whats the idea?

A four month break…

2011-09-08T22:50:00.001+02:00

I can’t stand on myfoot. Every time I do, pain shoots up from my ankle. Its September 2010 and Ihave decided to go for my first Wednesday evo run session. Something that Ihave been putting off for a couple of months. The reason, as much as I lovecycling…well let’s just say that running has never been my thing.

But here I am ready forthe run, yawning as I always do when I am nervous about doing sports. I havedecided to start with the beginners, although one of the ladies in that grouplooks at me and ask me that I surely must be in the wrong group.

We start I stick to theback don’t want to be showing off. (I know I can’t keep it up). So there I am trottingalong, thinking this is a bit slow, I guess I am all right… and whack my footgoes into a hole and all my weight on the ankle. I blow out, it hurts. I amcursing myself for being stupid and not focusing on what I am doing.

It hurts but I tryrunning on. I catch up with the group, we start running up the hill towards thecastle, the pain is still there but maybe I can run it off.

We do sprints and runaround the block a couple of times. And then we stop and start stretching.After the stretching we wait I while till everybody finishes. And then we setoff…and that’s when I stop, I can’t run, I can’t even stand on my foot.

I come home, do RICEwhich I know from my first help courses. The next day I go to the GP. She tellsme to rest it. I do for 2 weeks at which point I do the palace to palace ride. Ido the 70 km off biking. My ankle still hurts and a week after the ride, myknee starts hurting when I bike. Its back to the GP who tells me that I haveprobably over compensated on the ride and my knee has taken the brunt. Shetells me to rest further. After a month with no change I go back and tell herwhat now. I tell her I have private healthcare. She lights up and says, “Whydidn’t you tell me straight away”.

So in short I have beendragging my foot along for a month, to the detriment of my knee . And NOW shetells me I should go see an expert? Hurra for the NHS.

I see the expert, hesends me off to Windsor Physiotherapists and Jiallil becomes my new bestfriend, task master and healer. We work hard, I follow his advice. I run on thegrass, I do the home training. I get the wonderful ultrasound.

When we hit February Iam back to training again.

First taste of the TT

2011-07-19T00:09:00.000+02:00

It’s a Friday afternoon and I have done my commute back and forth to work. I didn't go too fast, let the legs spinning around. Why?

I've decided to join the Friday TT. I turn up at the meeting point, nervous anxious. Am I going to make a fool of myself, are they friendly? Will I run out of energy?

I am greeting by a guy I recognise as Hank. Luckily I recognise him from the Facebook page. It's a big friendly smiling hello. Are you new? Great that you showed up. Welcome to the club. Big handshake.

I relax; the shoulders come down feeling welcomed. Kevin, the guy I recognise from the club website as the founder, bestows upon me two nick names, the man in black and the milk tray man.

Now the man in black, that one I understand, seeing that apart from my red helmet and shoes, I am riding a bike and wearing a shirt short combination that a mortician would be proud of. But not being from the UK I have no idea who the milk tray man is? Have I just been insulted? I smile and laugh...best defence really.

Not knowing the route of the TT and not being able to do a conversion of kilometres and hour speed into miles, I'm too nervous; I get paired with an older gentleman. He too is very friendly.

We set off. I ride behind him, enjoying being out of the wind and following the pace quite nicely. After the initial 10 km we hit a road that I ride every day to work. I feel confident. I know where I am going. And in a moment of beginner’s cockiness I first ask the older gentleman if it is ok that I ride on ahead of him. He smiles and I set off, charging forward.

I hit the first hill, I'm into it, breathing is heavy but I am enjoying that speed.

I'm so focused that I get a shock when that dump thumping noise comes up again. One of the other EVO rides flies by, flat disc wheel and everything. I mutter cheater to myself, and try to keep up. He dumps me in the next km. I hit a hill that at this moment feels like the Galibier. Ok not really, but I can feel I haven't dosed my ride right and I am running out of energy. I see a slower rider ahead and aim for her. I pass her just as we hit the crest. But it feels like my left lunge is coming out. I take a sip of the bottle and nearly choke on the water. Rooky mistake I think and laugh at myself.

But hey that was the last real hill. The rest is downhill in towards Windsor. My speed picks up and I go faster and faster. It’s like flying. I hit the 55 km an hour coming down the hill and start getting nervous, but push on, enjoying the momentum from the hill.

I almost fall off my bike when another biker comes by me, thumping sound again. We hit Windsor and I try to hang on to him. He is just too fast. But hey there is the finish line.

I stop, sweat pouring down and catch my breath. A short time after the old gentleman that I started off with comes in. He asks for my time. I tell him. He then looks at me and says;"Naaahhh don't worry If I hadn't kept you up in the beginning you would have gone faster". I am not sure, but the endorphins are almost making my head spin.

This is definitely not my last TT.

Oh yeah...milk tray man...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM4DMe25CvQ&feature=related....not too bad ehhh....

Black and Red

2011-07-05T22:37:00.000+02:00

Pedals going round, tarmac flying bye…well, flying is being generous. Rolling would be more apt.

I want to go faster, I should be going faster. Legs are getting tired, but I want the wind to whistle past my ear. I’m running out of breath. This has been my way to work for over 2 years. But I’m not progressing, I realise, I’ve hit a plateau.

I bury my head below my shoulders trying to get more aero, emulating the pro’s, my idols on the bike. But I’m going as fast as I can.

Red and black flash bye, three or four riders, I hear the wizz of the the cycle chains, the dump repeated thumping from the aero wheel. I manage to sprint after them. I catch up as they have to turn on to a main road. I stick to the tail of the pack of four, now speeding along at 40 km an hour. I hang on to the train, hiding from the wall of wind behind the four riders ahead of me. I last for 3 km and then I turn off on a side road, with a big smile on my lips.

