Faster than light

Today was one of those days when you know its good to be alive. It rained, then it shone, then it rained again. Brief heavy showers whilst the sun shone. Mette and I drove out to Tilst to look at dull but practical clothing they used to sell at Bilka, but to no avail. The men's section was both tiny and appeared to be stuck in a time warp. Wasted effort. After this, with Vilde creaking from the back seat, we drove to Trøjborg and ordered a new futon. 12 days delivery alas. We drove home and killed an hour in the best possible manner. Chicken sandwiches for lunch and then I went to pick up Freja who was playing Lego Batman at school. She was reluctant, until she learned that since she is learning to tell the time, we were going to buy her a wrist watch. She chose a pink one with little red hearts on the strap, then we stepped next door to the juice bar. She chose pink again. We collected conkers from the parking lot at Klostertorv and when we passed by the cafe, 'Under Masken' we came across the artist Hans Krull who was sitting with two friends, one of whom was Vigo Sommer. Krull had been painting as he often does outside the cafe, which I believe he owns, and I stopped to look at what he'd done. He has his own particular style which I like. He gave me the painting after having asked me my name so he could dedicate and sign it. They were all drunk, but even sober I doubt he'd remember me. It was almost twenty years since last I spoke with him. He said; "Art should be therapy I believe. Art should be free." His friends agreed with him. The woman told me it was a great honour to be given a genuine Krull. She wished he'd give her one. Krull said he would. I said I was sensible of the honour and I shook his hand. It's kind of an ugly picture but I love it anyway. It is a picture of a man's head and Krull thought I looked like the man in the picture he'd painted. Viggo Sommer was one big smile. he'd aged so much, I hardly recognised him until he spoke and then there was the unmistakble voice. Freja sat on the bike seat and watched with the indifference of childish ignorance. "I might as well give them away because no one can afford them anyway" Krull said. I smiled sadly. It was probably true. I would certainly commission him to paint me some figurative art, preferably big woman, if I was rich, but alas, I'm not and probably never will be. We continued on our way to pick up Magne who was over joyed to see us. When we got home, I showed the painting to Mette. Later I read that scientists at CERN have measured neutrino's moving faster than light. I'm not surprised. This probably explains why there is no unified field theory.

moif's bad Danish art rant

Most of the time, I ignore other Danish people's ideas regarding what constitutes good art, because if I didn't, I would almost certainly consume myself in an ungovernable rage. Sometimes however, usually when some eager politician or an individual-with-no-taste-and-too-much-money gets a bright idea with regards to 'smartening up' Aarhus, I am provoked to indignation. A decade or so ago some powerful members of Copenhagen's cultural elite did one of their own a favour and unloaded a pile of junk known as the 'Water Dragon' onto us. This leaking pile of expensive scrap metal (known to locals as 'the urinal') now dominates our central plaza and does a brilliant job of making us look even more provisional than we already do. At the time, public opinion was largely opposed to the sculpture with most locals (or at least those who had any opinion) preferring something by a local artist, of which there were several candidates. This opposition from the common herd made no impact on the cultural elite of Copenhagen.



Recently, Aros (an amazingly expensive art museum erected in the centre of the city around the same time as the 'Water Dragon' was being foisted upon us) forked out another vast quantity of money on a 'work of art' designed to bring international attention to Aarhus. In the image above you can see how Aros, the big brick cube looming behind the houses, manages to convey a subtle sense of the sublime... by looking like a big brick cube. Stuck on top, and looking like a misplaced multi-coloured halo, is the 'stunning work of art' designed to inspire foreign awe and exclamations of admiration. The big idea is, you walk around inside it and look at the view through the various shades of horribly expensive glass.



Now, Aarhus faces its latest artistic challenge in the shape of a 72 m tall abstract statue by the late Robert Jacobsen (an artist whose work has no relevance to modern Denmark what so ever and whose legacy is tediously guarded by his own, diminishing generation). Weighing in at 1,800 tons this monstrosity, named 'Big Robert' is almost as big as the statue of Liberty. No one seems to want it, indeed several other cities have already turned the horrible thing down, but if things go the way they usually do, this 'important work of art' will probably be dumped in Aarhus by the cultural elite in Copenhagen so that they can have a good laugh at our expensive.

