Finalization

Thursday 14. – Saturday 16. August

Finally home with easy access to computer and internet, but apparently not enough discipline to finish our holiday diary. Instead of trying to remember what we did, here are a some photos to give you an idea. We did actually have some nice weather, and so spent some time relaxing in the garden, did a bit of reading (panic is setting in, essay need to be handed in by 10. Sept) and just enjoying not having an agenda or programme to adhere to.

Lukas and I went to see FC Midtjylland (have heard a lot of interesting pronounciations of that over the last weeks) play Manchester City. Sat with the Danish fans and as FC won, we had a great time.

We also managed a trip to IKEA and picked up a really cheap sunbed and a swing ball set in another shop. Both items have been used frequently, weather permitting.

And thus we reached the final of this holiday. For those of you who have joined us on the trip, we hope you have enjoyed it. Tomorrow (Sunday 17/8) it is back to work. We are going to install a corps leader in one of the corps in the Division. Does sound like something an electrician does, doesn't it? Good news is that Monday is a Bank Holiday, not a bad way to start after a holiday.

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Navigation

Monday 11. August

Had an early start as we were catching a 8:00 train towards Vejle. Train journeys are quite comfortable in Denmark and it was only a 2 ½ hours trip, so was almost looking forward to it. I made sure I had my book handy (have started on The Odessa File) and settled down to relax for the next couple of hours. A couple of times the train stopped quite abruptly, causing a smell of burnt rubber in the carriage. I was beginning to wonder whether our luggage would be insured if a fire broke out and how we could verify what had been in our cases, but there was no fire. When we reached Slagelse (try and pronounce that one!) the train just stopped. After a while we were told that there was something wrong with the front carriages, which also pulls the train. Fortunately the two end carriages also had an engine, but as we did not really want to go back to Copenhagen, they had to be moved to the front of the train. The train was delayed almost an hour, but after 45 minutes another train pulled into the station, heading same direction as us. We got all our stuff together, ran across the platform into the other train. We were not the only ones with that idea, so the new train quickly became quite crowded – fortunately we had moved quickly, so we got to sit down all the way to Vejle.

Allan was at the station to pick us up. As we headed off we noticed the SatNav in the window. They had been tempted by a good offer and were now the proud owners of a Navigation System. We joked a bit about how it would help him to find his home, a journey he has made hundreds of times. While driving I programmed the SatNav to know the home address of Allan and Ea and that quickly became very handy. A couple of kilometres outside Vejle traffic on the road slowed down considerably. Looking ahead we realised a circus was on the road, the wagons being pulled by tractors. It was also uphill, so we might as well have walked, apart from still being 10-15 kilometres away from our destination. Why not test the SatNav? You can ask a Navigation System to calculate an alternative route, on this system it was called a "detour", we were soon to found out why.

It directed us to turn of the main road and as soon as we did we could speed up again. We were now travelling small country roads, turning left and right all over the place, but in the right general direction. "After 400 metres turn left" the voice commanded, but Allan missed the road. As there was no traffic, he reversed back and stopped. Should we really turn down that small gravel track on our left? We decided to try, just for the laugh. We were sure it would just take us to a farmhouse and were amusing ourselves by thinking of what the farmer would think as we turned up on his yard. We were moving ahead slowly again, not because of traffic, but because of the holes in the track, most of them filled with water making it impossible to see how deep they were. Finally we made it to a real road again, kept following the SatNav, going through small communities and finally we were back on the main road, just behind the circus and their tractors!

Lisbeth spent the rest of the day packing, re-packing and then packing again. As mentioned we were bringing home some of Maria's stuff. We were also bringing home supplies of Danish food and sweets (especially sweets) to survive an English winter. 2 cases to be checked in, 3 to be carried on board, one almost entirely full of the special chocolate Danes use to but on white bread for breakfast. Problem was that Allan and Ea didn't have any scales (apparently weight is not a problem in that house), so how do you know if a case weighs 10 kg (cabin baggage) or 15 kg? Allan went looking in his workshop and found 2 scales, one designed for weighing fish, the other for pigs! Both had a hook in which you could hang the suitcase and then you had to lift it from the floor. The pig scale included a long metal bar and a heavy metal ball, which you had to adjust along the bar to gain equilibrium. How you can do that with a pig, which probably would move more than a suitcase, I have no idea (I also have no idea where you put the hook in a pig, they don't come with a handle, do they?). After hours of moving things around Lisbeth conceded, altered our tickets so we could check in 3 cases, and found room for everything. Not quite sure about the weight though, if we had been carrying fish or pigs we would be ok, but whether the scales worked correctly with suitcases we would have to wait and see.

