*
Tuesday
26th 56-60F, 13-15C, damp, heavy grey overcast and quite windy. A quiet walk along the lanes. A busy day at home so no ride.
The
UN is investigating Denmark for breaking global sanctions against the
use of North Korean forced labour to build their latest, coal-fired
battleship. The profits from the ship building are known to go straight
to North Korea's nuclear weapons research according to one UN
spokesman.
This verge trimmer had two independent mowers. Requiring some skill to work around signposts and other obstacles without losing its steady walking pace.
Wednesday
27th 56F, 13C, slightly misty, heavy
grey overcast and quite windy. From now on I shall refer to my shopping
rides as going to get ripped off by the danish supermarket chains.
Without being paranoid it is obvious the system is set up for massive
theft
by the supermarkets. A complete lack of staff usually
means a young teenager on the checkout is the only visible staff
member.
Items are either not priced or are showing the
wrong price compared with the bar code reader at the checkout. The belts
at the checkouts are deliberately made short on both sides of the till
to ensure the shopper has absolutely no chance in hell of having time to
read the tiny print on the receipt. The shopper is too busy racing to
put away their shopping as the queue inevitably lengthens. Because that
is how the system works and is fine tuned to work precisely that way by the supermarkets.
There
is usually nowhere to put down shopping bags while the receipt can be
read unless one has a trolley. Many prefer a handheld basket when
shopping for fewer items. The checkout staff always ask if a receipt is
required. Many shoppers can't be bothered. To their own detriment, as
they are more likely to be ripped off through ignorance of the charges
for the items they just bought. They use a clever system where the full price of a reduced item is listed and then the discount shown below. This is deliberately designed to confuse the shopper. Who must do a double take before moving on down the list.
The staff often have no idea of the cost of items where a price label is not displayed and there are
always unmarked items. I was told by a young teenager that both options of one product were the same, low price, but was then charged
double
at the checkout for the unmarked option. It occurs far too often that any
item on special offer is literally removed from the shelves, or fridges and only
returns
after the end of the offer. This suggests that the manufacturer is paying for an offer which never transpires. It still seems very odd, to me, that a country in
the EU has no consumer protection at all and only three chains of supermarket but using different trade names.
I took advantage of the stubble fields yet again to explore new viewpoints and capture fresh landscapes. I managed 56 images in all, thanks to my attempts to reach the same deer which has been grazing out on the prairies for several days now. It dashed off just as I reached the limits of my modest zoom lens. [Misty woods top left]
Not much later I found another deer resting in a hollow. It rose to its feet and we stared each other out. As I advanced a few steps at a time and took numerous snaps. The ground was remarkably dry this morning instead of the usual heavy dew. Even where the fields had been pig's muck sprayed it was firm underfoot.
A wealthy landowner has been accused of setting pigeons as live bait to catch birds of prey in traps to increase his profits from shooting on his land. He denies knowing anything about it. I wonder if he has Scots ancestry? No ride today.
Click on any image for an enlargement.
*
Pheasants are not
remotely the brightest of creatures. They have the same habit as hares
and will run [forever] straight down the middle of the road even when
there is no hindrance on the verges. Both will cheerfully cross the road
to the illusion of greater safety even when they were perfectly safe on
the opposite verge. There are numerous compounds in the woods and
copses where hundreds of pheasants are raised. Usually in the company of
a few, caged chickens.
The
upside is that the Danish countryside is obviously managed for
shooting. So many small copses and tree-lined, field ponds would
probably vanish otherwise. It all adds to the beauty of the countryside
whatever one may think about shooting something warm and fuzzy just for
sport. No doubt it helps keep the rural social life going as well. Just a
short walk around and across the stubble fields. It hardly rained all
day but I was too busy for ride.