I would like to take the time to publicly announce that in my opinion, the 'Water Dragon', Aros's technicolour crown, and 'Big Robert' are all perfect examples of the sort of bad art only large amounts of money in the hands of morons can buy. If I had the means, I would wage a clandestine campaign to erase these objects from existence and replace them with beautiful, imaginative works of art, probably something figurative, probably something which reflected the culture of Denmark and not the tedious thought processes of mediocre artists whose only recourse of expression is the abstract.

Kalø castle

The castle seen from the causeway

Kalø is the nearest surviving medieval castle to Aarhus and it was the regional centre of power in the early middle ages when the local Jutes rebelled against the authority of the Danish king (it was built in 1313 by King Erik Menved). Mette and the children and I went to visit it today as I was curious to see it and the girls wanted to go to a beach. No one asked Magne what he thought.

The castle today is a mere ruin. The keep still stands, but as a hollowed out, eroded old shell, and around it are the out lines of the secondary buildings, the outer walls and the earth works upon which it all stood. The latter are still in very good condition. The castle stands on an island which was attached to the mainland by a causeway road, roughly half a kilometre in length. The road is still there, but its an ankle breaking nightmare to walk on (especially with small children eating ice cream) and as always when I encouter ancient roads I wonder what they were like when they were new. This one was in appalling condition.

The remains of the gate house and bridge with a view over Kalø Vig

One can get a good impression of the surrounding land by viewing the panoramic views on offer at Panoramas.dk. Kalø Vig is typical Viking country, with a great shallow bay surrounded by fertile farming land and its not hard to think back to the 1300's and imagine what it must have looked like then. Then the castle must have been an impressive sight but today the biggest and most obvious structure is Studstrup Power Station which looms on the western bank of the Vig, gleaming white in the sunlight. Aarhus sits further to the south as you can see on the map below and Studstrup is just about half way between the city and the castle.

The bay of Kalø Vig

The castle island and the cause way


Birds eye view of the castle

At the ruin was a government information placard which detailed planned renovations. I couldn't quite make out if the government was planning to rebuild the castle in its entirety, and had added an illustration of what the castle might eventually come to look like (see above), or were simply undertaking to safe guard the ruins against further erosion and had added an illustration for fun. Either way, the illustration on the placard far exceeded the meager ground plan on the information leaflets (see below) which were available at the nearby parking lot/ice cream stand.


1. Outer moat. Once connected to the sea, this is now two tepid pools of rain water.
2. Previously there was a large farm here, with accomidation for personnel and horses.
3. Inner moat.
4. Gate house
5. Outer courtyard.
6. Toilet.
7. Smithy.
8. Inner courtyard.
9. The lord of the castle's house.
10. Kitchens and ancillary buildings.
11. Living quarters for artisans and the priest
12. Administration building
13. More ancillary buildings, presumably for storage.
14. The keep.

The keep, seen from the gate house with the remains of the lord of the castle's house to the left.

The castle isn't particularly big, but its very interesting, epecially when I compare it to Rochester castle which is older and larger. Kalø pacified a more rural society than Rochester and its size, style and lay out illustrate this. The keep, which dominates the ruin, is far smaller than the keep at Rochester, and for the first time, I have a really good mental impression of just how impressive Rochester must have been when it was built. Walking about the ruins today, with a twentieth century mind, Rochester seems so small as to be absurd, but Kalø is so small its a wonder any one could have lived there (yet historians believe 'several hundred people' might once have lived on the island). Kalø, where the lord of the castle lived in a house rather than inside the keep, really puts Rochester into perspective.

I counted five levels inside the keep, but apart from the obvious, battlements, cellar, etc, I'm not sure what they were. At various times in its history the castle was used to hold important prisoners, and presumably this is where they were kept, so the lowest level, might have been a dungeon I suppose. On the diagram of the castle, building 13 is described in Danish as a cellar, though I could clearly see it rose above ground level, and I wonder if there is more underneath the castle, hidden away from public view. Perhaps a real dungeon lies beneath?

