Am currently listening to:

Sort Sol

...and I think I see K&M online.
Hows it going over there in Freak City?

Freja

The last week has seen a few developments with Pip learning how to climb so much better that she can now reach the window sills and open the latches. Given that we live on the third floor, then obviously this is extremely dangerous, so we've now wired all the windows shut to prevent her from taking a nose diveout into the blue yonder. Having her own small table that she can move into position sort of helps her as wll, but this new found agility has also taken its toll and the poor Snoos has bruises and red patches on her face almost constantly. Its rapidly becoming apparent that she has no fear of anything, but the vacum cleaner and the front door bell (its very loud and she knows it portends an approaching stranger)

Today, Mette and Anya from downstairs had all the kids in the building to the library where they have a small childrens department. Freja came back soaking wet through from playing in the (horrible) water dragon sculpture in the city's central plaza. Such a monstrosity!.
Unfortunately, today was the last day we'll see little Andrea from the ground floor since tomorrow her family is moving to the city of Viborg. She came up with her mother jut as Freja was eating her lunch and Freja gave her a big hug. Its a shame because the two were similar in age and were just beginning to get to know each other. Freja is a bit starved for the company of her peers and isn't set to start kindergarten until November.

Den sidste uge har set Pipsen lær hvordan man kravler helt op i vindues kammen, så nu har vi bundet alle vinduerne til med stål tråd. Hun er også begyndte at bruge andre ting til at hjælpe med at kravle op, såden som hendes lille bord som hun elsker at klatrer op på og danse... hun er nemlig meget glad for at danse!

Desværre er hun lige så klodset som sin mor (hee hee hee) og held uden frygt og det har medført en masse blå mærk of bumps.

I dag har Mette været sammen med Anya (fra første) og alle de andre børn fra opgangen været en tur i byen, og på biblioteket. Freja kom hjem plask vådt efter hun havde været ned på Stor torvet og leje i alt de vand der pisser ud ad vand dragen. Kors hvor jeg dog hader synet at den skrot bunke!!!

Desværre var i dag den sidste gang Freja ser sin veninde Andrea (fra stuen) da de flytter til Viborg i morgen. Andrea og Jeanette kom op for at sige farvel mens Freja spiste sin frokost og Freja gav Andrea et stor kram. Vi kommer til savne Rasmus og Jeanette. De er rigtig sød og har været sjovt at vær sammen med. Nu skal deres lejlighed selvfølige gøres 'i stand' så huslejen kan sættes op og der kommer nok nogle rigtig idioter til at bo derned... nå, intet var evigt.

Freja skal først nu start i vugge stue til November, så nu har vi en månede tilbage før alting forandres for evigt og vi skal dele vores lille Snus med en masse andre menneske.

Walk the line.

On the whole, I thought this was a very well done film. Pheonix was convincing and the chemistry between Cash and Carter worked well. Johnny Cash is my father's favourite, so I've grown up listening to Cash's music (much against my will for the most part) and have a sort of love/hate relationship as a consequence.
I really do hate country & western music (and I don't think hate is an overstatment in this case) and find it self indulgent and depressing, but I've never really seen Cash in the light of C&W since his music always seemed to me to be something more akin to an American folk music in the same way as Paul Simon (another favourite of my father) or Bob Dylan, where as C&W is more like a self contained genre with its own mythology and symbolism. Cash transcends these and reaches heights which can't really be described in genre terms. His music is good, his voice superb and his lyrics poigniant.

EXTERMINATE!

I finished my two Rolls Royce models last night whilst listening to DR2's programme regarding the left wing squatter movement of the 60's to 80's, and I'm quite happy with them (they kind of remind me of Daleks). I added a lot more 'weathering' than I have with my figurative miniatures since vehicle models, being larger, do not look as convincing without a certain amount of wear and tear. As usual I started getting all sorts of idea's which involved the purchase of yet more models, but fortunately my budget for personal pleasures has long since been exceeded for September and I resisted the impulse of going online and buying a couple of Renault Ft 17 tanks I've found and which are cheaper and more to scale than the Gaso-line model I already have.

