April 2003
April continued sunny and dry as it has been most of 2003 but we did experience a short spectacular snow storm and a sandstorm all within the space of about 3 days. The sand storm was the top layer of soil disappearing from the fields round about because they were so dry. One garden in Nimtofte lost half its lawn to sand and our track became a sandpit
In chronological order we had a week in Spain then Mia went on her last annual shindig by the seaside with the kindergarten while at the same time Isabelle and her family visited.
The weather in Spain was worse than in northern Europe at least at the beginning and we had to send out for extra blankets. We spent a short day in Barcelona because much of it was spent driving round in circles trying to find the Gaudi park. I must say that it is quite exhilarating to have interesting buildings dotted around the city and we’d like to go back soon. We also witnessed a drunken fight being expertly dealt with by the Spanish police (separate and discuss with the warring parties) and a noisy anti-war demonstration. Even Mia could read the anti-war slogans by the end of the week because they were absolutely everywhere. The house we were renting was very nice even though it didn’t look too promising in the picture. But the swimming pool didn’t get used I must admit apart from one brave and brief foray by Gwen. Stansted was eerily empty both weekends we travelled and so we could have caught our connection back to Denmark on the Saturday but by then we had changed the last leg tickets to Sunday so Grandma and Grandpa had to put up with us two weekends in a row but at least we got a good chance to look at the 500 photographs of New Zealand!
Parents were strictly forbidden from seeing off their children to the holiday camp when they got on the coach so the staff must have thought I couldn’t resist one last tearful look as I drove past just as the coach was arriving to pick them up but actually I was driving to the airport to meet the Chadwicks, honest! Mia had a wonderful time as usual and was sorry that this would be her last ever as she starts school later this year. As usual she fell asleep ten minutes after getting into the car when I picked her up because it’s exhausting partying into the night two days on the trot as they do.
Fortunately the good weather held just long enough for the Chadwicks’ visit breaking only on their last day when we went to the steamy rain forest with spiders and snakes to escape the rain outside. They had a busy time taking in the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen as well which is more than we have ever done!
Tony has been doing target practice at work with a rifle training how to shoot a polar bear at close range in preparation for his trip to Svalbard later this month. He came home with the cartoon figure of the polar riddled with bullet holes in his face so he seems to be doing OK. When we went to Svalbard back in 1992 we weren’t told this was a danger but luckily we met a Norwegian botanist whose boyfriend had come along as her protector and they recommended that we tag along with them, which we did so we were alright by default and never had a sniff of a polar bear the whole time. The price we paid involved transport of a side of meat back to Oslo for delivery to her father for their wedding banquet. So this time Tony goes literally armed.
I had a very nasty thing happen to my computer so if you see anything to do with Xupiter or Orbit don’t go near it. I strongly recommend a free program called Adaware 6.0 which you can download for free. That seemed to get rid of it in the end. Unfortunately Adaware can’t stop you downloading these things but at least it helps you get rid of them if you suspect you may have ‘caught’ something. By the way the reason for the slight delay in posting this newsletter is because Gwen has borrowed a computer program from the library and she is smitten! So it was difficult to get a go on the computer.
And finally, last year we bought an exotic fruit, which I remember didn’t go down too well, but the stones inside looked growable and so they were and we now have about six attractive and fast growing plants in the house. But we can’t remember what the fruit was. So if you can identify it from the picture I hope to add soon we would be very interested to know.
May 2003
The theme for the latter part of May has been car parking charges. Everywhere we went it seemed that car parks which had previously been free were now demanding money with menaces. The car I’d left at the airport when Tony left for Svalbard had a ticket on it when we went back to the airport to collect Nick, Jan, Katie and Adam. Legoland has the audacity to charge for parking on top of the high entrance charges and even the Randers rainforest had machines all set to swing into operation the following Monday when we went there last Saturday.
For Gwen it’s been a tough month. It started well enough with her annual trip to the seaside with the after school club. When we collected her I realised that this was a part of Grenaa we didn’t know at all even though it can’t be more than a mile away from where I work. They had good weather and there was a lovely nature playground in the woods nearby. But mid-month Gwen had to have an op to put two grommets in her ear. Obviously she was worried about it but afterwards she reckoned that she’d recommend it to anyone. I was on limited parking (those charges again) and Gwen was not waking up ten minutes later as predicted. My theory is that she’d lost sleep the night before worrying so that the anaesthetic sleep turned into real sleep. So a judicious prod thirty minutes later woke her easily and in time to avoid a hefty parking fine.
Later that week the whole school was scheduled to take it in turns to have a trip on a fishing boat captained by Gwen’s substitute teacher, formerly a fishing skipper. Gwen was not at all keen and got special dispensation not to go but when she realised that not going on the boat meant repeating a walk she quickly changed her mind and had a good time anyway catching eels.
Toughest of all has been the absence of Tony who has gone to Svalbard for three weeks which both Gwen and Mia have found very difficult to bear. If you go into his work web page and on the left column click on the blue word “satellitsporing” then click on “kortnæbbet gås” in the first purple stripe under the photo, you will be on an English language page. If you click on “click the map” lower down on the page, it will generate a map of where the geese they tagged with satellite transmitters are situated right now. He’ll be back late on June 8th.