For some reason everything was clad in red brick but the insides of the walls were filled with rocks and mortar, so given how Danish castles usually look, I assume this could just be a matter of style, rather than inadequate building materials. Most of the ruins were clad in sharp edged bricks which looked almost fresh and I think perhaps the ruins have been clad with new bricks at some point, possibly to protect them.

The keep seen from across the inner moat

Cheer up. It could be raining...

Looking west along Nørregade

These pictures were taken last night, being the early morning of 2nd Dec. 2010. As you can see, Denmark is in the grip of winter again, and as in previous years, we seem to be getting one of those white Christmas's which we were led to believe would never again happen. Global warming or just global clueless? You can't see it in the photographs because they were taken with a long exposure time (about 2 seconds) but the air was full of big fat snow flakes.

Looking south along Gammel Munkegade

I had assumed that the snow would stop traffic again as it did a few days ago, but it didn't. We resolved to drive out to Freja's kindergarten (which is situated in Moesgaard forest) but alas, the car wouldn't start so we decided to take a taxi out there and drive back on the Kindergarten's own bus...

But first we had to pick up Magne at his day care centre which is situated in the middle of Aarhus, about three blocks from home. Mette called in good time to arrange a rendezvous with a taxi with a seat for a small child (timed for 14:50) and off we plodded through the snow.

I was well packed in, but the wind chill between the buildings was wicked and it seemed like the bad luck which had crippled the car was still stalking us. We reached the day care centre and picked up Magne who was a bit whiny, then positioned ourselves to await the arrival of the taxi, and waited... after fifteen minutes, with the cold biting at his face, Magne crapped out and started screaming. I can't really blame him, his nose had started running and once he started crying as well, his face was covered in slimy liquid which with the wind chill must have felt very painful. We wiped his face, and tried to cheer him up, but to no avail. Standing in the middle of the city with a howling child was not fun, and as we'd decided to take a taxi, we hadn't brought a pram or stroller. It became obvious that Magne wasn't going to make it and we decided to split up. I carried Magne home in my arms (he screamed all the way, much to other people's merriment) and Mette stayed to wait for the taxi...

Magne and I made it home and relaxed with bread rolls, milk and You Tube. Magne cheering up once we starting watching funny animal antics and Pocoyo. Mette however was left standing in the cold waiting for a taxi which finally arrived at 15:20. It took a further 15 minutes to reach the xmas party, by which time, all the coffee, gløg (a sort of Danish xmas wine) and food was gone, and poor little Freja was in a pitiful state, believing herself to have been forgotten. Since she has spent the last few weeks practicing a song she was to sing for the occasion, it was particularly hard for her to think she'd been abandoned. Mette told me, Freja was beside herself with happiness when she saw her freezing mother finally trudge up the hill to reach the kindergarten. (Poor pregant Mette). I wasn't too happy about it either as I'd looked forward to seeing Freja sing the traditional 'Sankte Lucier' song. Not sure how its spelled, but its a song which kids sing at xmas whilst holding candles.

We all ended up safe and warm at the end of the day, though we found Freja's feet were soaking wet and freezing cold when she took her boots off. I fixed this by wrapping us both up in a duvet on the sofa with her feet pressed against my legs so she could heat up. We watched 'Emil from Lønneberg' whilst Magne walked about with a pirate pistol and made funny shooting noises.

If you don't know 'Emil from Lønneberg', it is a Swedish children's story by Astrid Lindgren (the grand old lady of Swedish children's literature), and was televised back in the early 1970's. As hero children go, you can't get much better than Emil!

Every one's gone to bed now, and I've just finished the write up from yesterdays Takshendal game. We've switched gaming evenings to Wednesdays as Thursday has become untenable for the foreseeable future. Tomorrow is another day, and now its time for a last track from the Balkans and then off to bed...

Go fuck yourself Robert Mugabe

Robert Mugabe, the murdering tyrant who rules Zimbabwe, has described the people of Århus as barbarians. This is because five days ago Tendai Tagarira, a 26 year old Zimbabwean author who Mugabe would like to silence has been given the liberty of the city for two years in order to write a book. Mugabe is of the opinion that Tendai Tagarira is a fraud, employed by the Danes to deliberately besmirch Mugabe and his government. As if any one could say anything that would make Robert Mugabe look any worse than he already does.