Tuesday 12. August

Today we are going home, but we don't have to leave for the airport before around 15:00. I finished The Odessa File. It was OK and at times quite a page turner, but reflecting on the three books I realised the The Russia House was better than I had given it credit for, especially when evaluated against The Odessa File. With Le Carré you get much more insight into the characters and locations, which also sometimes makes it a bit more hard work. I still don't think any of them reaches the level of Grisham though, neither for plot nor for character and location description.

We also found time to watch the Danish Handball team play Korea. We are the reigning European Champions and among the favourites for the Olympic title, but had drawn with Egypt in our first game. We lost against Korea with one goal, scored 10 seconds before full time. We still have a chance to qualify for the next round, but now need to beat Russia in our next game.

We decided not to use the SatNav to find the airport and therefore made it in plenty of time. No problem with any of our cases, the scales had done their job (as had Lisbeth!). Because we had to check in luggage, we had loads of time before boarding. Bought a paper and read background analysis about the situation in Georgia. Following it in the news we can imagine how some of the mature generation in Latvia will feel.

We were all in the plane, ready to leave 20 minutes early and we were already beginning to cherish the thought of making it home before we had anticipated. Before they closed the door they did the last head count, then another, and then one more, looking more and more puzzled for each time. Turned out there was supposed to be 159 passengers onboard, but there actually were 160. Over the intercom they asked whether all onboard were meant to go to Birmingham, apparently everyone was. They finally found the "extra" passenger. A family travelling with 3 children apparently had printed a boarding card twice, and it had not been noticed at the check at the gate that boarding pass and passport was not for the same name. The extra child did have a ticket, and so, after a bit of confusion, we were ready to take off, now delayed! As we landed we knew we had come home to the UK – it was raining!

As our train left Birmingham we were welcomed over the intercom, told which stations the train would be calling at and finally "As it is now after 8 o'clock the cafe is now closed" – and I was so looking forward to a cup of coffee! This train also got stuck on the track, so we were late arriving at Stockport, but the cab driver was a nice guy, which made at least the final lap of the journey enjoyable. He was able to inform us it had been raining for the last 3 weeks and this day it had been "torrential".

Wednesday 13 August

Woke up around 8 only to find the sun shining and the sky blue or maybe I was just dreaming, maybe I was still in bed? Splashed cold water in my face and the sun was still shining! Incredible! Apparently Lukas is a man of faith. When he got up, looked out the window he just said "Seems my prayer has been answered". Before going to sleep he had prayed for sunshine next day, probably so he could go out and play football, and did not seem that surprised that his prayer had been answered.

We spent the day unpacking, washing and the shopping. In between Lisbeth went to for an appointment with her physiotherapist. The shoulder is getting better all the time, but it will still be another 6 weeks at least before it hopefully is back to normal.

Home from shopping I thought it was time to relax, it is after all still our holiday, but Lisbeth had other plans, so we spent the next hour or two in the garden, mowing the lawn. Lisbeth had prepared a lovely meal afterwards, so it was all worth it. Lisbeth spent the evening clearing out the kitchen cupboards (I almost wrote her kitchen cupboards, but that might have got me into trouble), while Lukas and I watched Liverpool playing Rapid Liege in a Champion League qualifier. It was tough on Lukas, Liverpool did not play well and was very fortunate to get away with a clean sheet. Two weeks time Liege comes to Anfield and Lukas is confident they (that is Liverpool) will settle it there. During the match the commentators a couple of times announced that also tomorrow there would be European football on the channel and Manchester City was facing Danish opposition in the UEFA cup. I think they announced it 3 times and not once did they attempt saying FC Midtjylland, which is the name of the club. Considering to call in and pronounce it for them, so they know what to say during the match tomorrow, but the studio host actually managed to say it pretty close to how it is supposed to be pronounced, so at least he had done his home work (Could someone by the way call all English football commentators and explain that "v" is pronounced "f" in all German and Dutch names? Even though I speak neither language it irritates me every time I have to listen to them. Should think it is part of the job to research how to pronounce the names, wouldn't you?)

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Renovation

Saturday 9. August
Another day with not much to write about. Went in the morning to a large shopping centre because Lukas wanted to look for a playstation game. He didn't find it, but it still took us 2 hours to find the exit from the centre. A sports shop had a rain set at reduced price and I went in to have a look at it. I need something to use when cycling in Manchester, at it does happen to rain once in a while. It is not enough for the set to be able to keep the rain out, it should also be able to breathe, otherwise you quickly become as wet on the inside as on the outside. According to the information in the set it should be able to breathe, but to what extent? Look for a sales assistant and one quickly jumped to assistance. "How much it can breathe? Let me have a look" after which he read out loudly what the note in the set said. "It says it does breathe" he summed it up, which would have been immensely helpful I was not able to read for myself "but it doesn't say how much". I stood back in amazement - before our very eyes we beheld a sales assistant who was able to read Danish! Unfortunately he didn´t have a clue otherwise. I smiled politely and thanked him, put the set back and left the shop, slightly amused.