Indian Summer

Apart from the stifling heat of the indian summer, things are going well here in Århus... well enough.
Freja was set to start in day care in September, but we're still waiting to hear from them... the delay could be caused by the almost national strikes and blokades that have gripped the city in the wake of recent government cut backs though. Mette has been clearing out her workshop in anticipation of getting a job now she is no longer on maternity leave and classed as unemployed and I am as I always am. Pains every where and hot and sweaty!
The thermometer outside my window shows 31 degrees Celsius!
And, having been reduced to talking about the weather, thats about all I have to report for today. Mette and Pip have gone out into the city to shop and I have some time to myself which I shall now employ in repairing the damage Freja (zerstoeren) did to my Rolls Royce armoured car model this morning (she squeezed the machine gun off it) and building various terrain features for RM3.

I keep meaning to do something a little more serious, but my heart is not in to seriousness these days. I think I am suffering from the jaded disinterest in serious affairs that I understand often follows with age.

The Black Guards

The Black Guards are now finished and this completes the main groups of troops for the -ROCKETMAN III- campaign. The figure in the armoured suit is the main bad guy of the piece, Viktor Korsarov. AKA the Iron Czar, who is to be played by my friend Oleg. All that remains now are the character's Lady Penelope Carfax, her driver Murdoch, Ivan the Conductor and Agent X. I also have a couple of Bolshevik Lewis gunners who are not needed for the game but which belong with the rest of the elite Bolsheviks.

The remaining elements are already done from previous games.

I'll finish the vehicles at the same time. I now have all these bought and I've replaced the motorcycle and side-car since I haven't seen anything to indicate the Soviets ever used these in the 1930's, and indeed my model is a German ww2 bike. Instead I have replaced it with another Rolls Royce armoured car since the one armoured vehicle which the Soviets did love in the 1930's were armoured cars!

All this shouldn't take too long and afterwards I have several other models that need finishing, the Nao and the inn. I especially need the inn model for RM3.

I also have a couple of large canvas's awaiting my attentions...

Welcome home Atlantis!

Glad to see another safe landing!

Ad Astra!

Political Pipski

Yesterday we all gathered at the city hall and demonstrated against the closing of Huset. Naturally Freja put on her most adamant expression for the occiasion and dutifully joined in with each round of applause (except when she was eating her banana) .



Our (highly pregnant) friend Alison, who is a great one for using Huset also came along as well and together we listened to Villy Søvndal holding a speech (a painful experience for me since I had to agree with some of what he said).

Vi var op på rådhuspladsen i går for at demonstrere imod lukning af Huset. Alison var med som i kan se. Freja var i sit es, glad og klappende hele tiden. Jeg gik tidligt fordi jeg gad ikke hør på alle socialisterne!

Software question

So... Mette and I have been pondering the creation of an actual web site to cater for all our various interests and idea's... Now, bear in my mind I am as thick as two short planks with regards to computers... who can tell me whats the best, easiest, cheapest web site building software?

Freja: Vrooom!

The weekend was filled with pleasures for the little space girl. Although the Summer is winding down, the weather has still been good these last many days and this, along with the over night stay of her Mormor (maternal Grandmother) made her very happy... in fact, a little too happy for my liking. Ha ha ha.... *bleh*

Pipski has now reached the age where her mobility supports her curiousity and if she doesn't get her way, she is well capable of exhibiting an amazing level of temper coupled with a high pitched feminie screeching that sets one's hairs on end. Last night my parents came by and Pip gave them an amazing demonstration of her 'emotional vocal range'. Even Pløk (the dog) was amazed by the volume of sound produced by such small lungs. I'm afraid we laughed when Freja began hammering her fists on the sofa. She was so cute. She heard us laughing and looked over her shoulder with a huge grin. This isn't to say that Pip is a whining brat or anything, she isn't (at least I don't think so) but not only does she seem to have a temper on her when she doesn't get her way, but she also appears to be a consumate little actress as well.

*yawn*

Whats the cure for kids anyway?

Olga's gang

...are completed. These are the secondary force of bad guys for the planned RM3 games. Spending about an hour, to an hour and a half every evening, they took me a week to paint (enamel dries much slower than acrylic) and are photographed here still wet with Acrylic matt varnish. The figures are all from the 'Back of the Beyond' range by Copplestone.
Next up is The Black Guards! ...who will in fact be dressed in brown

more bad news...

...in Århus. On Friday the city council, headed by the evil Radicals (Cough, spit!) passed a decision to shut down Århus Culture House. The reason being, the eternal cut backs which have stalked the nation in recent years due to the governments economic plans.

