Dairy

The paleo way of eating should preclude dairy from your diet, I have some trouble with that being somewhat of a lover of all things dairy.

The general advice is that the higher the fat content the better so I am sticking to double cream, Greek yoghurt and cheeses. I try to limit all of them, but without too much success as I eat yoghurt most days and cheese at least a couple of times each week. The other aspect of dairy that is considered important is that the products should be:

1. Grass fed (for the health of the cows and the quality of the milk) 
2. Organic (reduced presence of antibiotics and hormones used to increase milk production)
3. Non homogenised (the fat particles in homogenised milk are so small that they can pass through the gut lining and are not digested correctly)
4. Full Fat (reduced fat dairy increases insulin response and therefore potential fat storage)
5. Fermented (the bacteria that cause the fermenting process should be good for gut health)
6. Raw (this is a tough one as it is tough to get hold of, but the pro-biotics in raw dairy should improve the balance of good bacteria in the gut)

I should try giving it up totally for a month and see how I feel and if there is any improvement in my itchy skin, allergies and or body fat which seems to be pretty stable these days but not quite as low as I want it to be.

Blueberry shoes

Never wanting to ass up an opportunity to acquire another type of footwear, I was delighted to find these Inov8 shoes on sale in this rather outrageous colour and a UK13.

Apparently there aren't too many people interested in purple trainers in that size so I got a flipping big discount as well. Most importantly they fit perfectly and work a treat.

Long weekend

Thursday was really good. There was some wind, but not too much most of the time and the sun shone for most of the day as I mentioned below. Other than emphasising how much I have to learn about racing a Finn, it was a pretty positive experience all round and it was a lovely surprise to meet the rest of the family on the slipway.

MK had to work on Friday whilst the kids and I had the day off. We made a new variety of gluten free pancakes for a late breakfast (with rice flour this time) and then walked to the station to take a couple of trains to Holbæk to meet MK and go to the theatre. It was a bit of a long way around to get there, but it meant that we only had one car to come home in and the kids like going on the train. We were seeing Rasmuss Klup på eventyr which was pretty good. DK was wide eyed with amazement throughout having only seen the characters in a cartoon before.

MK delivered the boys to her parents on Saturday for a trip to the summerhouse as we were going to a birthday party in the evening. I did a tough crossfit session (that I can still feel throughout my body today) and we had a short and fruitless shopping trip in the afternoon. The party was fun and we took advantage of Sunday morning at home alone to.... clean and tidy the house.

Grilled!

It was overcast when we left the harbour but 6 hours is a long time on the water without a hat or sunblock.

My first Finn regatta was as good as I could have hoped, we started an hour late because there was no wind early in the morning and then we waiting an hour on the water before there was enough constant wind for a race. I remember sailing with no wind at all in some lakes but that was a long time ago.

We race short 4 leg races, twice up wind and twice downwind and must have fit 6 or 8 races in the day. It took me a while to figure out that starting g procedure and get enough nerve to participate in the start line hustle and bustle but my starts got better as the day went on. Having said that, I was firmly at the back of the fleet. I achieved my goal of not being DFL (Dead Flat Last) in all of the races, I was even 3rd from last once! Which was a success in my books and I didn't end up swimming or make a total prat of myself.

Apparently the sail I am using is blown out and the fact the my mast is held together with gaffer tape hasn't gone unnoticed, but the main handicap must me the helmsman.

Lessons learned:
Wear sunscreen, a hat and sunglasses (or at least take them)
Take some food - I was pretty hungry by the time we got home at 18:00
I need to work on my nature break technique to avoid filling the bait with pee ( it looks like kneeling on the side is the accepted practice)
I need some sort of dry back to carry stuff out on the water

Now I'm looking forward to the next regatta and my fellow Finn sailors have started a campaign on my behalf with MK to get me a newer mast and sail.

Gone

I just sold my carbon race wheels that I had been so certain would make me into a racing cyclist. As I should have known (and did know in my heart), it's not the wheels that make the difference, it's the engine. If you don't train enough, you won't be fast enough.