We did pick up a new, very cheap suitcase. We have been packing Maria's stuff, which she had left at my Mothers. Called DHL to hear how much it would cost to ship 3 boxes to Stockport from Copenhagen and decided £ 700 was a bit too much! Instead we packed the most necessary stuff in the extra suitcase which we will take home when we leave from Denmark. Does mean we will have luggage to check in and have to queue in the airport. I hope Maria appreciates this enourmous sacrifice.

Have managed to finish The Russia House by John Le Carré. It got better towards the end, but it was not a book I just had to return to or could not put down. I don´t think I will continue reading other of his books. Have tried twice and not too impressed. Began reading The Odessa File by Frederic Forsyth. Began well, will see how it proceeds.

Lisbeth and I set off for dinner at Hanne and John's, a couple of very good friends and colleagues. Good food and good (and long) conversations. Were not home before after midnight, but we were determined to get up for the service next day. Lisbeth and I had decided to go to the Temple Corps, where we were corps leaders for 5 years before moving to Latvia, but Lukas had decided to go with Granmother to Valby, which is just down the stairs. He did claim it was not because he could sleep longer, but because most of his friends goes to that corps.

Sunday 10. August
Entering the Temple corps I thought I had gone to heaven. It was not because the presence of God overwhelmed me, nor the friendly welcome from many old friends and acquaintances, but the hall it self. It had been refurbished and decorated and everything was kept either in white or very light colours. My first impression was thinking of movies where someone wakes up after an accident, everything is white around them and a beam of light surrounds them. Then the band started playing and I realised it wasn't heaven (actually that was not a fair joke, the band played really well, but I needed to end that paragraph somehow).

The platform had been rebuilt, making it much more approachable and friendly, there were new chairs, much more comfortable than the old ones and they even had a screen and a projector, although they couldn't get it to work this Sunday, things had moved forward and improved since we left the corps. The service was fairly traditional (this is a very kind description), but it was good. It had a lot to do with the leader and the preacher, not because they necessarily were brilliant, but you could feel the Spirit in them and their authentic spirituality.

The text was from Matthew 12, where there is a passing reference to Jonah. The preacher mentioned how the book of Jonah said that Jonah paid the fare when he bordered the ship to run away from God and the call he had given him and commented there always is a price to pay when we try to run away from God. Just that thought was worth the whole service.

The corps has been unofficered for a year and will continue to be so for the next 12 months. If someone had asked me there, I might have volunteered for the job stragiht away (when I told Lisbeth afterwards she commented that she hoped I would have asked her first!), but reflecting over it I realised it partly was the leader in me that reacts and want to act when leadership is needed, partly it was the thought of getting a platform again and having a people to share the word of God with. We have now been to services in 2 of our previous corps and been outside the door of a third, and in every instance I have considered volunteering to take leaership of the corps - probably is good we are going home before next Sunday.

Early tomorrow morning we will take the train to Vejle, stay with Allan and Ea one night and then fly home from Billund Tuesday. Have realised my diary entries were somewhat more entertaining while covering our first stay with Allan and Ea, maybe there will be more fun to write about tomorrow.

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Variation

Wednesday 6. August
Today it was time for the traditional Andersen summer lunch. Every summer for almost as long as I can remember my Mother has gathered the family for lunch. In the beginning it took place in Tivoli Gardens, but for several years now it has been arranged in my brother Preben's garden and with Preben preparing the lunch. It is a tradition, and so everything was as usual - apart from Preben not being there. For Lisbeth and me it was the first time we met the family since Preben's funeral and as mentioned I was a bit apprehensive about how it all would go.

We had a lovely time and a delicious lunch, shared funny stories, some of which we have heard or told every year when we meet, and discussed a bit of politics and Danish history. But something, or rather someone, was missing, We were all aware of it, sometimes we had short spells of silence, everyone just sitting in their own thoughts. I know who I was thinking of at those times and I guess the others were too. The strange thing is we never mentioned Preben or talked about him. It was Lisbeth who made me aware of it when we had returned home to my Mother. Thinking about it it really annoys me. Why didn´t we? Why didn't I? Why didn´t we at least just acknowledge we were missing him? I know I did. I missed his humour, his intellect, his interest in what his little brother was up to, the way he could converse about any subject, and be competent in it.

Of course the others have had loads of these converstaions, everytime there was something Preben would have done, said, taken part in over the last 6 months. It was probably different for us, who under normal circumstances would not have met Preben before at the lunch. But still it is strange. Next year will be different. Next year I will honour his memory by not just thinking about him, but talking about him. Next year....strange I haven´t been taught the lesson that we can´t take next year for granted, not next week, tomorrow. We should do and say what is right now, the only moment we are guaranteed.

