Just stopped by the Royal Library in Copenhagen, in search for some resources, namely a Hebrew Bible and some lexica. I got more than I hoped for; they have the stuttgartensia, Koehler Baumgartner and a number of other reference works I recognize from Newbold – and also some pretty nice facilities 
However, I must say, the Newbold library actually quite well competes with the theology section in the diamond – which is no small feat.
Ok, sitting in the researcher’s study area now; need to get serious…
december 16th, 2008
So, yesterday, the Danish airline company Sterling went bankrupt. This was not totally unexpected, seeing as the ownership is Icelandic, but it still sucks when you’ve got tickets with them for going home in the Christmas break and coming back again in January.
This will probably give me a loss of about 60 pounds, but it could’ve been a lot worse. Especially since I was originally supposed to be in Copenhagen this week, coming home on a Sterling flight Sunday…
Funny thing is that today and yesterday, I received bank transfers (ok, technically not bank transfers, but returns on my credit-card) from Sterling giving me back the remaining taxes and fees on the tickets for this week, so it appears they can still disperse money (I had requested this before the bankruptcy though)
Long live Sterling. It shall be exciting to see whether we will face a time of increased competition as new competitors try and move in on the gap Sterling leaves behind (as suggested by one veteran in the industry), or whether SAS will be benefited by a near-monopoly situation on some of the routes. As it turns out though, Norwegian is already moving into the market, so things tend to point in the former direction. Hoping for cheaper plane-tickets in the coming season 
(and perhaps slightly more realistically priced tickets so we won’t have to endure another fall)
P.S. Hope I’m not breaking copyright with the image. However, if I was, who would there be to sue me anyways? :p
oktober 30th, 2008
Returning from Denmark last Monday, I had a short stop at London Waterloo, where I had the pleasure of paying 30p to use the bathroom, and there have an encounter with the so-called Dyson Airblade.
As I was drying my hands in it, I read something like ‘The Dyson Airblade uses up to 83% less energy than conventional warm air hand dryers…’ Smart. Apparently, it also burns your hands; or at least, that’s how it felt. Ok, I’m exaggerating a bit, but I could feel the evening and the next day that part of my hand had been exposed to a too high temperature.
This is how it works: Air flows horizontally like a ‘blade’ (hence the name), and beneath is a hollow space, so effectively, you dry your hands by moving them up and down, allowing the ‘air-blade’ to dry them. This worked fine. Until I thought ‘let’s try this again’, and suddenly my hand got pulled to the side of the ‘blade’ (where the air is coming out). A piece of advice when using the air-blade: Keep your hands firmly in the middle
oktober 25th, 2008
Before the weekend, I had the pleasure of travelling out from Gatwick airport. This is rapidly becoming my favourite airport in the London area. Not only is it easy to get to from Bracknell, but it has one truly amazing feature: The Café Est.
Here you get excellent Italian food with a great view over the runway. When you step into the caf̩ Рwhich is really a restaurant Рyou suddenly loose the cheap feeling you usually get from airport places, but still retain the air travel goodness feeling.
My two favourites are the pizza with Goat’s cheese and various vegetables (for an amazing £8 at an airport), and the penne funghi. The last-mentioned is served in two sizes: Main course and starter. As it turns out, both times I’ve tried the starter size, I’ve had more than enough to eat. Have a look at my half-eaten plate:
Yes, this is the starter-size. Not only does it feature an amazing white wine cream sauce with aspargus and wild mushrooms (not only ‘champignon’, but real exciting mushroom-sorts), but it is served with (if you wish) gracious amounts of parmigiano on top, as well as freshly ground pepper. All for the price of a little over £5. This place is truly a find, and remain one of the reasons for which I treasure Gatwick airport so much.
oktober 22nd, 2008
It never fails to amaze me what warning labels they put on things in the UK. Case in point:
(The yellow sign [on the razor!] reads: ‘Security protected. Please remove prior to putting in microwave.’)