Leif Christensen Savnes

Vor kære kollega, ven og familiemedlem Leif Christensen er sporløst forsvundet og vi har brug for alles hjælp til at finde ham.

36årige Leif Christensen (se billedet) var fredag den 5. marts 2010 til personalefest i Fiskergade 66 i Århus. Da festens deltagere ville videre i byen omkring kl. 02.00, var Leif Christensen meget beruset og vi forsøgte at få ham bragt hjem med en taxa fra Europaplads i Århus midtby.

Det lykkedes aldrig at få Leif Christensen til at tage afsted med en taxa og siden har ingen set ham.....

Vi håber, at ALLE der læser denne mail, vil hjælpe til med at søge efter Leif Christensen, som ingen har set eller hørt fra siden natten til lørdag.

Leif Christensen er her til morgen efterlyst via Århus Politi, men da han allerede nu har været forsvundet i mange dage, arbejder tiden imod os.

MØD venligst op på Europaplads i Århus i dag kl. 12.00 (onsdag den 10. marts 2010) og hjælp os med at søge efter ham!

VIDERESEND venligst denne gruppebesked til ALLE i dit netværk, da vi virkelig har brug for ALLES hjælp!

For flere oplysninger, kontakt:

Brian Sørensen på 2077 3300.

Conni Føste på 2546 3858

Signe Bloch på 5311 2542

Sindslidendes Vilkårs Sekretariatet på 5311 2340

Café Kaffegal på 5053 0010

(This is a missing person announcement for any one in the Aarhus area)

T minus 11 days and counting

The big four oh approaches and I'm supposed to have a mid life crisis or some such. Maybe thats what all this dieting and exersize is really all about, though I don't believe that myself. My deteriorating health was more than enough incentive to pull myself together. Literally.

I can't but help notice the other 'senior' members of my gym who always seem to be there when I am though. Usually I go on mondays and fridays, but this week I went today instead, and so I saw a fresh batch of faces, quite a few hoochies too which I hadn't seen thus far. Not that I actually give a damn any more. I couldn't but help notice my biceps have suddenly developed a hardened internal 'lump', which I take must be the beginnings of increased muscle growth and this was of far more interest to me than the pumping slender muscles of young women in flattering clothing... So maybe I am in a midlife crisis after all? If I am, then I'm wondering what the big deal is, mid life feels far better than the last decade of youth did.

Winter is upon us now and as I cycled home today, on my way to the gym, the freezing rain, slanting across my face, was relentlessly cold. Darkness fell around 15:45 and I had all my winter gear on, I even bought a high visibility vest because I'd rather look like a living clown than a dead cool guy and the ring roads of Århus are packed with speeding morons yapping on their cell phones as they speed up to squeeze through the junctions just before the lights change from amber to red. The inner ring road and Vesterbrotorv are the worst. There are no markings for cyclists and people squeeze in any where they can, even along side the city buses which are notoriously bad for your health.

Currently I'm contemplating high contrast images and trying to figure out why they are so appealing. I think it must have something to do with over emphasis, ripe fruit, engorged sexual organs and the way our brains are wired towards procreation... but I'm not sure.

moif & the Snoos day 2

Last nights sky was a sign of good weather today, for although it blew a lot, the weather was glorious. Nice and bright, but not too hot, and with hardly a cloud in the sky. Naturally Freja and I took advantage of this to spend a few hours at a local play ground called Børnernes jord (which roughly translates to 'Childrens land'). Freja loves this place because it has a swing she dreams about and a neighbouring kiosk which sells 'Ice age III ice creams'. Freja is a big fan of Ice Age. On the way over to the playground I took a couple of pictures of some local buildings which I thought looked well picturesque with the hard light giving some nice contrast. I am sorely tempted to paint the old shop in the image above. By the way 'Bøger Kunst' does not translate to anything rude, which one might be tempted to think if one didn't speak Danish. Bøger is Books, and Kunst is Art. The second building image is a small indy art gallery called 77m3 which I thought was a clever reference to possible sculptors.