Thursday 7. August
Another day with sun shining from a clear sky. A lazy morning, then we walked through the parks down to the shopping centre where we used to live. Walked through the centre, invested in a huge Danish Ice Cream and sat in the sun enjoying it. Caught the bus back and had dinner at my mothers. In the evening Lisbeth, Lukas and I went for a walk through the Tivoli Gardens. If you haven´t been to Tivoli, it is difficult to explain what it is. It is an amusement park, but it is so much more. It is more than 130 years old, and there is an atmosphere I don´t think you can´t find anywhere else in the world. I forgot to bring my phone, which also doubles as our camera on this holiday, but had copied a few photos from the Tivoli homepage, just to give you an idea.

We, that is Lisbeth and I, did not go for the fun rides, but to walk through the garden, experience the atmosphere, and then to listen to the Tivoli Big Band that plays 3 sets during an evening on one of the bandstands in the garden. Lukas had joined us and managed to convince us he should be given a ticket for free access to all the rides. He ran off and left Lisbeth and me to enjoy what we had come for. We did all go for a ride in the traditional roller coaster, but otherwise it was all music. If you never have been, add it to your list of places you have to go. There is nothing like Tivoli and it can´t be explained.

Friday 8. August
A very relaxing day. No sun today, showers and grey skies all day. I had arranged to meet a good friend, whom I had not seen for years, for lunch. Lisbeth and Lukas went of on their own, no quite sure what they got up to. I decided to walk to where I was going to meet him. The skies were grey, but it had stopped raining. I haven´t brought a jacket, and have no umbrella, so I set off in my polo shirt - as mentioned it had stopped raining.
Turned out the rain had only paused - half way there it began to pour down. Not much I could do about it, did not have the time to wait for it to stop. By the time I arrived I was soaked. I had 10 minutes to spare, so I went into a large supermarket and found their toilets. My hope was I could find a blow dryer there and do a Mr. Bean. Unfortunately they didn´t. Managed to dry my hair with the paper towels (did not take much) and then off to meet my friend. We had a great time, I think we sat and chatted for almost 3 hours. I was again reminded of how valuable friends and friendships are.

After dinner we realised there was nothing worth watching in the TV, so instead we played a game of scrabble. We used a Danish version, but agreed English words would be allowed too. Good fun and we managed to use all the letters in both games we played. I was a bit disappointed when I could not use the word "Efod". Was not in the Danish dicitionary. I was convinced it was something from the Bible and from the Temple, but could not remember what. Later found out it was an appron the priests used when serving in the Temple. Fortunately we did not play for points, otherwise I would have handed a formal complaint in to the rest of the family.

Before dinner Andreas called, just to hear how we were doing and later Maria also called. Both were busy working, under very different circumstances. Was really good to talk to both of them. Will be good to see them too in the not too distant future.

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Installation

Sunday 3. August
Today was a bit of Back to the Future. Future because it was Edel's welcome meeting in Randers corps, which she has promised to take care of for the next year, back because we were corps leaders in Randers 20 years ago and we were going with her and William to the meeting. Well, we had said we of course would go with them to the meeting, but somehow we ended up leading and preaching, as well as installing Edel as the new corps leader - not really our job, at least not in Denmark, but there you go.

The corps is presently with out a hall, it is literally a hole in the ground, and so the services are held in a café belonging to one of the other churches in town and used for their youth church. 25-30 people (including us) turned up, and among them a lot of well known faces. It brought back a lot of memories and I could not help thinking of some of these faithful people, who year in and year out keep The Salvation Army going. While there is a need to move on and change, there is also a need to honour these people for their faithfulness and for their faith!

The congregation was somewhat ageing, but it wasn´t dead. Sometimes when you lead or preach it feels like hitting a wall, but here people were open and receptive. I only found out Saturday afternoon I would be preaching, so I decided to re-use one of my standard sermons. Acts 10 and 4 things we find there necessary for a spiritual breakthrough. (Amazing isn´t it, 4 things!). Here is a little summer quiz: Can you identify the 4 things from the text of Acts 10? I didn´t have a lot of luck last time I tried this, but I will again offer a free book to the first that gets them all right (you cannot participate if you were present at the meeting, at least not if you were listening!).
One of the things we did while in Randers was to run a MasterLife Discipleship course. Part of the training was to learn to take notes from sermons, building a library of teaching. I still remember the first Sunday, when the participants were to try it out for the first time. The DC was visiting the corps and was also preaching. I could not help feeling sorry for those taking notes, who had been taught how to look for the structure in the sermon, highlighting main points etc, because there were absolutely no structure to the sermon and I could ot identify any mainpoints. More a case of let us start here and see how long it takes us to get lost.