I have just met 4 from the EVO crew.

The best danish article ever

2010-02-16T19:31:00.002+01:00

Hey

Well for those of you who do not read danish. Bad news...this article is in danish. I would wish however that it was translated as the interview of Carsten Jensen is a gem.

For those of you that can read it, please stop reading this and switch to the article...

I agree completely with mr. Jensen and his analysis of Denmark. It is sharp and holistic...so again stop reading this and go to http://politiken.dk/kultur/boger/interview_boger/article901594.ece

The Reign of Terror

2009-12-04T23:06:00.003+01:00

Ahhh the bankers of the City, London. Like the English aristocrats of their forefathers they watch in bewilderment, when the French propose to change the status qou. They shiver in fear and ask themselves what the frogs are up to now.
If it comes from the country of Robespierre it must be gory, barbaric and headless...

Sarkozy stated on Monday "That the appointment of the Frenchman Michel Barnier as the EU's new internal markets commissioner would rein in the "free-wheeling Anglo-Saxon model" of banking. Tuesday morning the bankers were livid. How could he say such a thing? London was regulating. The EU had overstepped its mandate.
It has gotten so bad that Gordon Brown has forced Sarkozy to cancel a visit to the city as Brown refused to meet him.
The reign of terror has truly begun...The French are taking over. The conservatives are pointing to the statement as a testament of Gordons week position in Europe.

One banker on Radio 4 BBC stated that the City of London was no business of Europe as financial markets were shaped by their local culture and should therefore be protected from a super national state. Its the first time that I hear an English banker fight for the sanctity of his culture, normally only too happy to sell to the highest bidder, be they Saudi, Russian or heaven help us French...In the words of Russell Crowe in Master and Commander do you want to see the Guillotine in Piccadilly square! NO!
Then on Thursday Royal Bank of Scotland bosses said they would quit if they were not allowed to pay bonuses to their bankers… No one has yet to make the connection…

Yes we have to be carefull about the EU, but are they joking. Local culture, maybe, global recession yes please… Why would you want to regulate, I mean look at the UK its going great…oh we have the worst deficit of the G20…hmmm I wonder why that might be?
I don’t agree with P. Sarko that the French are the guardians of economic policy, but rethinking how things are done in the City is something that I can certainly subscribe to.
Have we forgotten where we were a year ago or are we going to do something to prevent it happening again (yeah right).

On Maximilien the brits were right, but I am not so sure that they have gotten it right on P. Sarko

The Fall of the English Empire

2009-06-08T21:22:00.001+02:00

On the same weekend that we have had the celebrations for the 65th anniversary for the D Day landing and the European parliamentary elections.
Approaching this weekend the English media has been reporting about the events leading to D Day and the army campaign that followed until the final capitulation of the Nazi forces in Berlin. Parallel to this BBC had a short report about the rise of the extreme right, especially in eastern Europe and Germany. There was however no reports about the rise of extreme right views in the UK. It seems that the media and the established political parties have judged the silent treatment as the best prevention against among others the British National Party.
This treatment seems to failed dramatically with the resent election of 2 BNP representatives to the European Parliament. The BNP is a party that does not allow other ethnicities then Caucasian whites as members and that regards mixed ethnic relationships reason for exclusion of their party.
I can’t help but think that we are missing the historical perspective. Which is sad, especially on the anniversary of “the beginning to end” of a regime that was built on the book Mein Kampf. A book that the founder of the BNP John Tyndall referred to as “his bible”.
The UK today has many things in common with 1930’s Germany.
We have a population that has lost all belief in its parliamentary system. The recent Expenses Scandal was in my view the straw (a log is maybe more appropriate) that broke the back. The voters in the UK a disenfranchised with their politicians. The first past the post system in the UK causes the smaller parties in the UK not to be represented in the parliament and the only three voices we hear are Labour, The Tories and the Liberal democrats. The people elected seem to be from an upper class an very much out of touch with the general population.
Secondly there is a Labour government who had promised so much and delivered so little. I think its safe to say that when Tony Blair was elected people expected that things would change. That this was new Labour and new politics. That the NHS should become one of the best in the world and that the education system was going to recover from years of Tory government. This was hoped would raise the living standards of the average UK resident. In this the labour government seems to have failed. And with the credit crunch this has only become only more evident.
The voters that wanted change and expected it from Labour have been disappointed and their disappointment has turned them against Europe and worse turned some of them to vote for parties that are un-repentantly racists. As in Germany the hardest hit by the crisis start looking elsewhere for their solutions.
So how does Gordon get out of this?
As I wrote the now former minister for Europe Caroline Flint, as I see it there is only one solution.
Gordon needs to make reforming the English electoral system a priority. In this way he will be taking the first steps in creating a clear and visible change, one that a large part of the population has been wanting for a while and that would give a voice to those who haven’t been heard for a long time.
But wont this give BNP the same kind of speaking space that Hitler got from the Reichstag? Probably yes. But facisme and bigotry is not silenced by silence. Facisme and bigotry are conquered by the very fundamentals of our democracy, namely dialogue and well formed arguments.
I fear that a failure to address these issues will cause that a country that once prided itself of its freedoms to be known in the future for being represented by the BNP.

Revival for newspapers?

2009-05-15T15:37:00.003+02:00

Just a short input today.
What do you think about banning paper advertising, the kind that would get in your mailbox and that you basicly throw out immediately? What if free news papers had to pay a fee for littering?
The obvious winners in this would be news papers that you have to pay for, which today are in a sorry state. Newspapers are the foundation of journalisme and yes they may have to move into a more digitised era, but I still enjoy picking up a low tech newspaper once and a while reading it on the plane or on the go, run into subjects that I would never otherwise have heard about and make nice paper hats.

