The Danbrush

In Denmark they don’t have sugar, they have dansukker, nor honey, but danhonning, and I’m sure if you live in England, you’ll have tried dancake.

And in every shower they have this all-in-one shampoo/shower gel combo dispenser. I say every, because both at my hotel and the swimming pool this is the case. But even in the toilets they have the same stuff. It’s great, ‘coz you don’t have to buy it. You just squeeze it and out comes your required dose of shampoo, or shower gel, whatever you want to use it for. This confirms something that I’ve suspected all along: they are the same thing. Shampoo, shower gel, bubble bath, bath cream, fairy liquid, soap, hand wash, fabric conditioner and any other soap in the form of gel or thick creamy liquid, is pretty much the SAME thing. So maybe Denmark is the best place for me to launch this idea for a product I have. It’s a multi-utility brush: hairbrush, toothbrush, toilet brush, floor sweeping pan & brush brush. I think I’ll name it the danbørste.

Today I went to the conference for the last time. I can only take so much of it. I attended one full day and two half days. And today I was asked to chair the morning session. When the organiser came over to ask me, I thought, FUCK, he wants me to chair one of the afternoon sessions, but luckily it was the one I was planning on attending anyway. And I chaired it quite nicely. I’m proud of myself. And my talk yesterday wasn’t that bad either. I think I made it a bit more interesting than I had done last year when I presented a paper in Greece. So I’m proud of myself for that as well. But WHAT THE FUCK’s with those nerves I get before the presentation? What the hell is that all about? I mean, what’s the worse that can happen? I hope one day I’ll be able to stand up in front of a crowd, say Maracana, and not bat an eyelid for nerves. It’s ridiculous. I KNOW it is, but I still feel the nerves.

Some of the stuff at the conference was interesting. Some of it too theoretical and you need to know alot of music theory, ontology (I still don’t know what it means), psychology and philosophy of music. There seems to be a 60-40 mix of musicians/composers v. computer people, but even the computer people have largely a musical background.

After the morning sessions today, I decided to get some lunch and come and eat it here at the hotel. So I went to the super market and got some traditional Danish fish cakes, a pot of fresh crab salad, some sliced cheese and some of that sliced brown bread that they eat up here which you only find in health food shops in London. And I paid using my Lloyds TSB debit card and even got cash back. Things have changed from the last time I was here, in Aarhus, in 1992, bloody hell, 16 years ago. I wonder what’s happened to those friends I had from Denmark, Soren, Kim and Klaus. It would be interesting to find out. Hey guys, anyone reading this blog? Remember me? We worked together at Cafe Pasta? They were quite a laugh and I remember Kim in particular as having a similar sense of humour as me.

We were working in the kitchen together as cooks and we used to drink soft drinks straight out of the can, all us cooks and there was a time when it became a fashionable prank to play on someone, make a hole in the can just below the pull ring, after the other guy (the “user” we would say nowadays, ha, ha) has drunk enough to get it below the level of where you’re gonna make the hole. You know what I mean? Then you work away, ignoring the other guy, but keeping an eye out for when he’s gonna take a slug from it, and… Oh man, I’m laughing just thinking about it now. Still funny after so many years… And what an environment to do it in. Especially on a busy Friday night. Would drive some people nuts. And Kim was the master. You’d get a bunch of tired cooks and dishwashers finishing their shifts with coke stains down their shirts.

But I digress, ‘coz all I wanted to say was that I felt particularly proud going into the super market and buying some of the local produce and then paying for it and asking the instore fish monger what is in the fish cakes and asking the lady at the till if she speaks English and if she accepts my form of payment. But I also feel proud ‘coz that’s my dinner sorted as well, since I’ve got left overs and will come back to the hotel room and eat it while watching some of that stupid champions league final (as far as I’m concerned, when Arsenal lost it to Barcelona a few years ago, that competition lost all importance… :-)).

So now for some serious tourism. I’m going to Christiania today, although the reports from some of the other conference delegates are a bit grim, i.e. they push drugs on you, including cocaine, everything is expensive… etc. Will see. Also the river boat and the two mermaids, because if you don’t know it, there are 2 now, one of which is genetically modified. And I ain’t joking…

And tomorrow I’ll pop over to Sweden. Up to now by the way, yes, I’ve been loving the place, despite my cynical comedy above. The cycling is crazy, so many of them. Looks great, but I don’t think I’ll be renting a bike or using one of those free ones, unless I don’t go to Malmo tomorrow. Skal!