One of those who participated in the group was in the meeting and when we came to the sermon she got a little notebook out and started taking notes - in a strange way that was encouraging (if you can get hold of her you probably can win the quiz!).

After the meeting we all had lunch together, giving a good chance to talk to old friends and then we set off back to Aalborg, a journey of 80 km that Edel now will start making 3 times a week. Lisbeth and I went to the cemetery in Aalborg to visit the grave of Lisbeth´s parents. Lukas didn´t want to go - it would just make him sad he said. This is only the 2nd time we were back to Aalborg after Lisbeth's mother died and it does bring up a lot of memories.

Monday 4. August
For the first time during our time in Denmark it rained. Not only rained, it poured down and with out stop the whole day. We took a quick trip to the town centre, just to have a walk around, but otherwise we spent the day looking out at the rain. Through the window we coulds see the children starting their week of football school - outside of course - while it was pouring down. The tennis school had been cancelled, but football is not for wussies, so they ran around in the rain all day.
In the evening of Lisbeth´s other brothers came round for dinner and we had a cozy evening with good food and lots of chatting.

Tuesday 5. August
Time to relocate once again. We went back to the cemetry with flowers, had lunch with Edel and William, before saying goodbye and heading off for Vejle. It was really good to spend time with them. You sometime forget how valuable friends and family are, especially when you don´t see them for a long time. Lukas managed to groom Dalton, the family golden retreiver before we left. The journey to Vejle was un-eventful. We dropped the car at Levi and Elisabeth. Elisabeth very kindly offered to drive us to the station where we took the train to Copenhagen and made it in time for the evening meal at my mother's. More chatting and time to watch an episode of Midsomer Murders and then to bed. Tomorrow will be a great day, but also a strange. We will have our annual Family Summer Lunch, the first since my brother died. I am looking forward to seeing the rest of the family, but am a bit apprehensive about how it will be to sit in Preben's garden, but without him being there.

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Translocation

As Dace has asked for fewer of all these difficult words and more illustrations to look at, I will keep the entries for the next two days very brief and include a photo or two, hopefully this will keep it on a level were even Dace can follow it.

Friday 1. August
Most of the day like the rest of our holiday. Sun, relaxation, reading. Slowly getting into The Russia House. Takes more work than Grisham, but so far has the promise of being good. A sentence caught my imagination. One of the characters says: We have to execute our past to build our future. Wondering whether that is true? While we most of the time probably build our future on the past, is there sometimes where the past is so infected that we have to execute it to be able to build a future? I am thinking organisationally, not on a personal level. (Here Paul agrees with John Le Carré, cf. 2. Cor. 5:18 or thereabout)

Both families headed off for town in the afternoon as Tour de Denmark (we do not really call it that, but it is a bike competition in several stages from one end of Denmark to the other) had placed the end of a stage there. As you might know Denmark has no mountains, but we do have hills, and in Vejle there is a street where the uphill slope exceeds 20%, quite a challenge to ride up on a bike (it is actually forbidden to ride down the road as it would be very serious if you brakes should fail).

As always we spent an hour or more just waiting for the riders to arrive, but as we were close to the finish, they actually went past us three times. Every time they came up the hill, more and more riders just could not follow the leaders. I am sure some of the foreign riders felt cheated: Is Denmark not supposed to be flat? We all enjoyed the experience and all the kids managed to collect a number of souvenirs from the different sponsors.

Saturday 2. August
Time to move on. We are heading off for Aalborg to stay with Lisbeth’s brother and sister-in-law for a couple of days. We had a good long breakfast, talking about all the things we had not done yet (playing cards, watching a movie together etc). The drive is a bit less than 200 km and we were wondering how the car would manage, but there was no need to worry. Apart from occasionally being shaken, as the car several times hacked and spluttered quite violently. Apparently it does not like to reduce the speed by releasing pressure on the accelerator. No big problem, you just keep increasing the speed. We were making app. 500 km/h when we arrived in Aalborg.

Edel and William had just come back from London the night before. They had been over to see Richard and Heidie off, as they travelled back to Zambia after their homeland furlough. Their, Edel and William’s, had been delayed, so they had not made it home before 2 o’clock in the morning. It suited us fine just to have a relaxing day, with a delicious barbeque in their garden. We had 2 minutes of rain in the afternoon, but nothing serious. We have been warned though, that the weather will change and a front from the British Isles will reach Denmark after the weekend, bringing, surprise surprise, rain!

No reason to worry about that for now. The sun is shining and it should continue tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a great day too, but different. Not all relaxation, but more about that later.