oktober 22nd, 2008
Apparently, then, in Heathrow, they do have taps with quite hot water in it. Only, they are not labeled. Ouch! (okay, this was a bit overstated, but the water was definitely borderline hot)
(relating to the former post ‘Health and Safety‘)
august 26th, 2008
As I lay my head on the pillow
as I try to fall asleep
there is only pain
As I close my eyes
still with every breath
there is only pain
With every breath
a new memory
breathe in
breathe out
With every breath
a new happy memory
in my memory
and there is only pain
“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” (Proverbs 4. 23)
“Frem for alt: Vogt dit hjerte, for derfra udgÃ¥r livet.” (Proverbs 4. 23 Danish 1992 translation)
august 25th, 2008
Saturday evening, we booked tickets for a classical concert in the Vienna State Opera (Staatsoper) with the Vienna Mozart Orchestra. Sadly, Marit had to remain at the hotel and take care of the sleeping Benjamin, so we were 2 people short. As it turned out, we got seated on the second row, even though we had not booked seats in this category, so that was quite nice
The building itself is an experience. Somehow, I had the feeling I had seen it in some movies, but I have a suspicion that I was really thinking of a larger place somewhere in eastern Europe.
The greatest experience, however, was the music. The first 15-20 minutes I could not even make myself take a picture, as I just wanted to listen to the music. It struck me that this should not be something you capture for having a special memory, but rather the only way you enjoy classical music – live. It really is a totally different (and much nicer) sound experience, and you catch nuances of the famous works that you have not noticed before.
The Vienna Mozart Orchestra played extremely well, and both the classical costumes as well as the musical qualities contributed to making it a fantastic experience. The preferred mode of play seemed to be a somewhat understated, but still very nuanced sound, lying just beneath the real breakthrough of an audial (if that’s even a word) climax. It made me wonder if they could actually play with full strength or if the orchestra was simply too small, but in their very final extra-performance where they offered us “An der schönen blauen Donau” and “Radetsky March”, they seemed to be of the opinion that while Mozart apparently cannot be played in full strength, Strauss can
Along the concert, I was wondering if their somewhat understated interpretations were not purposeful and thus would have awarded them 9 out of 10 points, but clearly I was mistaken, so in my mind, they now have gotten full marks for playing in a very controlled just-below-breakthrough mode all through the classical works of Mozart.
In the end, a great evening. And so much more fun to listen to the works of Mozart than visiting his house. This is where Mozart truly comes alive!
august 25th, 2008
Just had the pleasure of spending the weekend in Vienna with my family. All in all, it was a good experience.
The food experiences were quite good, featuring amongst others an amazing Italian restaurant, the oldest restaurant of Vienna, serving very good traditional Austrian food, and of course Apfelstrudel with ice-cream and cream, served in the local zoo.
Of the not-so-good things can be mentioned the house of Mozart (the building in which he grew up), which was just disastrously boring, after having paid an entrance fee of 7,5 euros. Also, don’t ever bring kids in there – the children doesn’t like it, and apparently, neither does the museum attendants… After we left there, we found this meticulously bear in a shopping-windows close by, and wondered if he had a sudden accident caused by boredom
However, the pros far outweighed the cons. An excellent breakfast buffet every morning at the hotel, an excellent concert experience (to be told of further in a separate post) and even free wireless Internet at the Vienna Airport! (This makes you wonder what your airport taxes go towards in other countries…)
This was the only picture I could find where everyone in the family is at least partly visible, so here you go:
The background is that of the Stephansdom which is a quite grand and majestic church building.
august 25th, 2008
So, today was the day I was feeling quite introvert. (Yes, I know, the correct form would be ‘introverted’, but this sounded better)
Surprised myself this evening by writing two somewhat funny comments on the Facebook-status of certain other individuals, but never hitting the ‘send’-button. There was nothing wrong with the comments. Nothing that would make people go ‘hey, wait a minute’, but I just didn’t feel like pushing the (their?) buttons.
Maybe it’s a stream of introvertedness I’ve been running into, which has been spilling on my blog and the level of activity here. However, no. The two cannot really be connected.
Quite on the contrary, I’ve been so busy hanging out with good friends in Copenhagen, that even when I’ve felt like blogging something, I’ve never gotten around to it. Thank you to amongst other Per, Jakob and the local appartment tv
Let’s see what happens when I get to Newbold. I suspect my blog might be in for a new revival… (which may say something about Newbold vs. Copenhagen, but let’s just leave that one for now)
Now listening to a somewhat chubby politician whom I did not recall as having always been a bit on the heavier side, but whom other can apparently well remember being so. Is TV2 News grand or what?
august 11th, 2008
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