The other winner would be the ressources saved on these wasteful pamflets that fill up our mailboxes.

Would the ban on pamphlets screw small businesses or would it help make local news media grow. (Imagine your own little neighborhood paper or website)

What do you think?

So what happens to you when you are dead...

2009-02-25T13:43:00.004+01:00

It seems that these last weeks have been about religion belief and god. I talked to a couple of colleagues at work about this. One a believer, the other an ex-believer now militant atheist. Along this I read the excellent book by Gitta Sereny "Into That Darkness, From Mercy Killings to Mass Murder", about the governor of Treblinka extermination camp Franz Strandl. In this book Sereny also highlights some of the Vatican questionable actions.
As most of you will know I am most definitely an atheist, but that doesn’t mean that I don't try to understand religions or peoples need for answers or meaning in life.
On of the questions that I ask my self is what do you say to a person who has just lost a loved one? How do you justify it? How do you make them feel better? A lot of religions create a (I think false, but that’s my opinion) security for people, by stating that people are going to a better place and that you will see them again.
But what does one say from an atheist point of view, how do you create comfort without relying on better places, harps and so on?

I would love to hear your opinion. Here is mine:
The person that has just left you lives on in you and other people. Their influences, their actions, their words remain in the mind of the people that met with them.
Personally I try to listen to the learning and experiences of the people who are around me, both those who are alive and those who sadly has passed away. The one at the foremost of my mind when it comes to people who have since passed on is my maternal grandfather who died when I was 10.
His humble upbringing on a farm in Alsace, his experiences in the second WW, and his fight from under educated young man to sales director of the company he worked with most of his life, his generosity when it came to his grandchildren, his rather stubborn view on my mother’s upbringing. All this are both lessons that I should remember where I came from, that my family have been refugees (although for a short time), that there a good and bad ways to treat your children and etc.
In short that just the influence of him, of course one can argue that I pick and choose. But the fact remains that he inspires me and other people that he met. That some of the lessons he taught me, are in re-interpreted in my actions and therefore transmitted to others. He lives on in my actions.
So if you have recently lost someone, please take comfort in the fact that for some people the person you have just lost, meant something to them, taught them something. Even young children who tragically lose their life before it has even begun. Realise that, that child even in its short life time, probably inspired others to cherish their children even more, then before they passed on.
So what this mean to me? Well it means that I try to help the people that I come in contact with. That I make sure to smile as much as I can, all because I know that all that will remain of me when I go one day, is the memories of those moments.

P.S. Thank you Paolo Conte who always inspires and supplies the perfect music to write the above...

Europe must stand together....

2008-09-13T18:13:00.002+02:00

Again my good american friends Dea and Masca have sent me an article from the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/13/opinion/13sat2.html?th&emc=th

And this my answer:

Yes absolutely true. But European unity is more likely then American authority. (Yes of course it had to rime)
I think this is a bit of short term thinking. Russians do have the power right now because of their resources, but in the long term this is another gain for the alternative energy block. Just as in the 70's when the oil producing countries kept putting prices up, the Europeans will put even more resources into becoming even more independent from Oil. This is some of the explanation that we are not as much in the shit right now as the US.

I love it when American media writes about how Europe must stand together. For the last 8 years yes Europe has shown weaknesses in the union, but they have also shown that they unlike the Bush administration try to play by the rule book.
I think it is fair to say that the state of democracy is in far better shape on the east side of the Atlantic, then in its modern day birth-place. Democracy is not easy as good old Churchill all made us aware of, and it does allow for criticism and divergent opinions.
My answer to this article, yes Europe has to stand together and find a way to negotiate with Russia (instead of heading over the Bering straight and going to war with them (right Mrs. Palin?)). In the meanwhile if America could sweep up the pieces of glass and fix the window that they smashed when they through out the rulebook on sovereign states and your right to invade them, us Europeans will take care of our business.

Please leave a comment - But mostly about Al Gore

2008-08-05T16:31:00.002+02:00

So is this going to be Jan's contribution to a discussion on global warming...
Well I will have to disappoint and say no, not today, I haven't even seen an inconvenient truth (my mistake I know).
No what I want to launch on this page is the speculations on who Obama is going to choose as his potential Vice-president. Why do you ask? Well the other day I was watching Al Gore do a speech on the environment. Except it didn't sound like his usual ranting about the environment (admirable as it may be), this time he was launching a vision on how he thought the United States could pull itself out of the energy crisis. It involved a whole host of renewable solutions that especially my friends at Vestas will enjoy.
While watching this it hit me...Al Gore as Vice President? Before you say that this is ludicrous, let me present my points why...and then I'll shoot myself down afterwards...
Gore has the experience that Obama doesn’t.
Gore was the guy who actually won the presidency, but lost in court. A lot of Americans that I talk to find this incredibly shameful and may give Al some additional votes. (I can pretty much guarantee you that the districts that got cheated in Florida will turn up…)
Gore is from the south. Yes he did lose his own state in the elections, but I don’t see that many other Southern candidates. ( I think Edwards is too young and I think Richardson is too Mexican).
A lot of American’s miss Bill and when they can’t have his wife, maybe his VP will suffice…

So what is countering my arguments? I talked it over with my friends Caroline and Gene who are what I would call my Washington insiders (don’t know if they would agree).
They argued that being VP is too restrictive for Al and that he will rather be an envoy instead of be the head of a global organisation. Gene and Caroline have met Al, so they know him a lot better than I do, but what if Obama actually did the same as Bush did (oh my good please no…I can hear you thinking, but bear with me)?
So what the ape boy do that we can use. Well he has (or was forced to, I think more likely) let the Vice president have an influential role in his administration.
No one can deny that Dick has been among the most powerful VP’s in the history of the presidency.
Could Obama do the same? I mean the mess that the future American president face is daunting and extra experienced hands may be a good thing to have.