Tony’s absence was temporarily forgotten with the arrival of Nick, Jan, Katie and Adam. We had fantastic weather and two bank holidays so work and school commitments were at a minimum and we did most of the neighbouring attractions including the local theme park, zoo, Legoland and rainforest. We also attended Mia’s summer festival in which she was a flamingo (got it on video) and yes it was integral to the storyline. I’d originally said we wouldn’t be going but they had obviously hyped the children up so much about this that Mia could not bear to miss it. Then I thought Katie and Adam would probably enjoy the opportunity of a visit to a place full of toys for exactly their age group and that Jan might have a professional interest which only left Nick as a possibly reluctant participant!
Well we have a ferry ticket booked to combine one of Tony’s WWT meetings in London in July with a visit to Horsham. We two are hoping to snatch a couple of days in London while the girls are spoiled by their Grandma and also on the agenda is a trip to Lyme Regis to show Gwen that it is possible to have a wealth of fossils just lying there. However we have not yet worked out the logistics.
And finally. here is the beginning of an interesting story I found on the BBC ‘Jesus sandals ditched by Danes’. A supermarket chain in Denmark has withdrawn from sale sandals with the images of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary on them after criticism from religious groups. The sandals, which come in child and adult sizes, feature images of the two holy figures on the upper sole along with a blue or pink background.’
I saw the sandals in the supermarket before I saw the above story and I must say that my jaw dropped a little! Those blooming Scandinavians!
June 2003
Tony’s trip to Svalbard was a jolly adventure, but he was disappointed not to have been eaten by a polar bear. Having suffered the indignity of bearing a rifle all the time (especially when going to the toilet), he was disappointed to find his only close encounter occurred at night whilst he was asleep! He had been up for a full 24 hours continuous observation of geese and had slept pleasantly through the only bear visit to his valley. His companion found tracks leading straight for the tent and feared the worse, but Tony had been eating garlic, and the tracks veered off at the last minute. His tent was surrounded by trip wires and alarm rockets, but he may have been so deep asleep The day he was helicoptered back to Longyearbyen, there were actually two polar bears in town, but alas, he didn’t see them as they had gone by the next morning! Despite beginning to feel a little old for “that sort of thing”, he enjoyed the experience enormously there were 3500 geese in the valley and they found 350 odd nests, and gathered a huge amount of new and exciting information. It was jolly cold too even at the end, on 6 June, there was still no running water in streams, so they were still cooking with melted snow. He did miss all three girls, however, a fact that makes it increasingly difficult to be away for such protracted periods of time.
June was not much warmer in Denmark than it was in Svalbard and the crop report is very bad. The strawberries will struggle to furnish us with a bowl of berries before the end of Wimbledon, the rhubarb patch has been overgrown completely and the peas had to be planted twice and as for the border flowers, well they’ve just given up and died. It wouldn’t be so bad if we hadn’t also suffered from thunder-storms which are usually the penalty for hot weather. Having lost two phones and a modem last year I am very wary of thunder storms and keep an eye on a very useful website which shows approaching storms so that we can estimate when they will hit and get all crucial kit turned off in time. If there is a swarm of yellow, green and red dots on here then there is danger in store. Midsummer eve here is bonfire night and it was a total washout with thunder and rain so we were grateful to be at a private party where we could spend most of the time indoors rather than the more usual public gatherings where people simply got wet.
The circus season is in full swing here in Denmark. Circus is really big here with about six circuses touring the country every year, a couple of big Danish ones, some minor Danish ones and then the really cheap and small Polish ones. They wouldn’t be allowed in most parts of the UK I reckon but it is sort of traditional to go about once very two years and this was our year for going. Neither girls are frightened by the clowns any longer so we didn’t have to leave half way through as in previous years and I’m afraid to say that it is the animal acts which are the biggest attraction for them. We went round to have a look at the animals during the interval and Tony had a chat with the sea lion ‘trainer’ who was a miserable Brit. But he reckoned that his act was different every time because he doesn’t train the sea lions, they just do what they want which includes catching hoops and balancing balls on their noses. So that was nice!!!!
The only staff meeting we’ve had this year so far was a golf training session at the local golf club last week. My boss is a golf fanatic and given that half his family also work for the ‘firm’ I suppose it was inevitable that one day he would think it essential that we were initiated into the sport. There are also some vacancies at the club and he may well be on commission if we sign up. Still it was a pleasant evening rounded off by a buffet dinner in the clubhouse and I even beat his wife in the 9-hole putting competition.
Mia is leaving the kindergarten and they always have a big party for the leavers in June so we went to that a couple of weeks ago. Every child is presented with a file containing photographs from their time at the kindergarten and a statement about what their special qualities are. Mia’s began: ‘The special thing about you is that you are very caring and independent and a well-liked playmate.’ They have been very good and we will be sorry to finish our association with them after four years (including Gwen). Mia’s absolute last day was last Friday and it was a tearful goodbye on the kindergarten’s side whereas Mia of course is keen to start school at the beginning of August.
We have had our traditional annual camping in the garden session which Gwen initiates every year. This year was a coup because Mia was persuaded to spend a whole night in a tent. She usually gives up about an hour after getting in. Even I spent a night out and my back lived to tell the tale.
Where are the pictures I hear you ask? Good question. The truth is I haven’t had time to get to grips with the new camera, especially to reduce the size of the pictures so that they don’t take an age to load. I’m also frantically trying to meet the deadline for the last modules of my MA which have to be in by July 10 and also trying to get my project ready. I don’t know what I shall do with myself in November when it’s all over!
So we’re all set to sail on the new DFDS ship on July 7 so that Tony can attend his next Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust meeting in London and we are also intending to stay a couple of days in the Lyme Regis area so we can explore the fossil beach.
