has ruined mystery books for me. Sorry to hear about Millie. Good luck!

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  20. Sounds like a wonderful Sunday. Only I would add watching Downton Abbey in the evening as it is playing now in The States. That would be the topper. I do love British mysteries and police shows, but I occasionally like something gritty and gory, too. ;)

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  21. Not a bit boring! I always enjoy whatever you write. I can't understand how 15 year old girls would have the wherewithal to get on a plane and go to Istanbul. I mean, money, passports, luggage packed, etc. I read where one did use her sister's passport. Guess nobody checked closely. I loved Harry Potter through the first few books, but lost interest as the childhood angle went away. I bought the first one and gave it to my grandson. He will always connect his love of those books to Nan. I read that first book Rowling wrote under a pen name. It was ok. Good luck with Millie. Thank you for posting.

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  22. Oh, I do want your Sunday lunch, right down to the nice dishes. Sigh.

    The state I grew up in, Montana, is known for its strain of Libertarianism. As is the case with all political ideologies, it's half sense and half crazy. Less government? Okay. Less interference in individual lives? Okay. Holing up in compounds wielding guns, as has happened in Montana on more than one occasion? Crazy.

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  23. Oh, I do want your Sunday lunch, right down to the nice dishes. Sigh.

    The state I grew up in, Montana, is known for its strain of Libertarianism. As is the case with all political ideologies, it's half sense and half crazy. Less government? Okay. Less interference in individual lives? Okay. Holing up in compounds wielding guns, as has happened in Montana on more than one occasion? Crazy.

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  24. You are never boring friend, always full of descriptive prose delicately pulling me in to observe your life. Word pictures.
    Just what I needed today, to sit down with you.

    XO
    WWW

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  25. Your Sundays sound so romantic and pastoral and British. I just love it. Mine is usually like most other days. My mother used to make the Sunday meal the big meal of the week. I agree with your explanation of various mysteries, but you forgot the Scandinavian ones which involve lots of alcohol and introspection and the Italian one which involved attractive people and some hanky-panky sometime.

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  26. Your Sunday lunch brings to mind visiting my great-grandmother on Sundays. She would have been older than I am now and cooked it all over a wood stove. Puts me to shame. Here Sunday night on telly is the best for British dramas so not to be missed. I've never seen a German cop show so can't make any comparison. I've not read any more J.K. Rowling after reading aloud the first chapter of the first Harry Potter to my grandson. The sentences were too fragmented if that makes any sense. Probably not. Anyway, your Sunday sounds delightful to me.

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  27. We've all done stupid things when we were fifteen , when we 'know' we're immortal .
    One can only hope that they neither harm or are harmed .

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  28. I have memories of lovely Sunday lunches with our best china and extended family sharing our big meal of the week. That was years ago and your post reminded me of those good times. Today, we usually skip that meal and maybe just have cheese and crackers.

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  29. Sundays are our do nothing days. we have a big late breakfast, no lunch (because it doesn't hurt us to skip a meal once a week). if the weather is nice. I poke around in the yard. if it isn't I curl up on the sofa and read.

    I too wonder why so many youth are going to join ISIS, especially the young girls! Do they think that they won't be immediately married off, clothed in a black tent, and confined to their husband's home?

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  30. Thanks for sharing a day in your life.

    We too have the ISIS runaways. I don't think they have any idea what is ahead for them.

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  31. I made pork this past Sunday, too, but I barbecued my pork loin in a crock pot. The Grands were here, and I must think of them when I cook. I like that you dress the table and enjoy a civilized meal. I use cloth napkins and candles for dinner when the children eat with us on a weekend. They behave well at a nicely set table! When it's nasty here, I still go out but not if it's in the minus digits. Take Care of yourself. I hope Millie fares well in her surgery and recovery.

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  32. Friko, a nice cup of tea figures high on my list of priorities on these cold damp days. As for the 3 English girls (and many others I fear) - they may be looking for excitement and adventure, but unfortunately I don't expect they will like what they find. And you describe cozy English mysteries perfectly... just the way I like them... bloodless, in picturesque villages, with just a dash of English humor. Sounds like you had a nice Sunday with Beloved and Millie. We are in day 2 of our Artic blast - schools closed, roads iced, and they're predicting snow (a little not a lot like in the NE) in the morning. The kids are happy - probably day 3 with no school if the roads are still icey... I'm content to sit here and quilt by the fireplace. Cats too. DH is watching soccer.

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  33. I feel very much like I am a part of your day as you draw me in with your remarkable slice of life description of Sunday in Frikoland. Your lunch sounds fabulous -- I like a nice Sunday lunch or dinner (and breakfast, too, for that matter.) It's a day I really love cooking, especially in winter with all the warmth and good smells. I can visualize your neighbors out with their dogs. Which brings me to poor sweet Millie. I will keep her in my thoughts for good results on her surgery. Never fun, is it? I so appreciate the unstructured nature of Sunday. There are wee rituals (mine include Downton Abbey and Grantchester, nice breakfast and the newsy programs in the late morning). But there is room for flexibility. May your next Sunday be as lovely.

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  34. Because I had kids at the time they were popular, I read all the Harry Potter books. I have to say, I thought they were pretty entertaining.

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  35. Hi Friko - sounds like a blissful Sunday - sadly I'd have to learn German! Struggling to get off the sofa to embrace the kitchen for a snack would be tricky ... lovely to read .. cheers Hilary

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