I ran out of time and finally enthusiasm for training, it had become a chore and all of the evidence also seems to point to it not being a particularly healthy for of training either. Considering the amount of time and effort I put into training, I never really looked fit. Vanity I know, but it should be part of the motivation to train that it improves your physique, cycling didn't seem to give a good return on the time spent doing it.

So the result is that I'm not really a cyclist any more. I am trying to be a sailor and perhaps more importantly trying to train like a sailor. Apart from the inevitable consumption of G&T which I am still avoiding, that should involve general strength and conditioning so that there is some cardiovascular work and some strength training. That seems to be something akin to Crossfit and that is the direction that I have headed in.

Bodywork Ringsted opened in January as the first Crossfit type of gym in the area. MK tried it with one of her friends and has enjoyed going once a week and I have also been going a couple of times each week with J coming along more often than not.

It's a mix of bodyweight training (pull ups, push ups etc), running, skipping, box jumps and weight lifting with normal barbells and kettlebells.

I've enjoyed it a lot and took the plunge yesterday by paying for a years membership up front (saving quite a lot over the monthyl membership price). Now I need to carry on getting bigger stronger and fitter.

Camping

We have considered a camping holiday for some time, but shied away from it on the grounds of comfort, lack of equipment and destinations with dodgy weather.

This year we are taking the plunge and heading south with the tent in search of good weather and adventure (in that order)

We have booked a camp site in Chamonix for 2 weeks with the proviso that we can always head further south for better weather if necessary or we can just come home if it all goes wrong.

Temperature

Sunshine

Rainfall

The kids are looking forward to it with great excitement, us with a  little trepidation, but I am sure we'll have fun. In the meantime, we need to figure out what have and what we need to be able to surevive in the Haute Alpes in the summer and how much hiking we can get out of the kids.

Weekend Off

I am feeling significantly more human after a weekend off, some good sleep and general relaxation.

J and I went to crossfit on Saturday morning as usual although the kids class was cancelled but he played with another girl who was supposed to do the class and enjoyed himself none the less.

After lunch I bought a cheap trolley jack and used it to put the summer tyres on the new car, it should be even quieter on the motorway now and having splashed out on a full wash for both cars during the weekend, they are shiny and more importantly, hopefully free from salt for the summer.

I didn't manage to prepare anything for the regatta in Dragør yesterday which was OK. I needed a rest and didn't need the stress of preparing and transporting a boat and taking part in my first real competitive sailing race on top of the amount of work that I have been done in the last couple of weeks. I am sailing in a regatta at my club on Thursday so I don't have to wait long.

Sunday was yet another relaxed day. I spent a couple of hours in the morning ironing whilst watching Star Wars with J and then got the mower running and cut the grass in the afternoon before grilling some cheeseburgers (minus bread) on the barbecue for our first time in 2013.

Worn down and worn out

We are live with our big project and my responsibility to get the data moved from the old systems to the new and to move the users to the new system has run pretty smoothly.

It has been a very busy week and now I am ready for a relaxed weekend. I had been hoping to take part in a regatta on Sunday, but I don't have the energy to pack the boat up tomorrow and get it over to another sailing club so I will spend the weekend with family, take J to crossfit and get the lawnmower out for it's first run of 2013 if it is dry enough.

Amazingly, there was ice on the car this morning!

Other people's misfortune

The older you get, the more of life's highs and lows you get to experience, both your own and other peoples.

Sometimes you get to experience the elation or misery yourself and other times all you can do it stand by and watch others go through it either from close range or from afar.

Many people have watched MK and me accompany DK through his operations, trips to hospitals and generally being poked and prodded by many different specialists. But in the end, it is DK who has had to go through it all, we just watched and hoped it would all turn out well in the end.

There are always people we know; friends and loved ones going through something that you wouldn't wish on anyone. Whether it is babies with life long problems to come, relationships ending or simply bones being broken, all you can do is offer your help and then wait.

It's tough to watch, but nowhere near as tough as it is to be the one going through it.

New rugby kit

Just arrived in time for breakfast

May Challenge

I've been enjoying cross fit a lot and have just bought a new pair of trainer as the ones I have are from 2004 and pretty tired.