So what do you think Al as Obama’s pal…

P.S. Elke’s friend Reinhard told me that people who I know were actually reading my blog. I had no idea. Actually I have no idea who visits my site. So if you enjoy it and come by often or just once, please leave a little note as it motivates me a lot…

Deteriation of the European Middle Class?

2008-05-01T23:43:00.005+02:00

I recently read an article that I got from a friend in the US (thank you Masca).

This is my response to it:

Well I guess that the simplistic answer would be thank you America…

So what do I think?

Well I think we are dealing with several factors.

1. All of the countries described in the article are countries that have failed to create a flexible and a higher educated workforce. If you look at what happened in the grandparents generation, most of that generation gained access to education and new work possibilities. And then the governments thought they had solved the problem, until former third world countries (read southeast asia) caught up with the level of education. On top of that those countries aren’t bogged down by rules such as the 35 hour work week and the impossibility of firing people (France and Germany). These factors have created none flexible workforces who are forced to stay in jobs that are disappearing or that they are not productive in (read they are bored…) My personal opinion is that Germany would have dealt with it had they not had to integrate Eastern Germany and carry the burden of the European union on their shoulders. In Frances case, it’s a blend of belief that they have the right system (some would call it arrogance) and that the top of the country really don’t give a shit. The Italian leaders? They really think that Italy can survive on selling the Italian way of life. And of they don’t give a katso either . I don’t know about Spain, but I think they are suffering because ironically their economy has now gotten so strong that the wages in Spain have gone up so they are losing their status of being the low cost production site of Europe. In short all of these countries need to relax labor laws, while at the same time providing social security and free education (yes the bill is steep). Or just wait it out till Chinese wages catch up with European one (which will take much shorter time then you think).

2. People have gotten used to other standards, the middle class now has 2 cars? (see article) What happened to people pilling on the bus, or driving your spouse to work and so on. Beyond this there is all the other stuff a normal family should have, television in every room, each child there own room and so fourth. Yes cost of fuel has gone up, but that’s because demand has gone up. Cost of food, is now, thanks to bio diesel, linked to fuel cost, which leads us back to the two cars. Second generation bio diesel is still far away, so I guess we will have to do it the Brazilian way and rely on the sugar (which is making all of us fat any way (which again raises fuel costs), so lets BURN it.

3. Thankfully people are generally eating better, more diverse and they want to eat things out of season, strawberries in January? This also increases the costs.

But yes going into Iraq has basicly hit the whole western world, so thank you George and please do sprint to the finish. I’ll give you a prize if you quit before July….

Where are the issues?

2008-03-30T21:15:00.003+02:00

One of my rituals when I take a plane is going to the news stand and pick up Newsweek and if I'm in for a long flight the Economist. On my latest flight I dug into a Newsweek report on the Obama - Hillary battle that included a ten page collection of articles written by women on who they supported and why. It was interesting reading, some of the accounts being very personal tales of overcoming the same obstacles that both candidates have faced on their way to the forefront of the democrat party elections. When I finished reading I sat back and realised that not one of the articles had mentioned what the political programs of either of the candidates were. It was all about race, sex and experience. I started looking at other reports from the campaign and the trend was the same.
So why does this trouble me?
I understand that this election represents a breakthrough in womens possibilities as states"men" and that a minority candidate generates hope for the many in the minority communities. But I think that this categorisation of people and being for an against them because of their sex or race is at the heart of the problem.
The fixation on who the people are, instead of what their policies will be, reduces the electoral process to the election of caricatures.
If anybody thinks that this is a very American tendency, I can tell you that having followed the preseidential elections in Paris the trend was much the same between mr. Sarkozy and mme. Royale.
I wonder why journalists are satisfied to reduce their articles and stories to these caricatures. Is it easier to write about, are we the public so none discriminative or is it because the politicians have so little to say these days, that the only meat on the story are these caricatures?

THIS COUNTRY IS THE MOST DISFUNCTIONAL PLACE I HAVE EVER LIVED IN

2008-02-22T18:22:00.003+01:00

Sorry for this rather angry title, but this is how I feel right now. I've recently moved to the UK and I have to say I am less then impressed. NOTHING works here, businesses cheat you, public transport is a joke, everything takes for ever and if anything needs to get done you have to be the biggest asshole around. Not my idea of a great place.
If you need examples: It took BT 1 and half month to activate a telephone line, something that they charge 120 pounds to do, it has taken our stupid landlord the same time to give us a key that he promised (actually we still haven't recieved it), it cost me 1/3 of a ticket to Copenhagen, to take the crap trains that are always late from Reading to London. It takes the bus 1 hour to go 15 km in the morning. Roads are clogged after 7.30 in the morning. The building quality is a joke, with the wind coming through the windows like they were open, and isolation is about as good as it would be in a shanty town in Johannesburg. JESUS, please give me one thing that works in this symbol of capitalism...
I need it now....cause I really am a positive person....

The idea...that has turned into a lie...

2007-10-01T19:39:00.000+02:00

Well those of you who know me personally will know that I'm pretty blunt especially on my view of the countries where I have lived. I guess having lived in different countries has given me an opportunity to take a look from the inside and the outside.

One of the things that I have found that the three countries I have lived in have in common, is that all three of them are controled are influenced by a great lie about themselves.