When we got to the play ground, it was quite deserted and Freja and I had the swings to ourselves for a bit. This suited the Snoos perfectly and we spent the next half an hour with me pushing her and her shouting "Higher! Higher!" This only stopped when she went too high and the chains went slack at the apex of the swing. She came down hard with a yelp of pain and for a horrible guilty moment I thought I'd given her whip lash. It turned out the safety bars on the swing had hurt her back and my guilt didn't last long, as our break from the swing didn't last long either. Two minutes later we were back and Freja was demanding greater altitude again.

Once she had sated herself on the swing, Freja turned to picking flowers, disapearing in the undergrowth in her combat pants. Børnernes jord, though not a huge place, is quite overgrown around its outer edge and as more kids and parents arrived, there was a demand for the swing (there is only one swing for kids of Freja's age). Freja teamed up with a couple of other little girls, strangers as far as I could make out, and I sat on a boulder enjoying the sun and reading a short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Eventually, and despite my sun glasses, the bright sunlight gave me a headache (a common thing for me) Plucking flowers was apparently so much fun that I had to use the promise of an ice cream to get the Snoos to leave but we did eventually. We came home and Freja spent the rest of the day watching '101 Dalmations' and playing Oline on Mettes computer. All in all it was a very good day and despite not talking to any one but each other, we managed to get on very well.

I have to add though, that I am knackered, my fingers are aching and my neck hurts from all the running around and playing. Freja has just gone to bed at last, and now I need a good, hot cup of coffee!

moif & the Snoos day 1

Mette and Magne have gone off to Copenhagen to visit Mette's best friend Camille, leaving Freja and I to our own devices all week end. I had planned to get a load of painting down for my upcoming Rocketman campaign, but day one has passed with Freja pretty much setting the agenda. We started off with a trip to the doctor. Freja has a nasty red rash on her lips and cheeks (see image below from last week) and the usual creams and potions have no effect. The doc conjured up a new paste and I'm hoping it does the business because Freja's face looks very tender at the moment. The worst part is, it looks like Magne may be getting the same thing, but we can't tell yet.

The city was drenched with rain. Its odd to think that last week the weather was nice and hot and I almost switched to high summer clothing. Today the temp was a lousy 12-14C and it pissed down all day. The image above was taken at 11am!

Most of the city was busy despite the rain, and Freja was in her element. She loves splashing about and getting wet and being cold doesn't seem to bother her at all. We went to the chemist to pick her meds and she spent almost half an hour running about the puddles and water on the city's central plaza.


After we got home, I gave Freja a present, 'The Tigger Movie'. I'd given her '101 Dalmations' on thursday and my plan is to use these two new films to keep her under some semlence of control. I know its pathetic but I'm not used to looking after Freja when Mette is not around. usually she takes Freja with her when she goes visiting her friends. Alas for the Snoos, Magne's birth means he gets to stay with Mama and Dada gets to deal with the human dynamo. Another small problem was 'The Tigger Movie' is quiet melancholy with poor Tigger searching for his none existant family in a winter landscape for most of the film. Not what I'd expected at all. The Snoos was quite saddened by it.

Don't get me wrong. I love my daughter, but she is very hard to keep up with. She has about three times as much surplus energy as I do. Thankfully her bed time is at 8pm so I can relax as soon as the Disney hour is finished.

Tomorrow I think we shall go to the playground, unless the rain is torrential all day long ...should be fun.

Edited to add; the photoshopped sky as the sun went down;

Rosengade

The Spring is nice and warm, the sun is bright and shiny and walking in the city we came across my old friend Rico with his family. Stupidly, I forgot I had my camera in my pocket, but I did remember to take some pictures of my girls as we wandered about. We're all a bit under the weather as Freja has brought home yet another infection of some kind but despite this we managed to soak up some summer ambience, and I even looked at some new shoes with a thought to getting around to replacing my old Oakley's (though I didn't buy any).

The picture below shows Mette and Freja (Magne is in the big old fashioned perambulator) on Rosengade in central Aarhus.


Mette hates when I take pictures of her, but I love her so much I get all soft inside...

Moesgaard 2008

This time last year, the weather was wet and miserable, as it had been for the last several years. May 2008 however is shaping up nicely with 32 degrees C in direct sunlight and the ambient thermometer reading 18 degree's C.