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Elevation

Wednesday 30. July
Today was a very lazy day. After the activities of yesterday we basically just hung around and did nothing, apart from Ea, who had to go to work. I finished Playing for Pizza. It is not the best Grisham I have ever read, I prefer his legal thrillers, but he is such a skilful writer that even when it is “just” a novel, it is still a page turner. It probably would have been even better if I understood American Handball (I think they call it Football, but why I have never understood, to me it seems like they use their hands more than their feet), as the book is about an American Football player who, when no one wants him in the US, turns out for Parma Panthers in Italy. I didn’t really get much of the explanation from the games, but part of the story is also of an American discovering a world outside the US, not at least the Italian cuisine. Grisham’s colourful description of the meals made me hungry for Italian food, not even discouraged by the fact that most of the courses included cheese. I even began to contemplate whether I should begin to eat cheese just to experience this wonderful food. While the book is not up to the level of Street Lawyer or The Firm it is well worth a read.

Allan and I decided we would have a go at repairing “our” car, so we disassembled the remaining part of the indicator arm, biked down to a large shop selling old car parts. They happened to have just what we needed, but not quite to the price we had planned on spending. It was fascinating to watch Allan, as he, after he had said what amount we had available just stood and waited until the guy in the shop gave in and let us have the “new” indicator arm for just that amount. It took us just five minutes to fit it and now the car is as new - at least there is no pain involved in indicating any longer. We considered taking the gear box apart too, but decided that could be pushing our luck too much.

Otherwise not much happened. Another day with sunshine, which takes us to 5 days without rain and temperatures above 25 degrees Celsius. Weather forecast for tomorrow is good, it will be another lazy day.

Thursday 31. July
Lisbeth and I went into town today for a walk through the pedestrian street. We didn’t really need anything, just needed a change from the daily rythm. We used to live not just in the town, but at the end of the pedestrian street for 4 years, so we talked about shops that were still there and those that weren’t. As we had no children with us we allowed ourselves the luxury of a Danish icecream.

Back at the farm we resumed positions in the sun. I started reading The Russia House by John Le Carrée. Most mornings I have woken before the rest of the house and have made my way outside to a quiet corner to read. I am reading through the Gospel of Mark just now. One reason is that when we come home I am going to preach at one of our plants. They are in the middle of a series about Jesus (seems relevant!) and have had titles like Jesus Saves or Jesus Heals. The title given to me is Jesus Provokes. I am free to find what story I will use, but of course have to stick to the theme. Reading and thinking about this I thought there actually is material for a whole book here. Jesus was extremely provoking in his time and as I have thought about it have begun to question whether we at all understand Jesus’ message, if he does not provoke us today? The book would be a chapter for one story, outlining how it would have provoked at Jesus’ time and then relating it to today and how it should provoke us. Sounds like a good idea, wonder if the book already have been written by someone?

Usually Allan always has a project for him and me to do while at the farm. This year it was a small one. The line had fallen out of their flagpole, so we had to lay the flagpole down, re-insert the line and then raise it up again. Should be simple enough, but as mentioned in an earlier post, reality does not always match up to theory.

An 8 meter high flagpole is not that easy to control when it is unbolted, so we made sure children and animals were out of the way before we began. Our wives had taken seat at a safe distance, looking forward to being entertained – and they were not disappointed!

We managed to lay the flagpole down without too much trouble, apart from the fact that 2 large trees were in our way, so we could not get it down flat on the ground, only stuck in the trees with the top of the flagpole 2-3 metres above the ground, far too much to get the line through the top. While I pretended to hold up the pole, which was firmly stuck in the tree, Allan got hold of his ladder, climbed up into the tree, across on the branches and got the line in place. It was entertaining, but no real match for us. Next challenge was to lift the flagpole up again and then for me to hold it in the right position while Allan re-bolted it. While I was trying to hold the flagpole in a vertical position I did think how it would look if would begin to slide to one side and I would not be able to hold it. Should I try and stay under it or just jump to the side, not thinking about my dignity? Once or twice it felt like it would happen, but fortunately Allan managed to bolt it. Mission accomplished.

Well, until our dear wives drew our attention to the line. It was now firmly and correctly going through the top of the flagpole, but it was also firmly stuck in the tree, way above where we could reach it.

We were not going to lover the pole again, so we had to be creative. We got hold of a step ladder, but even standing on that we could not reach the line. Lisbeth constructively suggested we could stand on each other’s shoulders (that is Allan and me), but as we knew we would get no sympathy if we hurt ourselves in the attempt, we chose not to. Then Allan got a good idea, he got hold of a towel and threw it up on the line. The idea was the towel should weigh down the line, unfortunately it just got stuck on the line. I climbed up the stepladder with a mattress, hoping to hit the line, but the mattress was too soft and just folded over me. Running out of options Allan decided to use the stepladder, not to stand on, but to throw at the line. He hit it in two attempts and it pulled the line down. Perfect, if it wasn’t for the towel, it had not come down with the towel, but was now stuck on a branch, beyond our reach.