Aside from the drab political aspect of this there is the local, social and artistic aspects. Huset was and is the best artistic resource for the citizens of the city. It has a range of workshops, metal, printing, wood working, computer, photographic and pottery, and is the host to hundreds of arrangements every year. I used to go there regularly to practice life drawing. Huset is so integral a part of my understanding of Århus and why its such a great place to live that I can't even begin to comprehend how any one could even want to close it down, let alone actually do so.
Too save money?! We pay Syria 100 million a year to 'promote democray' as if we were made of money and at the same time we're having to shut down our cultural and child care infrastructure.

There is a demonstration planned for Wednesday and for the first time in my life I think I may actually put aside my dislike of large social gatherings and take part.

Humbrol

I'm a bit annoyed today since I learned last night that the company that makes the paints I use for my wargaming miniatures and models, Humbrol, which owned the model manufacturer Airfix and was in turn owned by Hobby Products Ltd has gone into receivership.

In its heyday Airfix bought Meccano and the Dinky Toys brand, as well as other specialist toy companies. But in 1981 changes in toy trends forced it into bankruptcy and it was bought by the US company Palitoy.

A complex series of sales and divestments followed, culminating in Airfix becoming part of Borden Corporation subsidiary Hobby Products Group alongside paint manufacturer Humbrol and kit manufacturer Heller of France. Hobby Products Group was sold on again, Heller became independent but closely allied with Humbrol and Airfix, and in July this year, went into administration.

Heller holds the Airfix moulds so lack of supply bounced back at Airfix, and with Humbrol also making losses, Hobby Products Group called in administrator Grant Thornton on September 1.

Grant Thornton has high hopes of selling Airfix. First into the frame has been Hornby which has declared an interest, but as yet has not approached the administrators. Hornby is currently in an acquisitive mood, announcing last week that it is buying into the German market with the acquisition of Heico Modell, a privately owned German distributor of model train accessories. Coincidentally Hornby's chief executive Frank Martin at one time worked for Humbrol. Link.

I'm seriously hoping that Humbrol paints survives this crisis since I have hundreds of miniatures that need painting and I don't like the limited ranges of acrylic paints that are the only alternative, and which are rather difficult to get a hold of in Denmark anyway! Humbrol enamal paints, in their cute little tins, have always been a part of my life, from the earliest memories of building grotty little models and its both a useful tool and an icon of my life that is now facing extinction.

Chris Rock...

...giving some good advice on how not to get your arse kicked by the Police... VIDEO

Night Watch

a.k.a Nochnoy Dozor.

This is a Russian film, a sort of adventure thriller about an eternal battle between the forces of good and evil. Its a bit like 'Underworld' only without the Hong-Kong style action sequences or high powered c.g.i that now characterizes US films in this genre.

Actually, the film had its merits, though it also left us hanging out to dry a few times as well. There were several interesting sequences during the film, especially when Anton became an 'other', which is what the members of the ongoing war are called. I notice on IMDb that there is a 'Nightwatch 3' in production, but no sign of a 'Nightwatch 2' as far as I can see.

The weirdet thing in the whole film was the evil leaders hair, which looked like something terrible from the 1970's. I've noted this sort of hair amongst eastern Europeans before.... many of the Serb leaders during the Balkans conflict had similar horrors squating upon their skulls. I'm not usually a fashion consious type of fellow, and my own hair (or lack there of as the case is becoming) isn't going to win any one an oscar for best make up... but every so often I see something that resurrects my long dead internal teenager and I recoil from the aesthetic shock of it. Subsequently this film loses a whole point in my mind since I can't get that Jimmy-Saville-hair-do out of my minds eye!

Freja

A thousand receptors flare as bright as fire
Little sparkle of light, little light of love
Spinning together in the eternity of night
We welded this love to our lives
Forever and ever
This time is mine no more,
happiness has its price, so gladly paid
My daughter of Elysium
My own bright spark of divinity
We will love you forever.

Freja: 13 months old

Aerial

Spent most of today (monday) in a strange place, yesterday we cycled out to the beach using Pipski's bike seat for only the second time ever and sat at our usual spot. Its not the best beach in the world but it is preferable to the two other alternatives, Moesgaard is too far for a brief visit and Riis Skov is disgusting (people call it the ash tray). It was great to just sit on the grass and look at at the great big blue emptiness... the memory of that beautiful expanse as been with me all day today... across the water is where we'd like to live, but until we start making more money then the possibility will remain a plan for the future.