Yes, they really are purple and size 13!

I seem to be doing fairly well in most of the weight lifting and body weight exercises except for one - pull ups. Apparently it is supposed to be a combination of core (stomach and back) strength and upper body strength that one uses but I don't seem to be able to get the core part involved. I am then left with the challenge of lifting me entire body weight with my arms and that do doesn't work too well.

My May challenge is to get the pull ups sorted and then the project for the summer is to learn to do handstands and then handstand walking.

I hope it's true that it's never too old learn new things!

2 days left

Our big project goes live in 2 days so I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have been working since 15th April without taking much of a break so I am getting pretty tired of it all, but things seem to be going reasonably well for the time being.

I am looking forward to being able to take a break after the project and catch up on the missed public holidays and weekend days.

Shirts

I have just sold 4 Rapha shirts on eBay (2 short and 2 long sleeved) that I bought on sale over the last couple of years.
£92, £80, £80 and £42 !!
I am pretty sure that is more than I paid for them and I can get some new ones that fit plus some other things I need with the proceeds. I sold them because they don't fit since I started lifting weights at cross fit so they are gratifyingly too tight around the chest, but not the gut.

Happy happy.

Happiness

There seems to have been a fair amount of attention on the use of antidepressants both in the UK and in Denmark over the last few weeks.

Apparently 25% of Danes over 40 have been or are taking some sort of anti-depressant at the moment which seems odd for the country that is recognised as the happiest in the world. The figures in the UK are not much better as far as I can understand from Radio 4.

Happily enough, I have never had to take antidepressants, but it seems as though that is simply because I have never asked for them, I appear to have had enough symptoms to qualify at times.

I don't really believe that I have found the secret to happiness, but it does seem that if I eat well, sleep enough and accept life as it is rather than what I think other people expect of me, then I am on the right tracks. At least that seems to be enough for me to be comfortable enough to relax and be contented.

Now what I need is some new pressure. That's why I am cross fitting and sailing and loving both of them.

Public Holiday that isn't

It's Big Prayer Day here today which is a public holiday. That is unless you are involved in a big IT project that goes live on 2nd May and you are responsible for the cutover from one system to the other.

That's me.

We set yesterday's last load job running at 02:00 and went to sleep then got up 5 hours later (after a crappy, cramp filled sleep) and drove to the office buying breakfast on the way.

This is going to be a long day as we are having some technical difficulties, but hopefully we will still get everything done on time so that we can go live on schedule.

In the meantime, MK was overnighting with her colleagues on a team building day and the kids were outsourced to T&B for the night.

Happy Anniversary

9 years today which us apparently porcelain so MK very kindly got me Jack. I was definitely out gifted this time!

Father Christmas...

Riding a tiger of course!

Noah's ark

Last Thursday we were invited to Ringsted church for the 4th anniversary of DK's Christening. I put up a little resistance but in the end, I could see that there was more to be lost in refusing to go than there was to gain by avoiding it.

T&B showed up and there were about 10 other families with their kids of DK's age who had been Christened around the same time.

The theme of the service was Noah's ark which was all well and good and the kids got to put some plastic animals into a wooden boat, but I was left wondering about the moral of the story. Maybe I need to read the bible a bot more to confirm the details (almost certainly) but why did all but 2 of each species have to die because of the sins of man?

Was it just a happy coincidence that the only man free from sin was a carpenter? Anyway, why does God have such a thing for carpenters and why aren't they revered a little more?

Anyway, in the meantime, I found my sunglasses in the bottom of the wardrobe where they must have fallen and been buried. I also had a nice sail in the sun on Saturday morning. There was very little wind so I apparently should have waited for Sunday, but that's life I suppose and the sunshine was great.

Sunglasses

"I don't lose sunglasses!"

On reflection, maybe I do. A pair of RayBans at a party in Scotland in 2002 seems relatively insignificant now as it was so long ago, but then I remember that bad month in the middle of 2006 (I think) when I lost 2 pairs of Oakleys in succession (one on a mountain bike trail and the other on a train)

Well it is beginning to look like I have lost another pair, this time prescription Oakley so it's quite a costly mistake.