Always the practical one, I decided to take my shoes and throw them at the towel. I actually hit with both shoes, but probably they weren’t heavy enough, at least the towel didn’t move. Allan let me try with his clogs. This time I threw it too high, I had forgot to adjust to the fact I use a size 43, but Allan only a size 39. Finally Allan climbed up the tree again, across several branches and managed to shake the tree enough for the towel to fall down, without Allan doing the same.

Cheers and applause erupted from the audience (our wives and kids), who thoroughly had enjoyed the entertainment. Next year the plan is to paint the pole, but I suggest we leave it where it is and send one of our kids up and down with the paint. If they get stuck, we will throw shoes after them, that should bring them down.

Weather forecast still good for tomorrow. It might not be as entertaining as today, but it is still going to be a great day.

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Relaxation

Monday 28. July
3rd day of our holiday and still no rain. Instead blue skies and temperatures above 25 degrees Celsius. From the beginning of this day I proclaimed it would be a day of relocation: I was going to relocate a chair round the grounds following the sun as it moved and not do anything else, that is apart from reading my Grisham book. Almost finished it by the end of the day.

Ea had the day off, so we were all at home. Lisbeth and Ea went to do some shopping and as Lisbeth is still recovering from her shoulder surgery I went along to carry the goods. We took “our” car, that is the car Levi and Elisabeth so kindly had let us use. It is an interesting experience driving the car. It is a mature Skoda and as with people maturity also brings along a few oddities. A new one was that the indicator arm was broken, not “broken” in the way it did not work, “broken” as in “broken off”, it just wasn’t there. For a while Levi had substituted it with a tea spoon, stuck into the very small part that was left of the original arm. Unfortunately the tea spoon no longer fitted and so the only way to indicate if you intended to turn was to bend forward, locate the small tip still in place and then force it either up or down with your fingers. The tip was not smooth and did not go neither up nor down easily, so there were an amount of pain involved in wanting to turn. I began to wonder if this was the car the Lord thought of when he said “...be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left”.

We had also been warned by Levi that one needed to exercise a not small amount of force to get the car into 1st gear. I am not sure how Levi defines force, but every time I tried to get it into first gear I was afraid the gear stick would break too, and I began to worry about having to use a teaspoon to change gear, or even worse my fingers. After trying several times, and almost every time ending up in 3rd gear, I gave up and decided it would be easier to start in 2nd gear than 3rd and so left the first gear unused. It does mean there is no quick acceleration, so we have left a lot of frustrated drivers behind us. We almost left Lukas behind a couple of time, too. To get into the back seat you have to use excessive force when attempting at forcing the back door opened, so when we were ready to leave, he was still trying to get in. Fortunate the car accelerated slowly when starting from 2nd gear, so he had extra time to get on board.

We made it back from shopping and I relocated again into a spot with sun, armed with a cup of coffee at my side and a Grisham in front of me – so far a perfect holiday. While we had been shopping Lukas had played with the dog and walked the horse – yes, walked the horse!

Tomorrow was going to be another great day

Tuesday 29 July
After a reasonably stationary day Monday it was time to move around a bit. We dropped of the dog at Ea’s parents and set off in two cars for the island of Rømø. It might not mean a lot to most you the readers of this blog, but Rømø is a paradise for lovers of beaches. You drive your car down onto the beach, or rather as far down as you can get for all the other cars. There is sand all around, the water is clear and even though there are thousands of people is does not seem too crowded because the area is so big.

Lisbeth walked past a couple of Latvian on her way to the water. Second time she passed them she smiled at them and said “Sveiki”! They were surprised to meet another Latvian, and Lisbeth had to explain, in her best Latvian, that she was Danish, but used to live in Latvia.

The children loved the water and we stayed for a couple of hours and then we decided it was time to drive across the border to Germany. Not because of any deep longing for Germany, but because you can buy cheap sweets and soft drinks there. As we got back to the car and was getting out of our wet swimming costumes (yes it was Denmark, but we did wear swimming costumes – this time!) Lisbeth realised she did not have her skirt. She did not fancy having to walk around the shops in her underwear and did not appreciate it when I offered her my shorts, so I went back to look for it. It was not where we had been sitting, so I had to walk around looking for it. That was a little bit embarrassing, as people were sunbathing all over the place, many with as little clothing as possible (a clumsy way of saying topless) and I was sure they all thought I was looking at them. Did not feel it would be appropriate to explain I was looking for a lost skirt, so I just moved around quickly. Lisbeth came and joined me and after a while we managed to find it. It had blown down towards the beach, but was stuck on a sand castle. Properly dressed we headed off for Germany. After buying sweets there we drove back to Denmark and to Højer. Here there is a very special sausage maker who makes probably the best salamis in the world. Lisbeth and I always go there whenever we are in this part of the country. In the shop you can taste dozens of salamis while contemplating which one you are going to buy. From there we went to Møgeltønder in Denmark. A very small village but with a castle, which is the home of Prince Joakim and his new wife Marie. Lisbeth and I had been there several times, but it was a first for Allan and Ea, so we behaved like tourists and took photos at the gate.