Don't be mistaken it's not the same lie. The three countries, the USA, France and Denmark all have their own lie.

The lies interest me because they seem to permiatel the mainstream media, politicians and the population. I'm not sure in what direction that the three influence each other (as in most models the arrows probably have two arrowhead and all point to each other...), but I sit and watch the news, I hear the politicians and "common" man speak, and they all seem to believe in this lie or at least they are refrain from talking about

it.

What interest me about the lie is that when I think of the lie of the countries is that if they faced them I feel that they would be much better of if they faced them and accepted them as fact.

I will be honest, I hope that you will help me develop, by discussing and challenging my view on these lies.

I hope to have presented my views on the three countries I have lived in, before I move to yet another country (the United Kingdom) at the end of november...

Time to get back to the blog

2007-09-17T23:51:00.000+02:00

Well the thesis is handed in and now there are no longer any excuses to not write. So again I hope in the next weeks to start making this blog live again...
To be continued

I'm an atheist

2007-06-11T00:01:00.000+02:00

I am an atheist. I have been since the day when I was 5 and I asked my mother who Cain and Abel married? If it was thier sister that would probably explain some of the more insane people in this world. Bref...What has always haunted me about religion is the fact that most of them boil down to a unquestionable truth. This means that relgions perpetuate the notion that some things are not be asked about, cause they simply are. The lack of ability or legitimacy to ask questions about certain things has left it's horrible mark far beyond the church door or the philosophical excistential discussion. Unquestionability has led to such terrors as the Nazi regime, Culutral Revolution in China, Slavery and just halting the forward progress of humanity in general be it in science, philiosphy or worst of all free thought.I try to the best of my ability to not opress my opinions on others, however I never shy away from a discussion about religion, discussion is not opression, questioning is not opression, telling me that you will pray for my salvation is. (Save your prayers for someone else, they won't do me any good)To those that say that relgion is needed to create the basis for our society I can only say that many of the ten commandments are very much based in logic. Do not kill thy neighbor, if everybody did this no wars and hey nobody really wants to die unless...you are thinking of something that might come after death...I don't ask you to change you views because of my arguement, I only ask you to do the hardest of things, to question the very foundation on which you are raised and what you believe in. I ask myself and others for an argument that explains the existance of god. I have still to hear one that holds water and dosen't build on an unquestionable thruth.

I wrote this comment on the www.ted.com site. I encourage you to visit it as it is absolutely amazing. The comment I wrote was in the comments section to a speach by Richard Dawkins that I can only say you should see, believer or non-believer http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/113. I would love to have a comment about this if you feel like giving me a piece of your mind...thanks

Leaving it to the politicians...

2007-01-30T23:19:00.000+01:00

Politicians are corrupt. Nobody believes in the political system. Democracy has failed. I even read on a blog a question raised on if France shouldn't go back to a monarchy. There are alot of discussions that can be raised on just those statements, but there is one element that strikes me in all of them. And that is the lack of responsibilty of the electorate.

One of the things that I most often hear here in France and it is a sentiment that I share, is how inbreed the political system seems to be. This of course has to do with that most of them went to the same schools and have been in the system for a very long time and well that not's healthy, but thats not my point.

My point is how much the population accepts this and although they complain about it, they accept it. Before anybody tells me that I'm overly critical of the french, let me say that the french are not alone at this.

It seems to me that the general electorate has forgotten their responsibility of not only voting, but participating in the everyday debat of politics and seeking an interest in the world that surrounds them.

I often hear that low particpation is the fault of visionless politicians and that the electorate has gotten bored and disenchanted with politics.

Although politicians and a corrupt system can seem to hamper a democratic process in the end the blame falls on the people. When politicians do not live up the expectations you elect new ones. And when the current politicans in France seem to continously mis-use the system it time to elect people who are not a part of this caste of upper french society and it's time to get rid of proffesional politicians.

This process is not a game show where people should win because they smile the right way, because they have the right sex, but because they want to do something.

People need to understand that power dosen't belong to the people, it belongs to the people that show up...So show up and start speaking...

In the famous words of Edmund Burke:

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing".

I have a boss...

2007-01-09T00:18:00.000+01:00

...and if you like to get a different view on things (and you read French) you should go to his site http://www.charlesgancel.com/ .
I just spent a couple of days with him in Saudi Arabia and they were spent wondering where all the women were, were we could have a night cap and discussing just about everything. We went over the upcoming presidential elections, the differences in immigration policies of Denmark and France, our first loves and which books that have meant something to us in our lives. Returning home and having visited his site; I realized how much I had missed writing my blog. As he says in his blog, writing a blog encourages you to follow the news, think of what is happening around you and the thing that is most interesting to me the sharing of views and opinion.

I'll try in the future to give my view on global/local political events, not too prove that they are right, but to encourage you my dear reader to help me develop my thoughts by letting them reflect in yours.

I hope you will follow in the future...

Happy New Year

Sunday evening in Paris

2006-11-08T19:51:00.000+01:00

I took this at place de la Concorde...more will follow on my adventures in Paris. It's almost winter and 6 o'clock...I love my new city...

I wish...

2006-06-14T00:55:00.000+02:00

I wish you could sit on my bike with me, that you could see the last rays of the scandinavian summer sun, the Copenhagen lakes that we pass over the bridge, that I could feel you shake from the cold of the breeze, that I can sense the warmth of your neck, I wish you could hear Paulo Conte sing to the night sky, that you could smell sweet scent of the summer flowers blossoming, I wish you could see me smiling when I imagin all this...