So today I've been distracted, distant... dazed and confused. I listened to 'Aerial' which I bought in the city and I really like it. Kate Bush writes songs that always make me cry for the loss of my innocence and Aerial has the same tenderness as 'The Sensual World' which has always been one of my favourite albums. I don't know any musician who can push my buttons like Kate Bush can, except perhaps Beethoven, but thats mostly just his 9th symphony which is just so beautiful it hurts.
I read with sorrow that Michael Kamen died three weeks after he'd finished working on 'Aerial'. I didn't know he was dead so that faded my lights a bit. He was a great musician.

I bought Mette some flowers. Its a silly convention really, some people say its a stupid waste of money. I bought some pretty flowers, big white trumpeting lily's, surrounded by small serious purple things to give contrast and then two great green shoots erupting out the top of it all and bursting with blood red flowers along their lengths... no doubt they will spring out tomorrow and fill the front room with colour. Mette loved them. I only buy her flowers when I know she's not expecting them so as to maximise the surprise and delight. I love that happy look in her eyes. Its not easy to think that one day it will be gone for ever, but it will. We're all just like the flowers, beautiful and precious but doomed to die. Thats why the flowers are not a stupid waste of money, because one day, like them, we'll fade and die too and all the money in the world won't change that.

Bolshevik squad

My first, finished, and fully painted 'unit', ever. I have about 300 or so historical miniatures, but only a few individual figures have ever been fully finished and no units have reached this stage yet. Usually what happens is my dead line expires and the figures get put away until next time they are needed.
The -ROCKETMAN III- figures will be the first figures ever to be completely ready before the game begins (this time I have plenty of time since I don't anticipate the games being played for at least another six months!


This squad will be the bulk of infantry for the good guys in the game, being allied to Rocketman and his companions. The next batch I'm doing (already half way through) is Olga and her local bandits (bad guys).

Never forget...

Freja: Street party

Yesterday was gaming day, but prior to the other gamers coming by, the moif family were down on Munkegade (which is just across the other side of the + junction with Nørregade from NyMunkegade where we live) where the inhabitants of the street were celebrating Århus Festival Week. Naturally there was music (provided by various teen groups with differing degree's of talent) and of course the Snoos was out on the 'dance floor' like a regular little teeny bopper. It was hilarious, because every one else, including all the other dancing children, stayed in a semi circle around the tiny stage, but not little Freja Olivia who stood alone in between the stage and the audience and danced to her hearts content.
Mehmet, who owns the kiosk in the basement of our building watched us and later poked fun at me for not dancing as well. Bah! I nodded my head a bit and tapped my foot...

Note, the arrow shows our apartment. The two windows to the right is my room.

I går var det gadefest ned på Munkegade og vi var lige derned sammen med Snus'en som ståede foran publikum og dancede som en besat. Mette fortalte at de havde set en mand på gågaden som sang børnemelodier og Freja havde dancede og underholdt alle dem der ståede og så på. Jeg gik ned og så på da de kom tilbage. Mehmet, ned i butikken, drillede mig med at jeg ikke dansede, men jeg forklarede at det havde jeg da gjørt! Jeg både nikkede med hovedet og tappede min fod.

Das Boot

The remastered, original and uncut TV series. DVD. 4 hours & 42 mins. Directed by Wolfgang Peterson.
I watched this yesterday, sometimes with lil Pipski (took all afternoon, but she was quiet for most of the time) and it was just as good as I remember. Ever so slightly dated now by its exterior and model shots, this was, when it was made, the most expensive German TV production ever, and it shows. The attention to detail and the acting are superb and in my opinion this is the finest 'war movie' ever made. Odd that we still call them 'movies'.

What sets 'Das Boot' apart from near all other war films is both its lack of any glamour or maudling self pity and its portrayal of humanity. There are no heroics or histrionics in this film, just a long repetitious series of events portraying the last mission of the U96. If ever there was a film about war I'd recommend to some one uninterested in war films, but interested in cinema, then this would be it.

