Author: Anne Fox

David Attenborough is wrong! It was only a couple of weeks ago that we saw a programme in which he said that only chimps and dolphins understood what was on a TV screen but here is proof positive that Hazel is either a genius or that cats also understand  (partly) what they see on the TV.

This picture was taken after she leapt across the coffee table towards the TV when Tony started playing footage of our birdtable recorded at the weekend. Tony’s interest in bullfinches is recorded at http://nimtoftebullfinch.homestead.com

The snow house has almost disappeared and our track reminds me of a film called ‘A River runs through it’ and I was thinking the house could acquire a name, the Seven Lakes.

There were strong winds on December 28, apparantly. I don’t remember them. Anyway it seems the waves got so high that the seals at the Kattegat Centre  in Grenaa were able to swim off into the open sea and this they did with ne’er a backward glance. You’d think they’d come back for the nosh but apparantly they haven’t and the Kattegat Centre are having to budget for some extra seals.

I went to collect Mia from a friend’s house a couple of days ago and they casually dropped into the conversation about their sharks. ‘Your what?’ I said thinking I had misheard and that I was headed for yet another embarassing misunderstanding. ‘Sharks!’ they said. This I had to see so I was led into their living room where there was a large aquarium about 5 foot long and yes indeed there were two sharks each about a foot long, swimming around. The mother was complaining that they were doing a terrible damage to the tasteful seascape she had built up in the aquarium and for that reason they would have to go. I did ask how big she expected them to get but don’t remember the answer.

A postcript regarding the Christmas drawing competition which has yet to have a declared winner. It seems that it was more difficult to access the drawing site this year and we ended up with about six entries from a certain ‘Tony’ plus one from Greg though we are not sure which year that dates from. So the competition is void.

The snow which fell on December 28 is still with us though it will probably disappear during this coming week. Mia has been practising by building igloos at a friend’s house on Tuesday and yesterday she built one here. Adding a roof is always problematic. So we have cheated and used other means. The picture shows the end result.

By the way, did you realise that by clicking on the picture you get it in a larger version (if it is larger that is)?

On Friday Hazel went to the vet to be sterilised. She was delivered in the morning and collected in the afternoon having also been chip-marked. When she got home she was very wobbly on her legs and didn’t seem to be able to see properly. However she hadn’t lost her curiosity and desire to jump and was trying to go upstairs and jumping up onto sofas and boxes as usual. Probably more painful to watch than to experience. We had to keep her indoors for two days and now she seems well onto the road to recovery (except for a bare patch on her stomach).

Well I don’t know about you but we were out and at school and work today. The snow has not melted and promises to be replenished on Thursday and Friday but our kind neighbour has cleared a path and so the way is clear.

Thank you for your good wishes for the new year which we reciprocate of course. On New Year’s Eve Ann, Claire and Jenny finally made their escape from Denmark but not before the car got stuck in a snow drift just round the corner from the house. However we managed to dig it out and they got their plane OK this time. So we saw the New Year in alone, just the four of us.

The photo shows Mia communing with Hazel.

The picture shows Tony on duty catching birds even on Christmas day.

Ann, Claire and Jenny were supposed to be going home today but it snowed and the Ryanair flight was diverted to Billund and nobody was about to ferry the passengers from Aarhus to Billund. So… they came back to Ramtenvej after a tortuous journey home avoiding all the hills where snow is likely to accumulate in drifts. Yes, there are hills. Fortunately Ryanair offered a free transfer but they didn’t have room until Saturday so Wiatrose and Southampton library are going to have to do without the services of the younger Burdetts while they while away the hours playing Cluedo and Kalaha here in Denmark.

The snow seems to appear every time Ann visits. You’ll all be thinking that Denmark is permanently swathed in snow from October to April at this rate!

The picture shows the Hansel and Gretel house made by Mia and Gwen from a kit bought by Anne in Germany; the gingerbread house.

A couple of days ago we took delivery of a hamper from the Chadwicks full of goodies from the UK. As we unpacked its many wonders we started musing what we would put in a Danish hamper. The list is as follows:

Lots of soused herring (curry, madiera, herb and plain vinegar flavours)

Liver postej (a sort of hot liver paste)

Dark rye bread

Danish cookies

real Danish pastry (not like the stuff you get in the UK)

liquorice

salty liquorice

typical sweets such as baby’s nappy, duck weed, ear poo and cigar butts

Various flavoured aquavits

Reisen caramels (probably not Danish but I don’t think you get them in the UK)

Please form an orderly queue!

On Tuesday Tony went down to the harbour at the bottom of the hill where he works and, with a colleague, set about catching a solitary little auk which had been reported swimming about there.

The little auk comes from Svalbard and  is very rare in Denmark but Tony reckons it is not so rare and that people just don’t notice them. Anyway he and his colleague set out to catch this one and slap a ring on it and were just about to catch it when… an angry voice sounded from the quay in Danish to the effect ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing? You know that’s illegal. I’m taking a photograph of you and I’m going to report you to the police.’

Turned out that it was an eminent naturalist from a research lab nearby and that he could be persuaded that what Tony and Ebbe were doing was legitimate. He was probably most annoyed about his chances of taking a good photograph disappearing. But it set back their capture by a long time and they finally caught it after two hours.

Back at work Tony was congratulated by his new boss for being able to act spontaneously and have fun in the face of a never-ending pile of work. (This is not tongue in cheek – it is almost a health and safety issue).

Today a major report on the welfare state in Denmark was published and occupied most of the news. Then there was a major interview with the report’s main author which for some reason Gwen wanted to watch. (Nothing to do with wanting to stay up later I’m sure).

I only had half an ear on it as I am busily trying to get four chapters written before next Thursday for a handbook on e-learning for the disabled. However at one point Gwen pipes up ‘What I don’t understand is that first they say that they want to stop people retiring because there’ll be nobody to do their jobs and then they say that the immigrants are a problem because they haven’t got any jobs!’

I honestly didn’t do or say anything to prompt this.

Today the Guardian Weekly came with an article by Jenni Russell http://www.guardian.co.uk/child/story/0,,1651342,00.html explaining why adults are so wary of engaging with children in the UK and the consequences of this. With regard to yesterday’s post I have to say that I much prefer the Danish approach than the UK approach.