They may be at the summer house, but otherwise, they appear to have vanished into thin air.

Bummer.

School Strike

We're in the third week of schools being closed and J hasn't had a maths of Danish lesson since before Easter. It's getting rather boring having to figure out the baby sitting duties, but to be honest, it's surprisingly easy to cope without the schools being open. It seems that friends and colleagues are also managing quite well so what is the point of the strike in the first place if it doesn't really cause any significant inconvenience. The teachers seems to have stopped their banner waving demonstrations as well now, I suppose they are enjoying their free time instead.

There are some side benefits that the state are saving a fortune in wages that they won't have to pay, but in the end, the kids are the ones losing out. For J it's just a bit boring and I am sure that he'll catch up, but for the older kids who are getting towards the end of their school days, they are missing out on a lot of learning and may not have the chance to catch up the missed ground.

I don't know the details of the grounds for the dispute. It relates to new rules potentially reducing the amount of preparation time that teachers are given for each hour that they teach. As I understand it, they all currently get something like 1½ hours prep time for each hour that they teach. For some age groups in some subjects that sounds reasonable. However, I think the government has decided that it may not be necessary to spend 1½ hours preparing a PE lesson for 8 year olds.

It seems that the solution will come in the form of a law being passed in parliament dictating what the teachers must do, but I find it hard to understand that a strike (or lock out as it formally is) was really necessary or beneficial for anyone.

We are sailing

Saturday was something of a let down on the sailing front. I got myself to the sailing club and there were lots of enthusiastic boat people around who helped me to get my boat rigged up and ready to sail. This involved borrowing a couple of bits and pieces from others, but in the end we got the sail up and the general consensus was that the boat looked good for it's age and the sail fitted the mast perfectly. Wins all round.

The main problem was that there was no wind at all. In a truly un-Danish style, the water was like a mill pond so it was decided that we should all beat a retreat in order to earn some brownie points to be allowed out again on Sunday.

J, DK and I spent the afternoon installing the new dustbin arrangement and moving hedge plants so I earned enough leeway for a Sunday morning sail.

Sunday was much better, there was a fair amount of fog, but there was also a reasonable amount of wind and we got to have 2½ hours of sailing in the outer harbour.

The boat worked pretty well, it took me a while to get going but by the end I was more or less keeping up with the slower guys and despite a very near capsize at the end, I apparently acquitted myself adequately and seem to have been accepted to the little gang, despite being foreign!

Photos another time I'm afraid.

Quiet

It really is very quiet at home without the kids being there and to be honest it's rather boring too. MK is even going out to a meeting this evening so I will be alone with a monster pile of ironing.

It's been a rather strange experience to be thrown back to our lives before having kids, we have sat looking at each other wondering what to do with ourselves for the evening and the whole process of getting out of the house in the morning has been ridiculously fast and simple.

I miss the chaos and noise.

Our evening entertainment last night was to book a weekend at Astrid Lindgren's world in Sweden for August. Astrid Lindgren was a Swedish author who created Pippi Longstocking and several other characters and now there is a small theme park/village where the characters live and do shows for the kids. DK loves Pippi and they both enjoys the other stories as well.

Spring?

I would't say that spring is really hitting us hard, but winter may be beginning to wane. Sitting in my office, I can only see a little snow still sitting in the sheltered spots and I can't feel the arctic wind from here.

MK and I went to cross fit together last night. She beat me by completing more rounds of the exercises than I did, but I do have the excuse of having used heavier weights. It was very odd being at home on a weekday without the kids. They are staying with T&B as the school lock out / strike is continuing at least for this week. Hopefully it will get resolved in the coming days so that everything can return to normal next week.

The last one?

Will tomorrow night be the last frost of the winter?

Possible, but unlikely I suspect...

Weekend

That was a very short weekend.

Saturday was the usualy heady combination of housework, crossfit and cooking combined with a short trip to the outlets to get shoes for the kids and some new pants for me.
Thinking about it, I cut my hair as well.