Although this film is based around a true event (the accompaniment of a war journalist on a U boat misssion) it is not a factual recreation of that journey. Though it does take its reference from the book by the journalist in question, Lieutenant Werner, the story is an amalgamation of different missions, cobbled together to tell the story of a German U boat (U96) in 1941. All the actors play well and this is certainly the best performance I've ever seen from Jürgen Prochnow who plays the unamed U boat captain. The reason I assume he is unamed in the film is because he is portraying the real life U boat ace (and former captain of U96) Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, but since Lehmann-Willenbrock survived the war and Prochnow's character doesn't then I assume some artistic license has been taken in order to create an artistic symmetry.

Underworld; Evolution

Mette and I watched this last night after Pipski had fallen asleep. Its been a while since I saw any similar film, and ages since I saw the first Underworld film. Consequently I was a little unsure as to what had happened in the last film. I got the gist of it though and was able to follow the plot well enough.

I thought this film was okay, all things considered. It had a nice premise though I felt it fell into the usual American CGI trap with over the top action sequences that gave everything a comic feel. No doubt this was the idea though so I didn't resent it too much. I liked the opening sequence with vampire elite tracking down the werewolf leader William, though mostly because I saw shades of Debar'kaal in it...

...no doubt a certain other person picked up on that 'vibe'. Heh heh heh.

Mette was tired and indifferent, but she enjoyed the film for what it was. She had to ask me several times what was going for she had totally forgotten the first film and I was hard pressed to explain it myself.

2K

Passed a mile stone last night. Whilst I slept I had visitor number 2,000 on this site. I'm quite happy with this modest result. When I started this blog I had the idea that I would be talking to myself but over the course of the last five months there has been a steady stream of (mostly loyal) readers and wanders passing through. So far I have noted people from Denmark, Britain, America (my largest group of readers), Canada, Holland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Ukraine, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Slovakia, New Zealand, Australia, Spain, Venuzuela, Malta, Argentina, Morocco, Hong Kong, Japan, Croatia, and Malaysia.

The biggest source of links to my blog so far have been from three places; Americas Debate. Grimsby Wargaming and News from Norway.

So far I have posted 301 times on all my blogs combined;

JRC-1139
A political blog which deals mostly with current events in Denmark 14 posts.
JRC-1138
The main blog which deals with my life and experiences. 18o posts
JRC-1137
'Acharnement'. A horror story I wrote. 51 posts.
JRC-1136
'CONTACT'. A sci fi story I wrote. 43 posts.
JRC-1135
A gallery of non commercial images I've made over the last many years. 13 posts.


Message to OB1: I tried to post a comment on your blog but was not allowed to.

Freja: Bump!

Its beginning to look as if the Snoos is just as accident prone as her mother. Apart from the cut on her nose, she also now has a swollen eye brow from head butting her little table yesterday and a red mark on her cheek, from taking a nose dive onto the base of my office chair.

Everything is more or less back to normal here now. Billie and Jamie left this morning and are probably back in London by now and Mette is lamenting the lack of summer remaining as usual. Autumn is almost upon us and the whole summer time reality is come to an end. Now begins the long slow process of the Scandinavian winter.

In the mean time I finished the job I was working on and am now free to get back to painting Bolsheviks. I have small side project I'm going to do for an online friend but its not anything that ought to take very long. I also want to get on with some major painting as well. I have three canvases I want to get working on (more about that at a later date) as well as the inn model and the Nao, both of which have stood patiently on my shelf all summer...

Det begynder at se ud som om Pipsen er lige så klodset som sin mor. Set bort fra snittet på hendes næse, nu har hun igen fået knubs. I går ramte hun sin lille bord men højre øjne bryn og i dag faldt hun pladask på min kontor stol.

Billie og Jamie tog afsted i morges og alt ting er begyndte at vend tilbage til det normal igen. Jeg er glad for det. Det var rart at være på ferie op i det gode vejr, men jeg gad heller har haft lidt mere at lave. Efter Christian og Maja tog afsted var det lidt kedelig de dage hvor jeg ikke kunne kom til stranden.

Enigma

By Robert Harris.

Just like all his other novels, 'Enigma' is a page turner that demonstrates Harris's ability to create just that sense of ambience that works so well in a thriller. This is the fourth novel I've read by Harris and as a consequence I am starting to note similarities in his approach and style. He likes bleak weather and oppressive times as a setting and this story is no exception. His main characters have all, so far, been men of a similar age, and set apart from those around them. In 'Enigma' the main character is a brilliant, but flawed cryptanalyst at Bletchley Park during the second world war, living in a modern dark ages of black outs (mentally as well as nationally) and rationing.

