10.9.19 Ark? What ark?

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Tuesday 10th 54-59F, heavy overcast but calm start to the day. A low, travelling north, is supposed to bring 24 hours of rain and one month's average rainfall in one day to Denmark. We are west of the low's, supposed soggy track, but likely to get rain anyway. And did, just as I reached my half way point. Not bad enough to be problem though. It rained on and off all day.

Mother deer at full zoom and further cropped. I discovered that I was standing between it and its young. A pair of youngsters were hidden in the hedge beside me. They were soon reunited and dashed for the woods.

I tripped over a bramble hidden in the long grass and went arse over tit. Well, more like a headlong dive onto my hands and knees without the full inversion. The landing site was soft but muddy. So I was able to continue with a just a few aches as a reward for my rather inferior, gymnastic performance. I shall have to be more careful!

Wednesday 11th 53-61F bright and breezy but rain expected later. [pm] A ride is inevitable if we are not to starve. A brisk walk to the lanes first. Where I spotted a cat about 200  yards ahead. With one giant pjoing it leapt high into the air and vanished into the grass verge. The early sun was soon squashed behind the fast moving cloud cover as the wind picked up. It started raining just after 2pm.

I have mentioned that the Danish law has now changed to a "clip" on the driving licenses for mobile phone users behind the wheel. 6 clips lead to a driving ban. 120 caught in one day so far. 22,500 caught last year [450 per day] only paid a £200 fine.

Gravely Blighted has penalty points on driving licenses for traffic violations. 12 points maximum before a person's driving license is revoked. The US has 4x as many road deaths per 100,00 inhabitants as Denmark, Holland, the UK and many other, far more advanced nations.

A driving psychopath took the most dangerous, blind bend at over 70mph just as I avoided the linear flood caused by poor roadworks and a misplaced drain. This is the same bend, with a tall hedge, which is only 2' from the asphalt. There is only room for a ribbed concrete kerb with a 45° slope between hedge and road. 

There are several houses, close beside each other, starting just beyond this lethal corner. Each with their own blind exit and small children crossing the road to catch the morning bus to school. Driving psychopaths aren't clever. They are murderous scum. Gambling with the lives of others entirely for their own entertainment. With modern airbags the risk of injury to themselves if they should hit a pedestrian or cyclist is paltry. The Danish national speed limit is 80kph or 50mph.

Shopped in the car for the equivalent of six large carrier bags full and more. Starvation is staved off for yet another day. Went to check my tyres in the garage to find the dial was completely illegible. It went years before the cheapskates replaced the worthless rubber ring in the valve nozzle.

So I had to drive to another garage where everything worked exactly as it should. Shouldn't the original garage be prosecuted for public endangerment? Years of inadequacy is surely grounds for something?

An earthen tsunami breaks across the landscape. The farmer's ability to add precise, geometric lines to any slope is always a surprise. On a flat field straight lines it would go largely unnoticed. These lines are the markings of a huge, seed drill being towed behind an equally large tractor.

Like many conifer forests, the crops retain these artificial lines when seen from particular angles. Only ploughing after the harvest finally erases the lines.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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