Janus

Alien captions?

This may look like an alien landscape, but this picture actually shows trees buried under a foot of snow close to the Arctic Circle. Italian student Niccolo Bonfadini spent nine days camping alone in the frozen world.

A paean for London 2012

They know the price of everything
(Don’t they just, don’t they just!)
They carp about the air we breathe
(Don’t they just, don’t they just!)
Our celebration of the rings
Our vict’ries and our winners’ wreaths
D’you wonder why we make them seethe?
They envy what we all achieve!
(Don’t they just, don’t they just!) Continue reading “A paean for London 2012”

An Olympic anthem

Workers mark out an Olympic Lane on the Embankment in London

Coe save our spacious lanes –
Only for famous names –
Coe save our lanes.
Help us drive citius,
Too fast for cab or bus –
Why all the bloomin’ fuss?
Coe save our lanes. Continue reading “An Olympic anthem”

Ars gratia artis

As the vultures circle above the Olympic Park, awaiting the inevitable execution of the organisers, I thought I’d remind cherished critics of the origins of the games with these iconic symbols of youthful athleticism.

Continue reading “Ars gratia artis”

Rain stopped play in Copenhagen

We’re back home from the capital having bailed (almost literally) a few hours early owing to cloudbursts at noon yesterday – until which juncture the whole expedition had been a great success. As always it’s the basics that count! We stayed in a northern suburb in the Scandic Eremitage – a train ride back to the city centre. So parking was convenient and free, and the accommodation more than adequate, with a breakfast buffet thrown in. We’ve used the Scandic group for years around the region – in Uppsala, Stockholm, Bergen and Oslo – and they usually come up to scratch. They do a frequent guest scheme which offers the keenest prices. Continue reading “Rain stopped play in Copenhagen”

A birthday

Tomorrow Mrs J will be celebrating another milestone passed, the 30th since we got together, would you believe! So we’re off to Copenhagen to catch up with the city’s architectural progress (Mrs. J’s special interest) by means of a canal tour from Nyhavn. Then dining Indian-style – wot you can’t do down here in the boondocks – before wending our weary way to a comfy hotel in the city. Saturday offers jazz bands playing alfresco along Strøget, the Oxford Street of Copenhagen, which has its annual jazzfest in full swing these days. So we’re hoping the thunder showers won’t be too unkind to us.

Call me old-fashioned…..

Matt cartoon

I’d be the last person to pre-judge the outcome of the almost-knighted John Terry hearing but he may just be innocent until proved Irish/Jewish/Lothario/Gay/Conservative/Rich/…….. if you get my drift. But MATT has nailed it once again.

The Viking name game

I’ve heard that Spanish folk can have a nomenclature as long as Don Quixote’s spear but there’s a practice here that intrigues me.

Take the newly crowned tennis king of Denmark, Frederik Løchte Nielsen., known to his friends as….what? Well, his English doubles partner calls him Freddie, as one might; but the commentators on Danish telly can’t seem to find out. He’s Freddie Løchte, just Løchte or all three names, but never Freddie Nielsen, and I can’t fathom why. Nielsen for some arcane reason is nomen non gratum.

Just like the NATO chief, ex PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen. He’s always Anders Fogh, just Fogh but never Anders Rasmussen.

Is it snobbery because Nielsen and Rasmussen are common names? It can’t be to avoid confusion – after all how many Fred Nielsens are at Wimbledon, how many Anders Rasmussens in NATO?

Btw Danes I have asked can’t explain. We just do, they say. Fine.

No more green and pleasant?

With the population climbing well above 60 million and planners eating away at the sacred green-belts, isn’t Britain slowly becoming one great urban sprawl? Will the English Lake District, the Welsh Hills and Scottish Highlands soon be the last great open spaces? Continue reading “No more green and pleasant?”