Naturally I have taken full advantage of the glorious weather to ride Betty out to my favourite place, Moesgaard. The forest has been beautifully green with all the tree's in full bloom, and every where I've looked there have been signs of the mild winter. There have also been any number of still water pools which is odd, since it hasn't been raining that much in recent months.

I don't mind though, they are wonderfully picturesque and add much food for my wandering imaginations. There is nothing quite so inspiring as a ride through the forest listening to film soundtracks as I gasp and heave for breath. So far I've been three times this week (and I went swimming once) so I am on track again. March and April showed poor performances and I am several weeks behind on my swimming schedule.

Mehmet and Kong

Recently I've been hanging out with my neighbour, the Turkish Dane who owns the corner shop below our flat. His name is Mehmet and he's a handful of years older than me. I say hanging out, but the nature of my time in the shop is some what more beneficial. I usually stand and talk with Mehmet when I'm down buying milk or what ever and one day a few weeks back, he asked me if I wouldn't mind 'helping him out'. As a dedicated workophobe I was instantly on my guard, but it transpired, from his some what warped Danish that what he really wanted was some company. He said he needed some one to help 'top up the beers in the fridge' when the shop was busiest, so I said I'd do it.
It turned out that although the beers did need topping up (not exactly difficult), I'd guessed correctly and what Mehmet was really after was some company. We ate some Turkish pizza's. laughed at the drunks and laughed at each other for eyeing up the girls. Mostly we just talked about life in general.

I've done this a few times now, never with any obligation and always with a smile. Its not exactly a job so I don't feel obliged to do anything, but it is nice to help out, and Mehmet, who has some useful connections to the 'ethnic underground', is always interesting and always manages to get his hands on all manner of curious commodities. Amongst other things he recently gave me four kilo's of frozen chicken breasts he'd come by. When I asked him why he was giving these to me, he replied, 'because my own freezer is already full'. Fair enough. I never deny people the opportunity to be generous.

It turns out that one of Mehmet's contacts is a Chinese chef called Kong, and Kong often comes by on a Saturday, around closing time, and after Mehmet has closed the shop, they sit and talk, drink wine and smoke very strong cigarettes. Tonight I met Kong for the second time.

Kong seems like a nice person, but he is very different from the Danish and English people I normally hang around with. In fact, with his Chinese mannerisms and appalling bad Danish, he's almost like some character in a film. Today, I asked him how old he was.
"Ooooh, bad question!" he replied giving me the sort of side long look one might expect in a martial arts film. "Veeery bad question!"
"What do you mean?" I reply.
"Chinese people, never ask how old, or how are you?" he explains. Such questions appparently lead to bad luck because if the person you ask wishes to, they can make things very bad, for example, they might reply, 'I'm not well at all, I need 5,000 kroner to pay the rent, can you help me?"

Well.
Since I'm not Chinese, I fail to see why this is so bad since I would just reply; 'I don't have this money for you', but obviously its bad for Chinese people since any admission of age or poverty can be interpreted as weakness. Kong, being a nice sort, immediately forgives my Danish ignorance, then feels the need to maintain the equilibrium between us by giving me some small gift. Since I don't smoke or drink alcohol (both which Kong finds strange) he buys me some chocolate. Since we're in Mehments shop however he must buy this chocolate from Mehmet, and Mehmet refuses to sell him any chocolate at the correct price of 30 kroner.
"10 kr for you" he tells Kong.
"What? Why?" Kong is immediately suspicious "I have 16 kroner here in my hand."
Mehment is adamant and Kong tries to haggle upwards until he and I start laughing at the absurdity of haggling a price upwards from a man who is haggling his wares down in price. In the end, Mehmet sells Kong a bar of chocolate for ten kroner, and then Kong gives me the chocolate and shakes my hand. Equilibrium has been mantained and I feel like I'm in a Wayne Wang movie.

