Autumn reds, yellows and…blues!

I’ve had a case of the blues this week – or ‘blahs’, as I like to call them.  Nothing really the matter.  Just that autumn is my least favourite season and wet/grey/dark skies don’t agree with me 😉  Plus it can be freezing (4c, 39f) in the morning when we bike down for a swim, so it’s on with the woolly scarves, gloves and winter coat…

But can be positively mild and mediterranean in the afternoons.

For Pete’s sake, it was was 18c (64f) when I put out the garden refuse last night at 9.30pm!  Ugh, can’t the weather make up it’s mind?

Anyway, a bit of exercise is a good way to banish the blahs, so twice this week I’ve popped on my running shoes and hotfooted it over to the park as soon as it got light (about 7.30am).  Really should have remembered a plastic bag, though, because there were plenty of rich pickings from the chestnut trees.  (And – lucky for me – not a priest’s penis in sight! That smell? Must be the priest!  Phew! :P) 

Oh, and if the building in the background of that photo looks familiar, you’d be right. That would be Bernstorff Palace, which you’ll know as the residence of Birgitte Nyborg, Denmark’s first female Prime Minister in the tv series “Borgen” .

No secret service men or Borgen characters in sight this week.  I had the park and the chestnut trees all to myself.  And came home with a (slightly) lighter head and (very) bulging pockets…

Have a fabulous Friday and a wonderful weekend!

Diane 🙂

We ♥ Danish Drama!

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[This post is also published over at www.blogs.denmark.dk – the official website of
Denmark run by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs]

Whenever I phone my Mum in Dad in Edinburgh (Bonnie Scotland), the conversation invariably turns to the same subject.  Danish drama.  And I don’t mean the group Denmark have drawn for Euro 2012 in Poland this summer… 😉

No, I’m talking about Danish Radio’s hugely popular drama series “Forbrydelsen” which has taken the UK by storm.  The Americans made their own (apparently very tame) remake of “The Killing”, but the Brits are thoroughly lapping up the gloomy atmosphere of gritty Copenhagen.  Fashionistas are desperate to get their hands on the Faroe-knit jumper worn by the female detective, Sarah Lund.  The original jumper from Gudrun + Gudrun – which features in all episodes – will set you back Euro. 280.  But even H+M are cashing in on the series’ success – here’s a copycat version I spotted this morning…

Want to dress up as Sarah Lund for Fastelavn/carnival? Kr. 100 or Euro 13.45

Yep, it’s hip to be Danish.  And even the Danish language has achieved cult status.  In the Christmas TV special of Absolutely Fabulous, Sarah Lund (the actress Sofie Gråbøl) makes a cameo appearance – yes, in that jumper – and Edina attempts to talk to her.  På dansk. 🙂

But back to my Mum and Dad.  Who (given that their daughter is married to a Dane and permanently settled in Copenhagen) are naturally seen by their cronies as the Oracle on all matters Danish.  At the church coffee morning last week there was a very lively discussion about the latest Danish drama series to hit the UK – a fictional drama about the first woman to become Prime Minister of Denmark.  (With life reflecting art just months later, when Helle Thorning-Schmidt did it for real.)  Mum and Dad’s friends thought it was funny that Mikael Birkkjær a.k.a. ‘the baddie’ in “The Killing II” turns up as the Prime Minister’s husband in the new drama series.  Not, of course, that any of the women were complaining… [Swoons.]

What they were really puzzled about was the title.  Which is Danish.  And which, for some strange reason, hasn’t been given a catchy – or, at the least, explanatory – title in English.  “Can’t you phone your daughter in Copenhagen and ask her what “Borgen” actually means?”  So that’s exactly what Mum did…  [She typed – in true cliffhanger style.]

Have a wonderful Wednesday! 🙂