6th August 2018 And there it was, gone.

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Monday 6th 60-80F, still, becoming hot, sunny and breezy. Walked to the village and back. A bird of prey was circling low overhead. Seemingly unperturbed by my presence. Perhaps I simply didn't look appetizing enough for breakfast?

The Danish news suggests that 10-15 people have ended up in intensive care for drinking too much tap water in the heat. You need to consume enough salt to match what is lost. Otherwise you dilute your system. No ride today.

In the evening I made an emergency phone call. To be told by the operator that they would wait until someone else [Danish?] reported it. The air and our clothes stank of burning as huge clouds of dark smoke were visible across the intervening field. Trees were blocking the direct view but the exact location was easily surmised. Having seen the rapid spread of fires on open fields in a good breeze I could well imagine the dangers of it getting completely out of control. 

Tuesday 7th 62-87F, light breeze, cloud clearing. Two more days with at least 30C are promised. Though it seems the Danish maximum temperature record, promised for tomorrow, is unlikely to be broken.

Denmark's new "face concealment" laws are being undermined by an open-shirted, foreign person of great wealth. A reportedly, very rich, open-shirted, foreign person is promising to come to Denmark to personally pay the fines. Of all those women caught wearing black ski masks [and open shirts?] during bank robberies. The story is in Danish but Google Translate is your fiend. [sic] I think the open-shirted picture says it all:

https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/home news/rich man-comes to-Denmark-to pay-women's-fines


This morning, a shortcut across the stubble fields brought me to the scene of yesterday's voluminous smoke but offered no clue to its origins. Perhaps they were burning waste in an oil drum? Or a barbecue got out of control? Open fires are still banned during this seemingly endless drought. The DMI is spreading [probably false] rumours of rain on Thursday night.

I could not help noticing the row of hay bales stacked nearby was already being removed early this morning. With the acute shortage of animal feed, due to the drought and resulting poor harvests, I imagine stacks of bales are a tempting target. Not to mention a precious resource. Last year's stack was several times the size and lay under plastic for ages before finally being removed. Perhaps the farmer simply didn't want his cows eating hay spoilt by the stench of burning?

The means of bale transport is quite interesting. A flat bed, "rigid" lorry is close-coupled to a similar sized trailer. So that the huge bales can overlap the gap between them without needing a vast, articulated lorry of similar, overall size. Though I would imagine the closeness of the two units would rather limit the minimum cornering radius. I was hoping for a ride but it never happened.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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