Ninety percent of Mehmet and Kongs conversation revolves around 'tak tak'.
In Danish 'tak' means 'thank you', but in Chinese slang, 'tak tak' means to fuck, and for Mehmet and Kong there is no better subject of conversation. From the moment the shop shuts at 11pm, they sit drinking and smoking their very strong cigarette's (I'm all but choking in the smoke), hatching one cunning scheme after another as to how they can find some willing females and get some 'tak tak'. Since both of them are married, and the plots they hatch are some what fanciful, I take it this is some kind of running joke. They even make contingency plans as to what they'll do in the eventuality that the women turn out to be men, or want money.
"I'll wink at you then pretend to go and buy some cigarettes and you climb out the back window" Mehmet tells Kong.
"What if they are men?" Kong shudders and we all laugh.
"I can tell" Mehment insists but Kong doesn't believe him. Its fairly obvious that Mehmet loves to tease Kong but I can't quite tell how much Kong understands.

I get a lot of odd looks when I'm in the shop. Some people seem to think its unusual to see me there and I assume this is because I'm Danish and Mehmet is Turkish. Most Danes don't react, though some of the immediate locals, all of whom know Mehmet by name, give me an odd look, but most Turks, seem to find my presence to be most baffling. Often they ask Mehmet in Turkish who I am and he replies in Danish, 'He is my neighbour'. I wonder if the rumour is going round about Mehmet and his Danish side kick but I don't really care. Mehmet is something close to a friend since I've known him for more than four years now and he's always been fun to talk to.

Autumn in Århus

Picking up Freja today I took a few pictures of the day care and neighbouring school where the leaves have turned to such a glorious hue. The above is the entrance to the vuggestue (day care) on Ny Munkegade, which is the same street we live on and the lower image is the folkeskole behind it. The last image is the sky a few weeks ago (with added contrast).

Danish summer sky

They promised thunder today but it never happened. Maybe tomorrow. I love a good thunderstorm. The weathers been all over the place in the last few days. The meteorologists warned that the UV was exceptionally bad today. As high as 7 which is the highest I've ever heard of in Denmark, fortunately I never went outdoors. I've been extra wary of the sun light since I had the 'heat rash'.

The image is from last nights sunset (slightly PS'd)

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Freja: Danish summer

Just got back from a trip out to Moesgaard beach that was cut short and diverted to the Århus Yacht Harbour where we sat in the drizzel and drank hot choco-coffee whilst the Snoos had a small tub of ice cream (click on the above image for a panaramic view). This morning the sky was a pure, summer like expanse of azure blue but by the time Freja had had a midday nap, the rain clouds had moved in and turned the sky to a dull cod coloured monotony. We defied the weather sprites though and set of with coats and hoods on, but only got as far as Tang Kroen (near the edge of Moesgaard forest) and the yacht harbour. It wasn't the best trip ever but it was 'hyggeligt' though.

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(Hyggeligt is a Scandinavian concept which translates to being in a comfortable and cheerful state of being. It is often defined by being warm against the cold, so sitting by a fire, in candle light, with good friends or a similar situation is often called hyggeligt. Hygge translates to comfy, but isn't quite the same thing.)

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Så, var vi ud til Lystbådhavnen ved Tangkroen med lille Freja. Tanken var at vi skulle ud til Moesgaard men med det lorte vejr så opgave vi det og sad ud ved båderne og fik os en kop cacao-kaffe mens Freja havde en is. Ide'en var at få en 'crepe' ved et café der ud men med en pris på over en hund hver kunne de godt stop deres 'crepes' et vist sted hen!

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Vi sad ved is boden i stedet, og efter et par minuter mødte vi Nina (fra Mette's mor gruppe) som kom forbi med hendes mand og to døtre. Det var første gang jeg havde set lille Agnes så jeg var meget nysgerig. Hun lå i barnevognen og smilede op til mig så jeg blev helt ustyreligt glad (små børn plejer altid at vær bange for mig). Hun ligner sin stor søster på en prik! Esther kunner godt genkend Freja og det to så ud til at vær glad for at se hinanden ingen. De vinkede farvel til hinanden med stor smile. Der efter cycklede vi hjemme igen. Der er et eller anden musik festival igang i Århus, så vi gik igennem midtbyen. Der var rigtig mange mennesker og på Bisptorvet var Citroen ejerne igang med en opvising af et eller andet art. Desværre gjort musikken og regnen sådan at der var ikke nogen som gad se på. Vi skyndte os også forbi uden at stop. jeg kan ikke se at en Citroen er egentligt noget der er værd at se på. Såden nogle kedeligt Franske person biler. Nogen gang så forstå jeg ikke mennesker over hovedet!