(Picture will follow if the weather allows it tomorrow)

Being cultural

2006-04-21T11:56:00.000+02:00

Well I have finally booked the music for the wedding...which still has no date and more importantly dosen't have a bride...
But before you take me for a complete gay wedding planner I should probably start from the Beginning. On the 4th of april my good friend PJ told me that his friend Jeroen was coming to Denmark and since my parents had left me the car I told him that I could go get him at the airport. So on the 5th PJ, Jeroen and I sat at my favorite cafe in Copenhagen (Europa, mainly cause they have the best coffe, best service and Le Monde) and Jeroen offered me to go to a concert that was being held by some friends of his. Turns out that his friends in the Belcea Quartet not only is an amazing string quartet, but they were also opening the classical music season at Tivoli's concert hal, which is a one of the mayor venues in Copenhagen. So we went to the concert where they played Hayden (who is always a bit sleepy for me), Britten who I had never heard before but which I loved and Mozart who is always a favorite. After the concert we went to the backstage and met them. They were all really hungry and since all the restaurants had closed in Tivoli, I proposed that we go to the Thai Restaurant that I work in. I called and they kept the kitchen op for 30 min. more then usual. I have never seen people so happy to eat a proper meal. Afterwards PJ, Jeroen, Corinna Belcea, a friend of Corinnas and I went out for drinks. After having been the butler for them Corinna told me that they didn't know how to thank me so I told them that they could play at my wedding if I ever found a women crazy enough to marry me. So she agreed to play, so well thats one thing out of the way...
Check out the Belcea Quartet should you have the possibility http://www.amcmusic.com/eng/artisti_scheda.php?aId=11... but you will probably see them at my wedding too...

Thank you Vienna

2006-03-16T11:46:00.000+01:00

Morten invited me to the CEMS alumni board meeting in Vienna, so I had no other choice then to say yes. The prolonged weekend was a blast, probably one of the best weekends of my life. Every day was a new experience and Vienna is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. So after a weekend of ballroom danceing, some serious coffee and cocktail drinking, beautiful cars and even more beautiful women. I want to thank my austrian crew for making this weekend amazing. Special thanks to Stefan and Sandra for letting me stay in their appartment (and finally getting some sleep) and to Hannes and shopping fairy Asia for letting me snore in Hannes sisters bed (IT WAS WITHOUT THE SISITER IN IT!!!). To end on a cliché I will say "I'll be back!!!"

Thank you 2005, now for something completly different

2006-01-04T15:39:00.000+01:00

So it's january 4th, I have recovered from what was a fantastic New Years eve and now just a little note about 2005. When I look back 2005 has been a year of friendship. I have had the pleasure of meeting alot of new people, re-discover or rather encounter alot of old friends and spend even more time with friends that are a part of my life everyday be it face to face or on msn, skype or mails. Among the highlights have been winterbathing with mr. Morten (picture is from 30th December 2005), skiing with Stephan and Sandra in Austria (thank you for bringing the non german speaking frenchy with you and your family), meeting with the HK people for Ellens birthday, re-seeing my old friend Corum at his wedding with Kristin in New York once again thank you so much for iniviting me it was magical, going to the beach with Kanva, Soeren and the whole extended libary family, meeting the new CEMS people in CBS thanks especially to Nick, Pam and Alle for bringing me along to experience things with you, and a special thanks to Tammy for flying up from Rotterdam for my birthday (I'm still in awe), thanks also to the whole crew in Bergen and especially to my fellow trouble makers and late stayers in Bergen Aki, Kasper (where are those lesbian waiters when you need one) and to Stine my personal guide in Bergen. Also it was great to see people in Warsaw man I love the whole CEMS thing, and finally to the already mentioned NY party with the boys, Ane and Kanva (who actually shouldn't be mentioned besides the boys) and their friends for a great time...
So I hope to see you all in 2006 again and that it brings us all more friends, love and hapiness.

Thanks everybody for being there for me... Jan

Smiles from above

2005-12-29T01:48:00.000+01:00

They fall from the sky smiling. They dance in the light, making what is invisible reality. They kiss my cheeks with wet cold kisses, but I can’t help smiling. They are childish and bring an innocence and playfulness to a world that lacks both.
If they are lucky the ground is cold when they lay down and they linger for a little longer covering the ground in a soft blanket.
Snow is childish and powerful in the most happy way one could imagine. It makes streets into playgrounds and hills into slides. It provides a free toy for building bearded men and invisible angels. It becomes a weapon in a war where no one is killed and where laughter is heard.
I love snow it makes everything quiet it makes the everyday magical.
I love snow…

My first short story.

2005-12-13T03:06:00.000+01:00

Berlin : 1935

It’s in the eyes of the people that you see it. They stare, they flicker and they look away. They are always on alert; they go from face to face without ever looking into the eyes looking back. I do it; they do it, always looking for a threat always feeling the danger. Whenever you move in public people are looking over there shoulders, you can feel it, the questions. Where is he from? Why is he dark? Is he a threat? What do his parents do? Why is he here?

The insecurity and the stigmatisation has been growing these last couple of years. In the beginning with sporadically violence, then more and more, until it became legitimate. Using fear as a horse pulling their cart, The Party began to rise.

In the beginning no one paid attention to them, The Party. They were seen as a joke, as a minority, people that couldn’t be taken seriously. Their members where the kind that would hang out in places where smoke hung from the ceiling, where beer was served and traditional out of date music played. They would be the kind that when you met them, you would ignore them, smile and say that they were crazy.
But slowly people started listening to them. “The country is in danger”, “the national culture is being destroyed”, “this foreign religion is taking over the world”, ”one day the country as we know it will cease to exist”. People started listening to them, the newspapers started bringing stories on how crime was rising and The Party responded. They had the answer. The problem was the people that were different. It was the this group that caused the corruption of society, the degeneration of the nations values and that was the threat to Christian faith.
The leaders of the country started to get scared of their power and started to agree with them, started stating that we should be put in special camps away from everything. The Party only grew stronger, became only more popular.
The Party claimed that it represented the common people, that they were the voice against the elite, that their movement was democratic, that they were the only true defenders of the nation and of our country’s culture. One day the Party was elected to parliament and after the following election The Party controlled that government and now had the final say.

