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Friday 13th 55-64F, bright sunshine with a good breeze from the north west. A very unusual wind direction. Walked to the lanes. Not one of the five lorry or bus drivers acknowledged my taking to the verge to let them pass unhindered against oncoming traffic. I may return to standing my ground at this rate! A few, small fluffy clouds went over but not the rapid overcast of yesterday.
Don't forget the Comma!
Today's news is that it took 7 million Danish kroner to collect four million Danish kroner from patients who needed help with translation. There is no mention of the countless hours wasted by medical staff in administering the translation service. Nor of the quality of the translators following news headlines about gross inadequacies over the last year.
They should have used the British system of universal translation proven over many centuries. Available, free of charge, from any available, British bod in the area. They just shout loudly: "Parlay voo the inglayzi?" Repeat, as necessary, with increasing volume. They say it works a treat. 😉
Denmark's drivers continue to amaze the police. They set up a speed control in Aarhus from 2pm to 20.30. Resulting in 261 fines for speeding with 33 clips on driving licenses. One instant removal of a driving license and another conditional. The speed record for the day was 121kph [75mph] in a 50kph [31mph] zone.
28 drivers were abusing mobile telephones and 17 drove without a seat belt or drove through a red light. The sooner they have self-driving cars the better. Though I fear a huge increase in rear-enders from the driving <cough> experts and drunks. Who will automatically switch off the smart car controls.
Can you even imagine traffic which always drives within its safe braking distance? No. I cant either! I have been rear-ended twice by habitual "mint chewers" when I stopped at red lights. Both offered me cash not to report the collision in their "wife's cars!" Coincidence? Probably not. Driving while banned for drink driving much more likely.
To add to the misery a Danish TV station set up a camera at a light controlled crossing. They soon had film of 21 drivers going straight through on red. Like lemmings to the slaughter. I see this same behaviour every time I go to Odense. The waits for the red lights are so long that lots of drivers get impatient and chance their luck. A crossing is not just a simple case of two way traffic changes. There are usually filters for those crossing the traffic stream in each of four directions. The lights always change even if there is nobody waiting.
Denmark is still waiting for a pure bred Dane to independently invent the major traffic roundabout under strict Janteloven rules. Until that <cough> genius comes along Denmark can't have big roundabouts. Mind you, the cost and disruption of fitting roundabouts on busy roads is probably astronomically high. There always has to be drainage and power cables and all the other services to attend to.
My least favourite route is the multi-lane, multi-crossing, through route to Nyborg in east Odense. It also leads to the vast shopping malls and big shed outlets and motorway connections. I often have to stop at every single red light which are every few hundred yards. You may well imagine how long that takes to cover a single kilometre!
There are no parallel, minor roads for cyclists to use either which wouldn't involve waiting at more lights or making a major detour. Cycle friendly Denmark? Yeah, right! I had a look at Google Earth to check for alternative cycle routes but nothing presented itself. Presumably the whole area west and south of the roads involved was designed to avoid becoming a rat run for vehicles.
Saturday 14th 47-60F, clear, bright and still. Walked to the lanes in bright sunshine. Saturday morning traffic very quiet. Strong smell of chemicals coming from one field. A late morning ride to the shops. Crosswind going. Headwind coming home. Going well. Only 14 miles.
Sunday 15th 58F, overcast with gales all day. A grey start turned to fine drizzle despite it not being mentioned on either forecasts service. I walked clockwise up to the woods and back down by the steep track. About an hour and twenty minutes in total. A Roe deer was caught out in the middle of a clear felled clearing. It surprised me by dashing towards me before launching itself into the prickly undergrowth.
A second deer was grazing by a gap in the hedge and seemed quite reluctant to miss breakfast. By the time I had reached the road again a buzzard was being mobbed by crows. They went off into the distance still performing wild, aerial acrobatics. After a proper shower there was a clearing around lunch time with brief sunshine between the clouds. Fortunately the storm was much further north. The Faeroe Islands [north of Scotland] measured a gust of 71m/s or 158mph! The wind eventually dropped here after lunch but there was no excuse for a shopping ride.
They should have used the British system of universal translation proven over many centuries. Available, free of charge, from any available, British bod in the area. They just shout loudly: "Parlay voo the inglayzi?" Repeat, as necessary, with increasing volume. They say it works a treat. 😉
Denmark's drivers continue to amaze the police. They set up a speed control in Aarhus from 2pm to 20.30. Resulting in 261 fines for speeding with 33 clips on driving licenses. One instant removal of a driving license and another conditional. The speed record for the day was 121kph [75mph] in a 50kph [31mph] zone.28 drivers were abusing mobile telephones and 17 drove without a seat belt or drove through a red light. The sooner they have self-driving cars the better. Though I fear a huge increase in rear-enders from the driving <cough> experts and drunks. Who will automatically switch off the smart car controls.
Can you even imagine traffic which always drives within its safe braking distance? No. I cant either! I have been rear-ended twice by habitual "mint chewers" when I stopped at red lights. Both offered me cash not to report the collision in their "wife's cars!" Coincidence? Probably not. Driving while banned for drink driving much more likely.
To add to the misery a Danish TV station set up a camera at a light controlled crossing. They soon had film of 21 drivers going straight through on red. Like lemmings to the slaughter. I see this same behaviour every time I go to Odense. The waits for the red lights are so long that lots of drivers get impatient and chance their luck. A crossing is not just a simple case of two way traffic changes. There are usually filters for those crossing the traffic stream in each of four directions. The lights always change even if there is nobody waiting.
Denmark is still waiting for a pure bred Dane to independently invent the major traffic roundabout under strict Janteloven rules. Until that <cough> genius comes along Denmark can't have big roundabouts. Mind you, the cost and disruption of fitting roundabouts on busy roads is probably astronomically high. There always has to be drainage and power cables and all the other services to attend to. My least favourite route is the multi-lane, multi-crossing, through route to Nyborg in east Odense. It also leads to the vast shopping malls and big shed outlets and motorway connections. I often have to stop at every single red light which are every few hundred yards. You may well imagine how long that takes to cover a single kilometre!
There are no parallel, minor roads for cyclists to use either which wouldn't involve waiting at more lights or making a major detour. Cycle friendly Denmark? Yeah, right! I had a look at Google Earth to check for alternative cycle routes but nothing presented itself. Presumably the whole area west and south of the roads involved was designed to avoid becoming a rat run for vehicles.
Saturday 14th 47-60F, clear, bright and still. Walked to the lanes in bright sunshine. Saturday morning traffic very quiet. Strong smell of chemicals coming from one field. A late morning ride to the shops. Crosswind going. Headwind coming home. Going well. Only 14 miles.
Sunday 15th 58F, overcast with gales all day. A grey start turned to fine drizzle despite it not being mentioned on either forecasts service. I walked clockwise up to the woods and back down by the steep track. About an hour and twenty minutes in total. A Roe deer was caught out in the middle of a clear felled clearing. It surprised me by dashing towards me before launching itself into the prickly undergrowth.A second deer was grazing by a gap in the hedge and seemed quite reluctant to miss breakfast. By the time I had reached the road again a buzzard was being mobbed by crows. They went off into the distance still performing wild, aerial acrobatics. After a proper shower there was a clearing around lunch time with brief sunshine between the clouds. Fortunately the storm was much further north. The Faeroe Islands [north of Scotland] measured a gust of 71m/s or 158mph! The wind eventually dropped here after lunch but there was no excuse for a shopping ride.
Click on any image for an enlargement.
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