Gosh! This past weekend was so action packed, there was too much to write when I was traveling so let me try and catch all the loose-ends from the weekend this morning. When trying to put things into some sort of order there are a number of ways I could organize my thoughts. Chronologically, topically, geographically all spring to mind. But as a bit of a rebel, I think I will try randomly.
When I returned home yesterday, I had to spend more time getting from Heathrow to Kingston than I had spent flying from Copenhagen to London. Sunday traffic was murder. I was, however treated to a rolling dialogue of who was doing who from the little teeny-boppers from the seat across the aisle from me. The boarded the bus at Hatton Cross and got off some time after I did.
The people of Copenhagen were very friendly. I got approached a number of times as I was walking around the area of the hotel and asked if I wanted various things done to me. As Hall and Oates put it in their song, Family Man, “She made it perfectly clear that she was mine for the night.” This is one thing that has made an impression on me; the openness with which ‘the world’s oldest profession’ is handled. I mean sure, it happens in the states, but except in a couple places it is illegal and even in those places, it isn’t so in your face.
The area of the city I was in was definitely not a good part of town. There were kids shooting-up in the square near the hotel and drug deals being done on the steps of the church. It was a bit like staying in some of the areas of New York that I have found myself in at the wrong parts of the day.
While waiting for my table the other night in the Vinkælar, I was sitting at the bar. Something happened to me that I have never had happen. (I suppose in retrospect that this could have been a ploy by a professional, but it was still pretty flattering.) As I sat there nursing a Gin and Tonic, this lovely woman came up to me and started playing with my hair. (The travel had been wearing on my gel and so it was no longer bound into a tail but was down on my shoulders.) She said something to me in Dansk and when I failed to respond appropriately, she switched to English. “Your hair is lovely.” She said with a trace of an accent. “I was sure it was a wig but it is real. This is your hair!” We chatted for a while and then someone I took to be her boyfriend (?), husband (?), pimp (?) came up and they exchanged a few words in Dansk and left; me and my hair forgotten.
Favors for friends aside, I should have done research before I did my stop at the duty free in Amsterdam. I stopped to get a carton of cigarettes (at about 20% of the price they cost here in the UK) on my way through the duty free between flights. Unfortunately, this few minutes caused me to miss the flight that was scheduled to go out before my flight. Actually, I hadn’t known there was one before mine... I knew I had two hours between my inbound and my connection so I stopped to get the Marlboros. When I checked the monitors to see where the 10:20 to Heathrow went out, I saw that there was an 08:20 as well. I ran to the gate to see if I could make it and just missed them closing the gate and the plane. That two minutes would have saved me two hours in the airport. Oh well.
Back in London, I sent text messages to my friends informing them of my arrival and was, via the same means, summonsed to see them last evening at the Albion. We exchanged stories of the road and rounds of good British ale! Ah! It’s good to be home.
On the ride home from the pub, I was treated to glimpses of the Guy Fawkes Day fireworks. Had I not been up at 03:00 local time yesterday morning to try and make my flight home, I would have gone to the fireworks with my friends but after a long day of travel, I was completely knackered so I just went home and headed upstairs to bed.
This morning, I am back in the swing. I got up before the sun and am sitting in the kitchen enjoying my second cup of coffee and my cereal with yogurt. I’ll be leaving for the office soon to get some work done. It is going to be a long week with a big, looming deadline at the end of it. Good thing I have had a relaxing (if somewhat busy) weekend!
I hope wherever you are, your week is starting off well!
Don Bergquist - 06 November 2006 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK
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