Sunday was similarly unspectacular as we all drove to CPH to take J to a lunchtime birthday party. Whilst he was playing, I took the dynamic duo to Ikea for horse-meat balls and a new rug for the hall after the kids wiped dog crap all over the last one a week or two ago. Before a short walk (where the below photo was taken) and a cup of coffee in the cold. We even has a snow shower when we got home.

The only interesting things that have happened since last week is that the furniture guys has persuaded his suppliers to send us the right bedside tables for free and we will probably buy the incorrect ones at cost price and use them somewhere else.

Waiting....

For J's birthday party to finish north of CPH so we can go home again.

We even had lunch in Ikea in the intervening 3,5 hours. It was so thoughtful of his classmate's parents to arrange the party over an hours drive away.

Madeira Cake

I just made this for MK to take to work tomorrow. I won't even get to taste it which is a shame, but for the best I suppose.

Zhik

It turns out that sailing gear has moved on since I last spent any significant time in a dinghy over 20 years ago. There are some things that haven't changed much, it's still wetsuits and dry suits, but what is worn under and over them has moved on.

If you sail a boat that requires a lot of hanging out side side of (called hiking), then your legs get really tired, that is made worse by the fact that the side of the boat squashes your muscles and cuts off the blood flow. Someone had the bright idea of putting stiff pads into a pair of shorts to spread the load in the legs and thus hiking pads were born.

The quality of the fabric used for wetsuits has also improved a lot, it is much more stretchy and apparently warmer which can only be a good thing as there is still too much ice in the harbour to launch the boats.

Yesterday afternoon I met a guy who is the importer for Zhik sailing gear in Denmark. He has stopped sailing for a while as he wants to build a house and is in the process of getting rid of his stock. That meant that I could get kitted out with what I need for 40% off the normal price. Hurray!

Teacher strike

Irrelevant Father Ted pciture

The teachers on strike in Denmark at the moment. Well that seems to be the case but there are some differences between how these things play out over here compared with the UK.

For starters J is still in school as usual. There are temporary supply teachers helping out and there are some teachers who are not allowed to strike who are also working. The normal teachers are in fact locked out of the school and are not allowed to work rather than refusing to work, this is because their unions cannot agree with the state (or counties, I'm not sure) about terms and conditions.

The teachers were at the gates this morning shivering and presumably making the point that they want to work but can't. The strangest thing to me was that they had baked bread rolls for the kids and were giving them all a roll in a paper bag as they went into school.

Apparently the whole thing will be over in a couple of weeks when the unions run out of money, so until then I can enjoy the reduced traffic on the roads and carry on as normal.

MK was glad that her union was not on strike so she doesn't have to stand in the cold singing 70s songs on her own as she is probably the only member of the lawyers union in her school!

Whole 30

Today I am starting a whole 30 month. It isn't a big change from my normal diet, but I will be cutting out dairy and being more strict with my weekend eating which is sometime a little boozy and sugary.

Rules are are usual:
No grains, sugar, vegetable oil, processed foods or potatoes and minimal fruit.

On top of that we have:
No dairy or alcohol.

Sounds boring doesn't it!?

Check out whole9life.com

More snow

During the blogging hiatus, we have had a relaxing couple of days at the beach including quite possibly the coldest paddle of my life and some cold blustery walks on the beach - good for the soul even if it's a little harsh on the skin.

MK and I went to cross fit together as we had the opportunity to use a baby sitter and learned how to do some weight lifting moves properly for our future cross fit shenanigans and then we have really focussed on relaxing and drinking tea.

Today we have been to Copenhagen to get some lunch and supplies at the food market including fantastic cheeses and duck sausages for supper. We also visited the planetarium for a 3D IMAX film about stars and stuff. The conclusion was that we should have chosen the polar bears film instead (DK snored all the way through it).

Finally we checked in at the sailing club to see that my boat was OK. The ice is melting in the harbour, but there is still plenty left.

Home made Kringle

The new lamp

Blue and yellow Mohawk!

The colour is temporary, the Mohawk less so.

EASTER

It's our last work day for a while so there is a good chance that blogging will be thin on the ground for a week or so.