2 hours later we were back home, another day had gone, still no rain, and lots of run and relaxation, just what a holiday is about.

Tomorrow was going to be another great day.

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Visitation

Saturday 26.July
Finally it arrived – the first day of Andersens' summer holiday 2008. No elaborate or excotic plans, just 2 ½ weeks in Denmark, visiting family and friends, but still a holiday long awaited and anticipated. Lukas already had been in Denmark for 3 weeks, so it was only Lisbeth and me travelling today. Bus to the station, train to Birmingham, plane to Billund and there Allan would be waiting for us for the short drive to our first stop. It all went as uneventfull as it sounds. Managed to read 1/3 of Playing for Pizza before we landed in Billund. 30 minutes drive and we arrived at Allan and Ea's place, a small farmhouse with barns. 3 horses and a new dog we had never met before.

After watching football, having dinner and playing with the dog it was time for bed. Tomorrow we would go and visit some other good friends living in the closest town. For once we had planned these visits before our holiday – everything was prepared. It felt good going to bed. It was going to be a great holiday.

Sunday 27. July
Did not wake up in time to make it to the service in Vejle, but caught the next bus 2 hours later. I had agreed with Levi, who we were going to visit, that we would meet at 12:30 – had just forgot to agree on where, which was a slight problem, as we had never visited them at their present address (did not even have the address). Decided we could make it for the corps by 12:30 and as the service had started at 10:30 we hoped Levi would still be around. He is the corps leader and he didn't use to preach less than 20 minutes. This was also his last meeting at the corps, so there would also be coffee afterwards which definitely would go on to around 12:30. The theory sounded good, but when we arrived at the corps it was locked up and deserted.

It was at this time we realised we didn't have a phone number for Levi and Elisabeth either. We weren't totally lost, we had lived in Vejle for 4 years and knew our way around and I had brought my newest toy: The Blackberry! A quick call to Allan and Ea, they would give us the number for Levi and Elisabeth and we would be back on target. Again real life did not match theory. For some reason the Blackberry didn't work – or at least I couldn't make any calls on it. Found a payphone, called Allan, but he did not have Levi's number, or at least could not find it before our money ran out.

At 13:27 Lukas would be arriving with the train from Copenhagen, his first cross country travelling on his own, so we headed towards the station. Levi knew we would have to pick up Lukas, so maybe he would come looking for us there? Bought a phonecard, called my mother, who had Levi's mobile number. Now we were rolling, or would have been if Levi would just pick up that flipping phone! In no time the card ran out after I had reached the answering machine 4 times. Lisbeth was not amused, but at least the sun was shining and the sky blue, so we could enjoy the weather while waiting for Lukas to arrive. Through a sudden streat of inspiration I tried to send a SMS to Levi (those who know me will realise how desperate I was when I start to use SMS). It worked, it went through and Levi replied. Now he knew we were at the station.
Lukas arrived, everything had gone well on the journey. Levi still wasn't there, but he is not famous for arriving on time, so nothing unusual about that. After waiting a while, and after Lisbeth had asked a few times, I realised Levi might know where we were, but he did not know we were waiting for him! Fortunately Lukas had a phone, I made a quick call and within 10 minutes Levi arrived and drove us to their house. The time was was now around 14:00, we were 1 ½ hour late and Lisbeth assured both Levi and me she would not leave any planning in our hands in the future!

Elisabeth was very gracious about it, but I guess being married to Levi she is used to things like this. (I have to stress I take the full blame for the lack of planning this time – Levi's only problem was he could not read my mind) We had a lovely meal and spend the rest of the afternoon in the garden, including playing football in what must have been 30 degrees Celsius.

It is 3 years ago we last met Levi and Elisabeth and it was so good to catch up with them again. We met Levi first time when he came to us as a cadet for his summer training and have kept in touch ever since. We married Levi and Elisabeth and for some years we were stationed at neighbouring corps in Copenhagen, but since we left for Latvia we have not met so often. Time and distance are no barriers for friendship though, and it felt so good and natural to be chatting away again.

They had just bought a ”new” car (not sure how old it was, but the price was £ 1,000, so your guess is as good as mine) and when they realised we did not have a car with us on our holiday, they straight away offered us to borrow their old car (don't know how old that is either, but probably older than the ”new” one). Friends like that is a true blessing and we actepted their offer after they had assured us it would not inconvenience them at all.

Seeing Levi and Elisabeth again was a great start to our holiday and the car certainly were to make it more eventfull. Monday was going to be a wonderful day.

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