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To be or not to be, in Denmark
posted Friday, 6 June 2008
Kronborg Castle, Helsingör, Denmark
So as we boarded the ferry in Helsingborg yesterday, my step-mother-in-law suddenly remembered that June 5th was a national holiday in Denmark and most businesses would be closed…including liquor stores. ACK! Calm was restored following an emergency booze purchase on the boat’s duty-free shop.
Once in Denmark my father-in-law was eager to demonstrate the GPS system we’d gotten him for his birthday, but he had trouble getting the geo-positioning settings switched over from Sweden, and it didn’t help that he was trying to do it while driving. Fortunately Dr. Darling stepped in before he steered us into the sea and got the Danish maps loaded.
Of course Ola wanted to demonstrate all of his new toy’s features, so the audible driving directions were activated. I soon learned that the only thing more annoying than listening to an automated GPS voice when you’re not driving is listening to one that speaks Swedish better than you do.
Our ‘holiday house’ at Lalandia is actually very nice, but the waterpark…which is supposedly the area’s main attraction…was nothing special and even prompted the Swede to ask, ‘Is this it?’ I then reminded Dr. D of the recent survey that showed Danes to be the happiest population in the world, due in large part to them having very low expectations. And suddenly the hype surrounding Lalandia made perfect sense.
Once in Denmark my father-in-law was eager to demonstrate the GPS system we’d gotten him for his birthday, but he had trouble getting the geo-positioning settings switched over from Sweden, and it didn’t help that he was trying to do it while driving. Fortunately Dr. Darling stepped in before he steered us into the sea and got the Danish maps loaded.
Of course Ola wanted to demonstrate all of his new toy’s features, so the audible driving directions were activated. I soon learned that the only thing more annoying than listening to an automated GPS voice when you’re not driving is listening to one that speaks Swedish better than you do.
Our ‘holiday house’ at Lalandia is actually very nice, but the waterpark…which is supposedly the area’s main attraction…was nothing special and even prompted the Swede to ask, ‘Is this it?’ I then reminded Dr. D of the recent survey that showed Danes to be the happiest population in the world, due in large part to them having very low expectations. And suddenly the hype surrounding Lalandia made perfect sense.
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1. Joseph A Nagy Jr left...
Saturday, 7 June 2008 1:11 am :: http://www.ameliorations.us
Interesting post, I especially liked that last bit about low expectations.
Very witty.
2. Shazzer left...
Wednesday, 11 June 2008 10:49 am :: http://shazzerspeak.blog-city.com/
Thanks Joseph! I got lots of e-mail from friends and family about the
study that listed Danes at the top of the "happiness index", and it just
seemed like a good fit for my experience at Lalandia. I meant to track it
down online and link it from the post, but I keep getting distracted by
things like work and the European Cup! Cheers! --Shazz