J is having his hair cut later which may be worth a post and I need to fit a new lamp later that should also deserve a snap.

Mid March?

Dairy

I really like dairy stuff and now that we only really have full fat dairy I enjoy it even more. However, I am beginning to notice that the days after I have it, there is an itchy, dry rash on my chest and my hands hurt more than usual.

I think I'll try to cut it out completely for a while and see what happens.

Bugger

Arctic

We were promised a snow storm on Tuesday that never materialised, it has, however it has snowed more or less constantly since then so we have a good covering of snow, it's cold and everything is slippery.

Last night we had a parents meeting at DK's nursery. He is apparently doing quite well, his speech is a bit behind but he communicates well with everyone and is apparently a pretty normal nice little boy there.

It's funny really, because he is quite difficult and often rather naughty at home!

Survived

Last week was a very busy one for me, but we managed to get the work done on time and the customer is happy.

J and I went to crossfit on Saturday morning. It wasn't the most organised session for the kids and the grown ups session overran a little so he ended up being bored by the end but I think he enjoyed it. We'll try again another time either tomorrow or next Saturday depending on how recovered I feel tomorrow.

The training is designed to be short and intense and it certainly was. We lifted weights, push, pulled squatted and turned over tractor tyres as hard as we could for 20 1 minute intervals. I was shattered by the end of it, but it was fun and I'll be back to try it again. The workouts are different each time so you never know what you'll have to do when you get there, just that it will be short and hard work.

Coffee

Having read quite a lot about mycotoxins in coffee and food in general a little while ago, I decided to look for some good coffee for my morning cup. (Along with unsalted butter and cocnut oil if you remember.)
Apparently the cleanest coffee should be:

• Organic
• Single estate
• Washed or wet processed
• Cultivated at high altitude

Finding this information out is not that easy, but I ended up at hasbean.co.uk and bought 4 different types of coffee beans.

They were all fantastic. Clean, fresh and fruity tasting and I thoroughly enjoyed them. Whilst working my way through the enormous bag of Lavazza beans I bought in Italy, I have really noticed the difference. So today I have ordered some more from hasbean and look forward to finishing off the other stuff.

The plan is that the coffee made with butter and coconut oil should make a come back as part of a whole30 program I am planning for April to see if I can do something about the pain I am having in my hands at the moment. Apparently it should be possible to improve things by cutting even more bad stuff out of my diet and then adding things back one at a time to see which (if any of them) are exacerbating the problem.

That's another post though

Where's spring gone?

It looks like the planned sailing training at Easter will probably not be happening if the weather forecast is to be believed. There will simply be too much ice in the water to go sailing (not to mention that it will be rather cold as well)

Next week will hardly see any positive readings on the thermometer and the following week is only a little better.

I guess we'll just have to make sure that there is plenty of firewood in the garage and we can carry on with eating the cow. Last nights Thai spaghetti Bolognaise made with cocnut milk and rice noodles was a hit with 3/4 of the family. I suppose that means it will not be repeated.

WTF

It's been snowing non stop since we got out of bed this morning and there are now several inches of wet heavy snow outside. I suspect the journey home will be even longer than the journey to work.

A colleague and I have been caught sitting on the floor waiting for someone to finish a conversation with another colleague. I had promised a snap of my new glasses so here it is.

Spring?!

Painting, chopping and football

Another busy weekend for us and anther without sailing. It has been really cold again with a cutting wind blowing across from the east bringing a Siberian chill to the air.

Having given up on painting the dining room in the evenings on the ground of insufficient light, I was committed to giving the walls a coat on Saturday and Sunday mornings. That did the trick and the room is now as white snow. It has brightened and lightened the room no end and I think it was a good idea. Whilst I was paining, MK and DK went to the farm to pick up our freshly butchered quarter cow. we now have enough minced beef for quite a long time.

We went to the summer house on Saturday afternoon to see the local family and so that I could swing my axe around for a bit. It seems to be good training. I managed to split most of the trunks of two big trees that had been felled before my arms and back were done for the day. We went home after a delicious supper and a well earned glass of wine.