I could have cared less, but one day the Party put me on a list saying I was different, that I was not like the others. I have lived here almost all my life, suddenly I was different, I was a threat?
The party has written that we on the list are a cancer, that we are too many, that the insecurity is our fault, that we are the biggest threat to their way of life, that we will take everything.
They won’t let some of us build buildings of worship and some of the most extreme members of “their” society, destroy cemeteries. Although the action is condemned, the feeling of hate continues to rise. They redicule how some of us dress, our culture and our beliefs.
They say that our women are oppressed and that our men are incompetent and don’t do anything else then gather money and leach off the government.
So the government with the support of The Party targets our businesses, create special laws to keep us from bringing more of our kind to the country and the government decide were we should live.
The newspapers have started to bring caricatures of us and of the god that some of us worship. They do this under the protection of freedom of speech. It’s true they have that right and they should have it, but I’m not sure they understand the message that its sends throughout the community. Those who agree with the drawings hate us even more and those who are ridiculed feel even more marginalised, even more hated.
They claim that we don’t want to be a part of their society and that we seek to undermine it and take control of the democratic institutions and enrich ourselves.

The result is increased focus on us. Every time one of us commits a crime you hear about it in the media. When one of our leaders is caught in a scandal The Party uses it to spread more fear and more hate. So the insecurity grows. We fear them and they fear us.

The growing hate, the quivering insecurity, the focus on differences instead of what makes us the human race, is the blanket that covers the inability of the general population and its leaders to see history repeating itself.
It’s only ironic that in order to leave this reality behind me for a while, I travel to the city where what we are ignoring and forgetting met its end for the first time. Hopefully people will wake up before the atrocities of yesterday, become the reality of today.

I better catch that flight to Berlin at 19.35.
Please leave a comment I want to make this better...

Man I"m getting pissed...

2005-12-12T22:32:00.000+01:00

Apparently now we have to defend democracy with religious means, what the hell is going on... Jürgen Habermas and our pope has gone out and written on how relgion can lead us back to finding the right values, I don't think that relgion is the answer but I do agree that we need to come back to some better values. So what makes me lose my cap, well when they start to say that religion can be the answer to defending democracy...
Why is the political trend moving towards the further integration of religion and goverment. We have a reborn christian in the whitehouse, we have a european constitution where people start contemplating including a phrase of how the EU is based on christian values and an ungoing discusion that democracy is a christian invention that people of Islamic fate can't understand. WHY ARE WE MOVING BACKWARDS!!! If history shows anything its that when relgion and poilitics are mixed people tend to die. When we start defining goverment from a secular perspective, then we destroy the inclusive idea of democracy. In defining goverment within a specific religion, people who don't believe in god or who follow a different faith become marginalised, something that is completely against the fundementals of democracy. Can we please stop this bad cocktail of mixing religion and goverment. And can we please hear something about values of solidarity and values from other people then these religious or nationalistic groups who keep shouting so loud.

Its a gray, gray day

2005-11-25T16:05:00.000+01:00

Its been gray outside today, I can't remember it being so dark the whole day, but I guess this is Denmark so I shouldn't really be surprised...And then the first snow started falling, its not staying in the ground but the little snow flakes are trikeling down. Think I'm gonna put on my sailor coat fold up the collar around my ears and take a walk with a small cigar in my mouth.
Have a great weekend...

People keep asking me...

2005-11-14T02:00:00.000+01:00

What I think about everything thats going on in Paris. I normally answer that its impossible to say that the young people aren't integrated because they are doing everything the French way. In the 60 million Frenchmen can't be wrong the authors point out that the french society has been built on confrontation and that much of the social progress has been marked by violent revolutions. From the french revolutions in 1789 and in 1871. The student uprising in 1968, the days of insecurity during the crisis in Algeria. Not that I am for violence in any form, but its impossible to see the events that happend in France as anything other then a cry of desperation. When Sarkosie and the establishment in France states that everything has to come to order and then there will be a solution, i think of Antionettes famous words "If the people have no bread, let them eat cake."
I don't want to scare anybody but this is not just a french problem, I think the desperation in the face of a limited future goes beyond the french borders. I just hope we find a solution before it gets worse...

I wonder why???

2005-11-13T17:02:00.000+01:00

When I have been going through a tough patch emotionally, I seem to excuse myself to other people. That maybe I'm being foolish or that I'm causing them an inconvinence talking about my feelings. Its not their fault I have the good fortune to have friends that listen, listen and well listen. I don't know if its a dogma to feel bad about showing feelings. I just hope that when people talk to me that theye don't feel ashamed to show what is really inside. If you feel bad shouldn't you have the right to talk about it? Well I hope you do...

