Thursday 24th November 2016

And its another sunny day in downtown Arhus. Or it would be once dawn came and the sun would rise. But for me, I was awake and angry at six.

Now, this might seem like a first world problem, but why is it that hotels now seem to insist on having all the climate controls to a control panel that does not work? And to make it worse now, the radiators are now wired in, so cannot be turned off, meaning that on what was a mild week in Denmark, the room was like an oven. So, I had to sleep with the window wide open, which was fine until the building site started work at six, grinding down a concrete floor in the new building, and then there was flashes from a welder at work.

I lay in bed, and must have dozed between grinding sessions, as before I knew it, it was quarter past seven. Oh dearie me.

I get up and am going down for breakfast in ten minutes; then getting the car out of the car park and nudging out into the rush hour traffic for the drive to the office. And it is rush hour, rush hour mostly for cycles, with people with and without lights flying around. I am careful and manage not to hit anyone, even when going down the narrow street upto Arhus North.

The commute means I can check on the progress of the tram line; catinery is up and now just the wiring needs to be fixed, then there might be trams. A city celebrates. Or will when its done.

And then there is the office, half empty, as projects are in various states of play, and colleagues out doing "stuff".

I grab a desk and get down to work, as is usual. The sun rises, it is a golden day out there, whilst inside we have cake. Every day is cake day for some reason or another in Denmark. I like Denmark for that reason.

As usual, no point trying to get back to the hotel between three and five due to the traffic, so I see those who were also in the office leave one by one, leaving just two of us left. But then I have to make tracks as I am meeting a friend at six for drinks and dinner.

Driving out onto the main road was fine, but once I took the turning onto the )1 road, leading down to the centre of town, to the hotel, narrows and the cycle lane shares the road, meaning that there is much jostling, but nothing nasty, Tony. And then as we cross the canal, the cycle lane opens up again, and I can get past, reaching the right turn at the junction with the filter light on green, meaning I can turn without having to worry about hitting cyclists of pedestrians. I am sure once you get used to it, it makes sense, but can be fraught it you forget to look and nearly take out a guy on a 70s Puch motorcycle.

I have ten minutes to wash and freshen up, and then Shags is texting me to say he is downstairs. I go down, and share a local Christmas beer with him, and we exchange home brews, then walk to the smokehouse for dinner, only to find it closed it being Thanksgiving or something. Not in Denmark it isn't! Sigh. So we walk along the canal to Bones and order ribs and another local beer, managing to get the last free table, and sitting right in the window, illuminated by the fairy lights.

Mmmmm, ribs.

Just over the canal is Highlander, and we were expected, so did not disappoint, went in to sample more beers. They also had a Belgian Christmas beer, which would have been rude not to partake. And it is as wonderful in there as ever, mixing beer and rum. But we were sensible, as I had to be up very early the next morning for the drive to the airport. So we say farewell at about ten, going our separate ways and me up the hill to the hotel, past the kids in the park still hunting Pokemon; is that still a thing?