~o~
Up at 6.45 after a very quiet night. No afternoon nap. I was in town. Only a tiny apple juice after dinner. No coffee.
My cooking class restarts this morning. I had better go in the car. Just to make the traveling time more realistic then the e-bike's. The e-bike route is more direct but consists of narrow lanes. With all the sharp corners, humps and hills. While I use the main roads and lawful cruising speeds in the car.
The gap in the trees continues to entertain me. The consensus is that the perspective provided by the human eye tends to match a 50mm lens on a full frame camera. Though some suggest a slightly wider [shorter focal length] lens. My 4/3 G9 sensor suggests I aim for a 25mm focal length. [2x crop factor]
The image shows the view using a 25mm focal length from inside the dining table window. You'll have to ignore the debris from the observatory and the carport roof.
The fact that I have to resize the resulting image for the blog further complicates matters. As does the complexity of the human eye/brain interface. I have no difficulty concentrating my vision on the nearly invisible, distant trees. Just to the left of the much nearer trees in the middle of the image. Similarly I can mentally "zoom in" on the gravel in the foreground. The "mind's eye" is full of such optical tricks.
The size of the image on the screen directly alters the perceived image scale. Depending on whether you are using a mobile phone, the camera focusing screen or a 32" PC screen as I do. Then you may "expand" the view on the screen. By whatever mechanism is provided by your own tech.
My own "naked eye" view is completely unlike the image above. The view appears much larger, wider and brighter to my [two] eyes. For example, to match the central tree size, on my camera screen, requires a 150mm focal length. With the 2x crop factor that becomes 300mm full frame equivalent! This, however, is image scale, not perspective. The field of view has shrunk to match the much longer focal length.
8.15. I had better have my shower and stop waffling.
Dinner at cooking class.
Interestingly, we had a new face. To replace another chap who had given up the cooking class. This new gentleman, of similar age to the rest of us, had great difficulty understanding my spoken Danish. He would lift his hand to his ear and claim to be deaf. Whereas he had no difficulty hearing my spoken English. He, himself, could speak English. He showed no difficulty hearing spoken Danish from the rest of the group. I could detect no malicious intent in this slightly odd behaviour.
He was friendly and even chatty in English. Obviously reasonably intelligent and confident. Often leading conversations and telling jokes to the group. Which is quite unusual in a new boy. If I spoke in Danish he was deaf. In English he was not.
I have never come across this situation before. I talk for hours, in total, in Danish, to some people. They never show the slightest difficulty in understanding me. Despite my known, poor grammar and dodgy pronunciation. Those who struggle usually show limited intelligence. They cannot fill in the gaps and errors in my speech. These people are usually in the minority.
Many Danes enjoy speaking English. They take the chance to practice their school English on a living Englishman. Their spoken English is often shockingly good. Far, far better than many born in the UK. With a purity which denies the listener the ability. To define their geographic origin from any known accent. Or to detect their education and class from distinct speech behaviours. Sometimes an American, Canadian or Australian twang creeps in from their having worked abroad.
I always encourage them. Thanking them warmly for having made the effort. It usually saves me having to dredge up. Or even invent a whole new vocabulary to fit the situation. Which often crops up where I know the name of a tool or material in English. While having to resort to description. To discover its given name in Danish. Language uniquely defines us in so many ways. I am under no illusion that I started much too late. To learn to speak Danish well.
What I missed most was not listening to spoken Danish on TV. The Danish government made it it increasingly difficult to access Danish via the TV. Despite having paid for the license for nearly 30 years. At first were poorly placed to receive terrestrial transmissions. Then they changed the technology. Which again denied us the ability to enjoy spoken Danish. Our supposedly modern series of TVs did not have digital receivers.
Even now it is a rigmarole to register for Danish TV online. Long term exposure to a language is vital to absorbing pronunciation and figures of speech via osmosis. Ordinary, informal conversation contains many twists and turns. Which have absolutely no meaning in direct translation. I used to listen to Danish on the "serious" programmes on the radio. Via ear defenders while working in a noisy, workshop environment. That stopped when I no longer worked there.
No dinner tonight. I have already eaten well.
~o~
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