*
Saturday 4th 37F, +3C. You should know the drill by now: Just above freezing, thick mist, heavy overcast and breezy. Perhaps with a nice big dollop of rain on the side, allegedly. It was raining under the trees yesterday where the mist was being driven through these giant, cold condensers. A bit like bathroom walls, they collect enough mist until there is nowhere left, but down. They should plant trees in the deserts for mad English tricyclists to ride under when they need to cool off at midday.
Saturday marks my now-habitual 8 mile ride to a specific supermarket which lost its only local outlet. The 8 miles back always seem more uphill once fully loaded. The supermarket has special offers starting on Saturday's. These must be attended to since no other supermarket chain stocks these items. Nor does this particular supermarket chain in many cases! Since they feel no moral obligation to actually stock their special offers. Nor to get them out onto the shelves when they do [quite unexpectedly] have lots of stock. This is Denmark after all.
It seems I shall just have to brave the mists again. To throw my chances of survival into the laps of [educationally challenged] sociopaths. Or whatever the politically correct term is these days for raving lunatics without a single ganglion of conscience. Nor the foresight to understand the consequences of driving badly as if it really doesn't matter. That widely accepted school of thought which says that what you do behind the wheel is irrelevant provided you get there sooner than yesterday.
I rather like the description I once read on a Danish forum. These people are "special." Almost regardless of their actual number. Say 98% of the driving population? Is that putting it too strongly in a tiny country where half a million drivers were fined for speeding last year alone? Subtract those too young or too old to drive legally. Or who really shouldn't in a sane world. When push comes to shove I wouldn't trust half the people I have ever met to manage a shopping trolley. Yet, quite inexplicably, most of them drive.
The mist was slightly thinner today on my walk. As if to reinforce my latest rant a car had fallen off the road during the night. It looked almost as if it had almost managed to climb back out of the deep ditch but couldn't quite make it. In Denmark I am not allowed to show photographs of such events on pain of prosecution, heavy fines and/or imprisonment.
The politicooze and human rights lawyers are still discussing whether shopkeepers can share their security camera footage with other nearby shopkeepers to warn of and identify shoplifters. The right to steal vastly exceeds the shopkeepers right to economic survival in Denmark. The police do not attend mere shoplifting cases according to the media. Leaving the shopkeepers with quite a dilemma. The shopkeepers can usually found guilty of something. While the thief goes free.
Further on, a small, brown bird of prey nearly took my head off as it escaped from a hedge across the road with a squawk. Not much bigger than a blackbird, it shot over the roof behind me and out of sight. It was probably hunting for sparrows. The church must have been preparing for a funeral. With its large, Danish flag at half mast and the gate and door wide open. Sadly, there was no sign of life. It turned wet and nasty later so my ride was postponed.
Sunday 5th 35F, 2C, breezy, heavy overcast with mist. Rain forecast for later. A 40 minute walk to the village and back. The lopsided car had been removed but there were several scars on other verges where vehicles had obviously gone badly off-road. A late morning ride into the cold easterly wind returning suitably laden. Horribly grey and miserably cold. Only 7 miles.
*
No comments:
Post a Comment