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Saturday
17th 39F,
cooler after a clear night. Now turned to grey overcast but sunshine
expected later.
Today's hunt was short lived as the cloud quickly
vanished. An erratic salvo just before 9.30am and then all went silent.
About 20 guns had turned up in their drab green. Some wearing dayglo
orange hats. Which rather clashed with the expensive, all weather togs.
By the time I had walked around to the
other side of the field by the road they had broken into four groups. And were
strolling back in opposite directions to their cars parked along the
lanes. Presumably there were no pheasants left in this copse after
several shoots over the last couple of weeks. The other birds seemed
unnaturally nervous as they raced across the road from hedge to hedge to
get away from me. No sign of a single gull when thousands are usually
present on the nearest hill.
_________________________________________
Rant/
I had to smile in total disbelief at a new build supermarket's cycle parking facilities. Being a new build one might have thought they had total control. But no: Whoever designed the cycle parking is working so far above their pay grade they really ought to be in round the clock care.
Excellent choice of situation, just around the corner from the supermarket's entrance door. But! Some drooling moron has put a 2" kerb at the entrance to the cycle parking area. Right where cyclists want to quickly get away from the steady stream of traffic entering the car park from the busy main road.
They also forgot to put an exit in the railing enclosure. So that cyclists could easily reach the shop door. But no: Anyone using the cycle parking is pushed right back out into the same steady stream of traffic of motorized shoppers entering from the same, busy main road and all of them rubbernecking for a parking space. This must surely be considered a serious but completely unnecessary safety issue? A gap in the railings would surely be cheaper than a continuous one almost reaching the wall?
As is commonplace with Danish supermarkets, they also forgot to make any paths across the newly planted, perimeter grass. Thereby denying anybody a safe exit from the entire parking area on foot or by cycle. So they force pedestrians and cyclists to cross the wet and muddy grass. Or to walk or ride downhill to take the secondary entrance into a minor road. Leading back up to an even steeper uphill drag just to reach the junction with the main road. Dugh? DOGH!
In other new build supermarkets there is
never any connection with the outside world except through the car park's only entrance. Obviously terrified of disloyalty by shoppers going right next door to the next [completely isolated] "island" supermarket surrounded in their pebble beaches of oversized gravel.
In one glaring recent example the council put a pavement ramp for cyclists to enter the car park by a narrow path across the [standard issue] giant gravel perimeter. Thereby saving the cyclists having to negotiate a busy traffic light at a four way junction [crossroads] and then having to climb the typically fierce car park entrance ramps around the bend.
The problem, in this case, is that they put the cycle pavement ramp beyond the entrance!! It doesn't align with the paved path by several feet! Dugh? DOGH! Oh, by the way, the cycle parking ramp at this supermarket is often completely blocked by their pre-pubescent staff stacking pallets of goods all around or even directly in front of the cycle racks! There are obviously convoys of lorry loads of drooling idiots working well above their pay grade in supermarket staffing, management and design.
Still chuckling to myself over these numerous faux pas I finally reached the checkouts. To find that the plastic battens [used to separate individual shoppers' wares on the belt] were completely inaccessible. This was due to some educationally challenged, drooling moron having fitted the overhanging sweet pricing strips almost touching the batten storage rail. You would not believe how common this is to many Danish supermarkets! Dugh? DOGH!
And no, this last is not at a new supermarket chain. They have literally hundreds of branches across at least four different countries already and they have been going since the 1980s. Most of their premises are new builds. No names. No pack drill. You [should] know who you are by now. All it takes is a little thought [and care] with the details. Preferably by someone who has a clue. Or even gives a shit. Rather than a zombie.
There is another recent new build supermarket in another village. This has a very large covered area outside the shop which is used to display goods. Guess what? Their cycle parking area is outside this area under a huge tree which drips constantly, year round. Pallets of goods often make it difficult to exit the shop and IMPOSSIBLE to reach the cycle rack. This must surely be a safety issue? But no. This is Denmark.
This same shop also forces
all of their customers to walk around their
safely covered product display in the pouring rain and wind and snow while "mingling" with the
constant car park traffic. Which is always trying to park as near to the
door as possible to avoid getting any exercise.[At all.] Y'all couldn't make it
up. [Spit!]
This is the alternative reality of Danish supermarketry. Where no gaps are left in the endless shelving to allow customers to move freely. But must walk the entire length of the shop just to get to the next aisle.
"Baaa.Baa. Baaa."
Ankle high, low pallets of goods on display often block these same endless aisles. Offering a perfect hurdle for people to trip over. Or to struggle to get past with their shopping trolleys. The chances of a catastrophic loss of life is highly likely in the event of a fire or other disaster!
This is Danish supermarketry where every single week they advertise discounted wares which never exist. Nor ever will at a discount. Only in their very own, alternative reality of the supermarket offers magazines. "We didn't get it in," trips off their youthful lips from several day's constant practice. Before being replaced with yet more fresh, new, Junior School aged faces.
Sadly Denmark quite obviously has no fire safety checks on supermarkets. Nor even a recognizable consumer protection system. Every supermarket chain is owned by one or two foreign piggy banks or offshore billionaires. So
exactly the same goods appear in
every single supermarket except Aldi.
Only the plastic carrier bags [and prices] change from one shop to the next. They even cheat on organic produce [when it is available] by putting a prominent symbol of the Danish flag on the packaging to make the busy shopper think is is the official, red, organic logo. Putting the same NON ORGANIC produce under an organic label is another trick of the trade. Organic produce is often so ridiculously overpriced they end up offering it cheaply on the last day of the "best before" label. Perhaps they think the tiny packs of tired organic produce are Nouvelle Cuisine? You can buy half a pig's worth of pork mince
[Danish: hakked grise] literally "hacked pig" for the same price as a small portion of organic mince!
In a country with a typically severe obesity problem the sweet, sugar bomb drinks, cakes and snacks displays are always longer and larger than any other. And, always placed close to the checkouts. Where the all too familiar queues are deliberately manufactured by understaffing with their ephemeral, underage bods. Anybody calling Danish supermarketry "a license to print money" is obviously just a cynic. 😏
That said, Denmark's supermarket chains beat Britain hands down on keeping villages viable for all. If you have more than a thousand souls to rub together then you probably have a choice of supermarkets in Denmark. I wonder if that is true of many villages in the UK?
/Rant.
Saturday's ride? A crosswind going both ways. If that makes any sense. I personally dispersed a huge flock of Rooks hanging about over a main road village. Though it was nothing personal. Blinding sunshine on the way back. 14 miles-ish. I forgot to check.
Sunday
18th 38F, grey with light winds. It feels even colder today. Saw three cyclists out training and a buzzard with somewhere else to be. The gulls were somewhere else too.
Click on any image for an enlargement.
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