Sunday's coat of paint was slower progress and but was rewarded by roast pork for Sunday lunch and then J and I drove to Copenhagen to watch FCK play at the national stadium. Thankfully we were in Sony's corporate suite as it was -5C and waiting 15 minutes for the others to arrive was nearly enough to kill me. How or why anyone would stand outside in such cold to watch a football match is totally beyond my comprehension.

All I want for Christmas...

2 front teeth gone in 24 hours. The first eased out by his knee at gymnastics and the second eaten with a piece of toast this afternoon.

New Glasses

My new glasses arrived yesterday.

I love them.

They have day glow yellow/green arms which can be swapped for boring grey ones when you need to look a bit more serious.

Today I am "rocking" the boring grey ones to work but I think tomorrow will be a day for the bright ones...

New Bin

False Start

Despite spring having been in the air since Friday and the temperature having reached a balmy 5C yesterday, there is still plenty of wintry evidence about.

I delivered my boat to the sailing club on Saturday morning with my test plates and managed to get it into the dingy park despite the gate being locked. (The launching trolley fitted through and I could lift one wheel of the trailer over the gate post)

It seems that my plan of sailing was over optimistic. There were no other sailors to be seen and there was ice thick enough to walk on in the harbour that I was never going to get through.

I sat in the sun for a while just in case some other people showed up and then headed back to Ringsted for the gymnastics display.

Harbours are funny places. Unlike cars in car parks, boat owners are happy to leave boats decomposing for years on end. There is something oddly optimistic about purchasing expensive boats, but it seems that in the end, most of them just end up rotting.

There is promise of 7C on Wednesday so maybe the ice will be gone by next weekend, I suspect the water will still be on the cold side though.

Spring is in the air today

Dansk

I had a very long frustrating day writing a 20 page document in Danish yesterday. I spent 11 hours doing something badly that I could have done will in English in 2 hours. On top of that was the humiliation of sending someone a document that you know is full of errors and not very good because you are trying to make it as short as possible.

I went to bed tired, frustrated and in a bad mood expecting to get yet another spanking at work today. It's not a bigu surprise that I then didn't sleep very well.

It turned out that the recipient of the document was more understanding than expected (more than he usually is anyway) and I have so far escaped any harsh criticism.

On top of that I managed to get lots of healthy food for lunch including the improbable combination of liver and seaweed.

Test plates are ordered for Saturday and the weather forecast is still looking iffy for a maiden voyage though. I guess I can at least deliver the boat to the sailing club.

What's in the kit bag?

There is a good chance that I am romanticising my childhood, but when I think about the equipment that was required for various sports 30 years ago, the list of specialist clothing and equipment for most sports seemed to be limited to trainers or football boots.

I don't remember having indoor and outdoor trainers, I don't think I owned any kind of helmet and my sailing gear was limited to a waterproof and a life jacket for most of the year.

These days one can't ride a bike without special shoes, a complete change of clothes and a helmet that costs more than a kids bike.

I fear (as MK has already foreseen) that my predictions of not needing any extra sailing gear on the grounds that I have a wetsuit and a life jacket may well prove to be incorrect.

This is what Gil Marine think you need for all weather sailing:

At least there isn't a sailing helmet yet!

Sale on and Sail on

I am having a bit of a clear out to help off set some of the costs of the new boat. The carbon bike wheels are going along with some skiing stuff that we no longer use (too big or too small) and some other bits and pieces like push chairs.

There are some pretty good apps that you can use for making small ads these days. I gone are the days of post cards in the post office. You can just walk around the house with your phone and take photos of what you want to sell and then post them directly to eBay or the free ad paper in Denmark - Den Blå Avis.

Then this coming weekend I am hoping for my first trip in the new boat, but at the moment it looks like it may be a little too windy (not to mention cold) for my first trip out...

Plumbing the depths...

Of the freezer.

We are considering buying a 1/4 cow in the coming week or two but that will take up a LOT of space in the freezer so we need to make some space.