The story is well written, informative and evocative. Its set in the same time and space as Neal Stephenson's 'Cryptonomicon', and although its not as clever as Stephenson's work, the story is far superior as a work of fiction. Where Stephenson spins off into the realms of bizarre fantasy, Harris remains firmly in the picture, dealing with reality as a medium and ambience of his choice. Stephenson is good, but Harris is better. Far more believable.

The Memoirs of Usama Ibn Munqidh

Usama Ibn Munqidh was a Syrian Arab born in Shayzar, in Northern Syria in 1095, only three months before Pope Urban II delivered the address at the Conference of Clermont which would lead to the First Crusade. 90 years later, he would write his memoirs, looking back over that period and narrating a wide selection of experiences as an object lesson to others.

A lot of this book was difficult to come to grips with because of the long Muslim names and references made to various events I've never heard of. Also, its a book with a moral message and as such is not in any sort of chronological order what so ever. Instead, the parts of the book, which deal with Usama Ibn Munqidh's life and experiences are grouped into various catagories, such as Usama's time in Egypt, Battles against Franks and Muslims, Hunting and anecdotes about animals, stories of holy men and Usama's father. Perhaps the most interesting parts were those relating to combat experiences and the character of the Franks (who didn't really impress Usama at all) but these are still highly subjective and take the character of 'interesting things Usama saw or heard', rather than any account of contemporary events. Usama was a peer of Salah-al-Din for example and yet there is very little in the book which relates to Salah-al-Din's exploits (though there is enough to understand that Salah-al-Din was nothing like the figure he is portrayed as being in Ridley Scott's film, 'The Kingdom of Heaven').

On the whole though, the book is an excellent reference source for understanding the mentality of a Syrian noble in the period fo the First Crusade. Usama Ibn Munqidh seems to have been a very balanced individual, though this is of course his own self description and must be seen as such... he was certainly a survivor though and a man who lead an interesting life!
3/5


Trafalgar, an Eyewitness History.
by Tom Pocock

This is a fantastic book and in my opinion, a 'must read' for any one interested in the Napoleonic period. The book is basically just a range of eyewitness accounts, letters and dispatches from the years leading up the battle, the battle itself and its aftermath all set into chronological order, with explanations and narrative by the author. Often each event is described from different perpsectives giving a far broader and highly personal over view of the battle.

I ripped through this book in a matter of hours. The way it is written makes it so very personal and the atmosphere and ambience is alive in almost every page. The intensity of the fighting and the sheer bloody brutality of it almost comes alive to the reader and I was almost dazed by the information being set before me by so many different eye witnesses. Trafalgar, until now a mere name and a date to me, has become an actual event in my minds eye, a real battle and a horrific slaughter to compare with anything I've ever read about. There is something truly awful in reading about the massed killing of war, but such data remains at an emotional remove from the reader until the writer is actually talking about his friends and companions, naming them and describing how they die. Its a sobering read for a child of late twentieth century Denmark.

Nelson dominates the book of course. He was the great hero of his age and his exploits and reputation appear to have been far greater than I had imagined from reading Patrick O'Brians novels (who hardly obscures Nelson's popularity). The accounts of his death and his funeral remind me of the national lament at the death of Princess Diana and I wonder if there is some element in the English character that cherishes a fallen hero far more than the survivor?

It was odd, to read this book straight after the memoirs of Usama Ibn Munqidh, for I noted there was a strange similarity apparent in both books. Despite the differences of date, age and culture, that one is an individual account of an entire life time and the other is the accumulated narrative of many people regarding a single battle, what comes across most strongly is how men engaged in war are so strongly religious. In almost every account of Trafalgar the writers used much the same terminology regarding Gods will as Usama Ibn Munqidh, a devout Muslim warrior. They placed their lives in Gods hands and accepted the outcome of his will using words that today I associate with Islamic fundamentalism. There is very little moral questioning with regards to war in either book and the Trafalgar account in particular is full of unquestioned nationalism and accounts of happiness at the prospect of combat.
5/5

Summer break 2006

Technically I am still on holiday since the last four days of our vacation have been set aside to be with two old friends from the UK, Billie and Jamie, but I am at home today working, whilst the others are still there, and here are some images of the moif family...

