Saturday 26th January 2013

Thursday 24th January.

It is a cold, crisp but sunny morning here in Randers, Denmark. The gauge in the car read minus eight this morning, and it did feel mighty cold. But we have good heating in the offices, too good really, as I am thinking that despite it being before nine, I could really do with a nice snooze.

Monday night, I went down to the restaurant for an early meal, as my old RAF buddy, Shaggy, was coming to the hotel to meet and have a beer or two. And collect the Bovril and Marmite he had requested I bring over. Seems that Marmite is actually illegal in Denmark, or cannot be sold for some reason, so he hand his family rely on friends bringing supplies over.

We also had a couple of beers, whilst discussing trains, home brewing and life in general. It does make a pleasant start to the working week…..

Tuesday, the office was almost deserted, as there was the first day of team building taking place, so I plugged away getting stuff done and drinking lots of coffee. At half four I headed back to the hotel, just to put the computer back on again so to listen to the radio. Outside, the Randers rush hour kicked into action, and I could hear the rumble of traffic well into the evening.

At seven, I went down to the restaurant, and resisted the burger and fries and had sensible jagerschnitzel and vegetables. I do try to act like an adult on occasions. Between courses I tried to get into the Stephen Fry autobiography, the first part which I have yet to read. It is great stuff, but a sparse number of diners meant the food coming quickly.

Once back in my room, I lay on the bed and listened to the radio, and at a quarter to nine followed the text of the League Cup game on the BBC website, as it is impossible to listen to the commentary due to access rights. Even with just the text, it was exciting to watch as Bradford knocked out Aston Villa at the quarter final stage, despite Villa throwing everything at them in the first half.

Oh well.

And so to Wednesday; and the day of team building. It is a worrying thing when you see team building on the agenda, it could mean almost anything from death by powerpoint to having to build a bridge across an imaginary river. And anything inbetween. Thankfully, it was much nearer the former, as we discussed issues facing us all, and how we should tackle them and in due course improve the service for our customers. There was much coffee and cakes to eat as we talked, and a full meal at lunchtime. It does seem that team building builds big appetites.

At half three we all pack up, with actions agreed, and get in a convoy of cors to head to a nondescript building on the other side of town for some fun. Anyway, five cars in convoy, with only the lead car with an idea of where we were going, could we all get through the multiple traffic lights and junctions all together so none of us get lost? Yes, so it turns out. We all arrive and pile out at Segway World.

Yes, Segway World; a place where you are trained and then let loose on a Segway. We put on a helmet, gloves and elbow pads, and then are talked through the machine, then allowed to get on one and see if we can control it in a small pen. Once we could prove we could go forward, backwards, rurn and stop, we were allowed to go on the various courses and then have some fun.

IN a surprise, I did get the hang of it, after some moments of doubt early on, and was soon whizzing around at the max speed of 15km/h, which did seem much faster; up and round the testing course, over the bridge and down again. Yes, it was fun, but half an hour was long enough of fun before it became a little repetitive.

Another convoy, this time into the centre of Arhus, to a new restaurant for more team bonding and lots of food. Flammen ins a BBQ place, where there really is no point in a vegetarian going, as their main selling point is 12 different sorts of meat to choose from. We ate well, but there is only so much meat one can eat, and I was feeling sleepy.

So, back to the car and back up the road for half an hour back to Randers, it was still early enough to grab a beer as I went to my room, and then chill out by doing just what I had done the night before, football on the radio via text and the Radcliffe and Maconie show whilst I stretched out on the bed. All of Denmark was a buzz yesterday for the world cup of handball semi-final, and the staff at the hotel could not understand thaet maybe we would not want to watch it.

So, less than two days in Denmark now, and thoughts turn to the weekend and what we might do… I would say that there will be photography involved at some point…..

Oh yes,