We have already eaten some odds and ends this week including the liver from the whole lamb we bought and tonight will be a luxurious mixed grill including a 2 T-bone steaks and a rack of lamb. We then need to figure out how and when we will cook the beef rib bones, the smoked big fat and other odds and ends that are kicking around in there.

How much space does 65-75kg of beef take anyway?

Punctuality

I, like most people, have two parents. One of them is painfully punctual and other has generally taken a more relaxed attitude to time keeping.

One might expect that the Danes are obsessive about time keeping, they certainly like to think that themselves, but the reality is somewhat difference.

They are 5-15 minutes late for almost anything and that drives me a bit nuts because I am somewhat OCD about timekeeping.

Cozi Calendar

We have been testing out Cozi as our family organiser since the start of the year (we use something else for family planning!) and I thought I'd do a little review.

The application can be used directly on the internet at cozi.com or via an app on the ipad/iphone and MK's Android phone. The calendar, shopping list and to do list is kept up to date each time any of us make any changes so that we can see if anyone has done the shopping or made plans on our behalf.

It seems to work really well, MK has made friends with her smartphone and we have avoided both doing the shopping on the way home from work more than once.

I particularly like the shopping list that you tick off the items when you get them and then un-tick them when you need to get some more.

We just upgraded to the gold version (which you pay for rather than the free one described above) so that we get a better monthly view on the mobile apps, no adverts and a birthday calendar function as well.

Out of office

I'm off out with some people from work tonight. Steak and driving home.

Skiing

J on his way to ski school with me on a sunny morning

self shot on our morning trip over to ski lessons

Pancake afternoon

J tries to be in every photograph taken

J and Christiano the ski instructor

DK showing off his excellent snow plough technique

Home

We got home from Italy at 01:00 this morning after a long long drive. We left the apartment at about 05:30 and then spent several hours in various queues for car trains and tunnels.

We had a great week, I'll post some pictures and some more details in the week...

It's done

Before:

After:

I can see where DK gets his wonky head from when I look at these pictures!

When life goes up

The blogging tends to go down.

I have been really busy at work recently and home life has been filled with the usual cooking, washing, putting kids to bed stuff with little more than painting to fill the spare minutes. It's fun to be busy, but it does tend to lead to rather dull blog posts describing painting and driving too and from work.

Yesterday I spent 5 hours driving to the middle of Sweden and back to present to a potential customer. You always do your best at these things, but on the way home through the dark, snow and busy traffic, I couldn't help but wonder if I really wanted to make that trip every week for 18 months to run a project there.

In the end, the decision will not be mine, but none the less, it was a long dull journey.

Tomorrow, I am working from home for the first time in months and will take advantage of the opportunity to get all of my hair cut off.

I promise to post before and after pictures.

Brush in hand

It's been another 10 or 12 hours painting this weekend and now the living room walls are sparkling white which contrasts nicely with the discoloured formerly white ceiling. I suppose that can be another project for another weekend.

A result of the time spent getting up and down from the step is that I was unable to do any exercises this morning. I could feel straight away that my back wasn't up to anything strenuous so I hung the washing to dry, did some stretching and then put the living room straight again. That involved removing the tape from the switches, putting the blind back up and returning the furniture to the edges of the room.

Next up is the dining room and the grand finale will be the hall hopefully all before the end of the month.

Prison Haircut time again?

The summer before last I cut all of my hair off. I decided that it was getting too thin so it was easier to just chop it all off.

The home hair cut is also quick, cheap (free actually) and open all hours. I personally couldn't see any downside to it at all.

However, it turns out that I am not the only one with an opinion on my haircut. MK also seems to have something to say about it and my mother seems to have trouble keeping her feelings to herself at times as well.

So I let it grow back to some extent and return to the hairdressers along with the inconvenience of booking appointments at least a week in advance and paying too much. Now that the boys seem to want their hair cut by a hair dresser, it is beginning to cost us a fortune.

Now the hair is even thinner and it seems like a good time to chop it all off again. I am sure that at least the two mentioned above will not be all that pleased, but it's getting embarrassing having so little hair on your head that you either look bald or trying to hide behind a comb-over regardless of what you do with it.

I think I'm inclined to head in the direction of the Statham crop