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Moesgaard

To the south of Århus is Moesgaard forest, the road through which leads to Moesgaard beach (and the Viking museum). As a part of my new weekly routine and if the weather permits, I cycle out there at least once a week and I really enjoy the trip. Moesgaard is not a huge forest, nor is it as unkept as I'd prefer, but its very pleasant, especially at this time of year!

On the way back I usually stroll for a bit and look for interesting bits n' pieces and small sticks and twigs I can use for models. Every so often I just stop and take in the sheer beauty of it all. Yesterday I walked half of the way back through the forest and listened to the 'Kingdom of Heaven' soundtrack whilst my imagination ran riot... if I could only realise ten percent of the things I dream up when I'm wandering about by myself in such a fertile ambience!

Yesterday was my second trip through the forest this week and by the time I got home I was totally wiped out. Today I've got aches and pains every where and a constantly twinge in my foot that threatens to cramp. Mette wondered if I was not over doing it, but the truth is, I wanted to do it again today and only the over cast clouds kept me at home (that and I had to look after the Snoos).

The bottom image is the beach as it was on wednesday. By friday there were people sunbathing though no one frolicking in the sea yet.

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Olivia über alles

Its time for a Snoos update. I've been remis of late what with all my various computer problems and getting side tracked into Numan fuelled steampunk fantasies so here is a report of what little Freja Olivia did in the week end. Mormor (maternal grandmama) and Morfar (maternal grandfather) came by on Sunday and we took a stroll around the city centre to oggle at people and be oggled at. Morfar hogged the Snoos the whole time but that was okay since I had my bike with me and I couldn't push both it and Freja at the same time.

There wasn't much to see, though Freja, leaning out of her comfy wagon made sure she saw it all! Eventually we wound up at Kostertorv (monastry plaza) and here we stopped for some (very rich) chocolate and brownies. The Snoos was not interested in hnaging outide a café though. Such inane inactivity is for the future. Childhood is short and maturity lasts forever, so she made her way into the cobbled centre of the plaza where she could dance, hop and run about. I went with her since I don't get to go out much with her in public and I was both cautious about her getting hurt (there is a major bus road at one end of the plaza) and eager to demonstrate to the various onlookers how cool I was since I had a daughter. Ha!

The Snoos's voice echoed from the buildings as she laughed and it gave a small tug at my heart. This old old plaza must have rung with countless childrens voices, but in todays climate of self regard, there was no one there to play with at all. Of the 200 or so people moving about the plaza for the 45 minutes or so we sat there, Freja was the only child.

Freja quickly discovered the solitary tree which stands at one end of the plaza (right next to the buses) and soon we were chasing each other around it and playing peek-a-boo (with my heart on edge every time she was behind the tree and closer to the road than I was). Mormor (perhaps Freja's favourite person outside of our inner most family) came over to play after I had to take a break (I was knackered from stooping over and rusing about like a ten year old. I lasted about ten minutes the first time and maybe eight after I'd caught a breather) Freja never slowed down at all. Its hard being an old primate!
Mette and her Dad were wiser. They just sat and yapped the whole time (which is after all what cafés are for I guess).

One thing I noticed was Mormor was just as quick to react as I was when ever Freja strayed too close to the road. I don't trust many people, but I trust Mormor! I have the best mom in law ever!

Spring?

The last two nights have seen winter suddenly catch up with us in Århus (or Aarhus for those of you who can't see the å). The snow has moved in and clogged up everything from one end of Denmark to the other and the last two days we've been house bound. Århus is completely sodden and this morning I saw one of the new Danish M113's driving through along Nørre allé (the street out front, see above image) on a mission to rescue drivers. We've also been ill the lot of us, with Mette in bed for two days with fever. Freja's been okay but today the day care was shut because of the weather and she's been driving us up the wall with her boundless energy.

Roll on summer!

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.

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.