Saw and heard the most beautiful thing yesterday

2005-10-19T22:14:00.000+02:00

It was a square of people all singing togther in th rain. With the help of Bobby Mcfarrin they sang a mix of Bach and Ave Maria (I don't know who wrote it) I was touched by the magic of music and how it united people. I wonder if music is the key... But please if you want to treat yourself to something nice and positiv then go out and buy a Bobby McFarrin CD (I can recommend Hush, which was done with Yo Yo Ma). The guy is magical the way he uses his voice and the audience is amazing.
So go ahead put a smile on your face...http://www.bobbymcferrin.com/

Its great to find a quote that basicly says what I think

2005-10-05T15:29:00.000+02:00

"I have lived in the pursuit of a vision, both personal and social. Personal: to care for what is noble, for what is beautiful, for what is gentle; to allow moments of insight to give wisdom at more mundane times. Social: to see in imagination the society that is to be created, where individuals grow freely, and where hate and greed and envy die because there is nothing to nourish them. These things I believe, and the world, for all its horrors, has left me unshaken."
— Bertrand Russell, "Reflections on My Eightieth Birthday"

But kind of irretating that somebody thought of it first... :-)

2005-09-26T22:17:00.000+02:00

So I'm sitting here monday night after what has been an amazing week in so many ways. Like I already stated its been moving to have so many people think of me on my birthday making me feel really special. So following the birthday I have been listening to the new MEW album that I got as a present. I suspect that the neighbours will be knocking the door down soon asking me to turn it off, cause they now know it by heart...
Oh yes this weekend I discovered the wonderful game of squash...which is why my whole body hurts, but I now understand the passion for the game. I can think of nothing more stress relieving then hammering a ball into the wall... So thanks Morten, Søren and Kanva for kicking the shit out off me, it felt great. BTW if anybody has pictures from the party can you please send them??? Thanks

THANK YOU

2005-09-22T11:42:00.000+02:00

Thanks everybody, it has been a fantastik Birthday one of the best ones ever. I'm a bit hungover (no there will be no armlengths photo...(see below)). I have just been so happy to hear from everybody, to see the people I could and to have alot of fun last night(a picture will be posted when I have one...)
But again Big kisses to everybody and thank you...

Did we forget...

2005-09-11T17:18:00.000+02:00

I sometimes wonder what people will say in hindsight when they talk about the end of the nineties and the beginning of the new millennium. I wonder if they will see it as period of enlightenment or a necessary evil. I keep looking at the western culture that I guess I'm a part of, and that seems to be dictating what the world should look like or how it should be ruled. Don't take this an outright criticism of democracy, equal rights for everybody and women in particular, that I feel is essential in our society. But sometimes I wonder if with all this that we think is right and civilised, has led us to forget to know when we might be wrong. Have we stopped questioning ourselves or our way of life? When radical Muslims say that they are in a war towards the corruption that the western and the American (in particular) way of life represents. Maybe they hold some truth? I mean its probably not as bad as they portray it, but could some of it be right? Most criticism holds some kind of truth. I mean we have a loss of interest in our democratic processes. Most people agree that we have become more and more egoistic. Have we forgotten some of the fundamentals? Is it more important to work then to take care of your family. Could there be prestige in humanity instead of in titles? Sometimes when I look at the time I'm living in I wonder what we have contributed in terms of the development of the human thought, the human spirit. Are there other ways of living or thinking then we do. For generations before us great men and women have asked questions about our existence. Today asking questions seems dangerous (or dumb). I wonder if we've forgotten to doubt.

The worlds greatest armslength photographer

2005-08-26T10:43:00.000+02:00

Well alot of you have been asking for a picture of my new hairstyle...so I chosse the worst possible morning to do so. If you ever wonder what excessiv drinking and no sleep leads to here it is...
Hope you enjoy

You open up a page and...

2005-08-12T00:12:00.000+02:00

I was reading a magazine and open up a page and my jaw dropped. This is proabably one of the most beautiful cars I have ever seen in my life. I am absolutly in love with it. I wonder if it will be sold to someone who will like it as much as I do...well maybe I'll have money to buy it one day...
If I do I'll give you a ride...

I'm not sure I'm boasting or not...

2005-08-09T01:14:00.000+02:00

But I hope you can share in my joy... Yesterday I furfilled a dream I had since I was a kid. I took my bike (on the picture) and rode to my grandma's house. It was an absolutly beautiful day, blue skies with fleeting clouds and Denmark or rather zealand in a way I have never seen it before. I passed little farmhouses, black and white cows, big old estates and these little churches that they have in the countryside. And so I arrived 5 hours later, my legs hurting from about 120 km. but with a smile on my face to my second home in Denmark. I have never been so happy to drive down that coast road and see the sea and all the little houses I know so well...

2005-08-05T13:47:00.000+02:00

Yeah well the big ideas and thoughts will have to come later, today its just a tribute to one of the greatest players in the history of football. Yesterday a man who was at the head of the french team that showed France what a multicultural country can achieve in sports, came back to the French national team. Being himself of algerian decent Zindine Zidane was a symbol of what imigrants could bring to France. Being back on the team I'm looking forward to seeing that Zindane magic back in the jersey of les bleus...Zindane pour président!!!

2005-08-03T17:20:00.000+02:00

Just thought you would enjoy some art. This is as you may know is my favorite. Some say it clearly reflects me. I just love Mr. Pollock I can spend half an hour staring at his paintings. I had never seen this one before its called Number 23. Amazing what you can do with black and white.
Whats your favorite artist???
If anyone has a spare send me one....

I should be doing my thesis....

2005-08-03T16:09:00.000+02:00

Not writing blogs, learning how to do magic tricks, chatting with everybody, looking at the tate online, discovering Tracy Emin, listening to the wiseguys, reading the 6th Harry Potter (that stinks, but made it in a day anyway), I shouldn't be going on 30 km rides on my bike but jeez I feel free, shouldn't be baking bread (but nothing calms be down as much), shouldn't be spolied with great wine at Bjørn and Anja's place, I shouldn't be going to free movies in the city, I shouldn't be learning to play the guitar...
Guess I better get started...