Undergrowth. I just like the look of these plants. They were scattered about the summer house with that utter disregard for beauty that so characterises mother nature. The tree's and grass are a typical Danish scene. Denmark is a land of flat soggy meadows and fields abound with birch and fir tree's and small expensive houses.

The Beach at Blokhus: It goes on for kilometre after kilometre and on a sunny summers day can be full of tourists and their paraphenalia... wait a few weeks until after the industrial holiday period is over though and its practically deserted. If one follows the coast all the way northwards one comes to the very tip of Jutland where the North Sea meets the Baltic and the two collide. Its possible to stand on the sand bar with each sea at either hand.

This is a local feature of Blokhus. Originally it was a marker for boats at sea to identify where they were. The west coast of Denmark is one long monotony and the structure was built for navigation purposes back in the old days. It was dismantled by the Germans during the war and has only recently been rebuilt as a symbol of the town. I thought it looked a bit like a landed space craft... A lot of the west coast of Denmark was heavily fortified by the Germans during the Second World War and I expected to see some bunkers at Blokhus but there was only the very tip of one lonely bunker, all but entirely buried by the sand and not even worth taking a picture of. Having anticipated lots of decayed concrete, I was a bit disapointed

Me and Freja, on the beach, showing off our pale skin and blinded ourselves in the glare.

Mette and Freja, on the beach, showing off a few 'curves'.

Mette.

The love of my life...

Trying to get Freja to look at the camera for a family portrait... The only time she actually looked up, I have my finger in the lens and my FIL is lurking in the back ground.

As you can see, the Snoos fell and cut her nose. I love this image though.

Trendy lil fire starter....

The third day, the heavens opened and it poured with rain. This was practically the only bad day we had, despite the rain and storms which lashed the rest of Denmark, Blokhus, aloof in its isolation, was largely a haven of warmth and comfort. Note the flag pole. Such things are common in Denmark, especially in summer house area's where every single garden has a flag pole with either a wimple or a flag flying if some one is home.

Freja see's her first kite and tries to figure out what the devil it is! Later a kite cart came by and provided further cause for confusion. My MIL and I laughed at the thought of the poor rider having to walk all the way back along Blokhus beach.

An angel! Actually this is my brother in law's GF who always reminds me of Claudia Black. For some reason I didn't take a single picture of my BIL. I had this vague idea that I needed to conserve the memory card on the camera so I took far fewer pictures than I'd anticipated though by setting the resolution lower I could have taken several hundred more pictures than I did.

The Snoos on the road. This is the road that the summer house was on, you can't see it, but the whole region surrounding Blokhus, and where we were is full of expensive small houses which stand empty most of the year.

A weird Swiss vehicle I saw. It was a brand new, off road & caravan type thing. I have no idea what it is.

The effects of the wind and weather in Northern Jutland. The wind is a constant feature at Blokhus and I imagine it gets very bad during the winter. This tree seemd to have been completely overwhelmed and yet it stood in the lee of the house.

Sandcastles. I built about sixty sandcastles whilst playng with Freja. Every time I made one, she would waddle over and destroy it and it became a race against time. In the end I started making them further and further apart until finally I was racing back and forth.

Mormor (Maternal grand mother) also had a go, but Pip was less inclined towards destruction at that point. By and large, Freja is very close to her grandmother, far more than the rest of us it seemed, and she was getting so much attention that she was starting to get a bit whiny towards the end.

Sunset 1. Sunset 2. Sunset 3. These are images of the evening sky that Mette took. You can see how the waves were in the last image, even with a slight wind, they were big enough to knock me over. I went into the sea on three seperate days and apart from the first day, which was the calmest and hottest day, the sea was terrible in its strength. The under tow was enough to keep me close the edge though Mette and I did venture out to a sand bar on one occaision where we could stand in the sea up to our waists and face waves that lifted us right up of the sand. It was fun, but a bit scary.

edited to add: Billie & Jamie at Blokhus.

Artist of the Month: Emil Schildt

Time for an old favourite from my home city: Emil Schildt. I first came across Schildt's work when I stole an old poster of an exhibition he was giving in Århus's crafts and culture house, Huset, (which literally translates to The House).

In the intervening fourteen years I have yet to see his work reproduced any where except in a Scandinavian erotic monthly called Cupido that I used to buy and read, and yet judging by his web site and the body of work he has produced, I cannot imagine he is wanting for commisions.