This month was the trip across the North Sea, from Harwich (great hotel restaurant on the front) to Esbjerg. Left at 5 pm and arrived at noon the next day. Good crossing in a rather decent cabin. The to Kolding, where we stayed in a somewhat pretentious hotel, so big that the block of rooms in which we were placed was 10 yards from the main building, where the restaurants were. Could have been nasty if it rained - there were umbrellas all over the place! The evening meal menu was a 9 course dinner - but you could choose only three and they would adjust the size of the portions. When we came to look at it, there was nothing that either of us would choose, so we decamped to the coffee shop for a salad, but insisted on taking the wine list with us, which I suspect caused accounting difficulties.
The next day we travelled east over a couple of bridges on to the islands of which Denmark substantially consists, and then turned south to arrive in Lolland (look it up) and stayed at a hotel in Maribo. We were in a room overlooking the lake and the hotel was just right. Driving on the minor roads in Denmark is like going to Constable country when he was painting - all half-timbered cottages with thatched roofs with moss growing on them. Very picturesque. Then south by ferry to Schleswig-Holstein, driving south through the state until we reached Reinbek, where we stayed with Gunter and Traute, two friends we met when we were in Cayman. 3 days with them - the best part was a trip to Lubeck which was picturesque and educational, and then to Cologne, where Sonia went shopping with a credit card and I spent most of the day in the cathedral. Easy to do - it is huge and interesting. Then to Calais, where P & O tried to get us to pay 76 Euros to get on a ferry earlier than the one we had booked, but we told them we would rather spend the money in Auchan buying the weekend shopping than give it to them for doing nothing and letting us get on a half-empty ferry.
Otherwise a good month, although the allotment is suffering from neglect. Must do better!
Christmas is now approaching - there has been a Christmas tree outside the Rose and Crown in Tonbridge since the end of September. Crazy.
Finally, out of the Ark:
1. Two blondes walk
into a building --- you'd think at least one of them would have seen it.
2. Phone answering
machine message: 'If you want to buy marijuana, press the hash key.'
3. A guy walks into
the psychiatrist wearing only clingfilm for shorts. The shrink says, 'Well, I
can clearly see you're nuts.'
4. I went to buy some
camouflage trousers the other day --- but I couldn't find any.
5. My friend drowned
in a bowl of muesli --- a strong currant pulled him in.
6. A man recovered in
hospital after a serious accident. He shouted, 'Doctor, doctor, I can't feel my
legs!' The doctor replied, 'I know, I've cut off your hands'.
7. I went to a Seafood
Disco last week, and pulled a muscle.
8. Two Eskimos sitting
in a kayak were chilly so they lit a fire in the craft. It sank, proving once
and for all that you can't have your kayak and heat it.
9. Our ice cream man
was found lying on the floor of his van covered with hundreds and thousands.
Police say that he topped himself.
10 Man goes to the
doctor with a strawberry growing out of his head. Doc says, 'I'll give you some
cream to put on that.'
Keep trying!
