Lyngby Lakes

May 23rd, 2006

90Staying in a hotel out of the city centre definitely has its benefits. As you can see from the photo, Lyngby is a pretty green place and I enjoyed a 50 minute run, mostly off-road, including a trip around one of the lakes. Even managed to get my trainers muddy which isn’t something I often achieve while away on business!

Sleepy Scandic

May 22nd, 2006

Back in Denmark again this week although staying out in Lyngby this time as it saves driving through the centre of Copenhagen every morning to reach the customer. Arrived late last night and then proceeded to spend 20 minutes driving round a deserted town centre attempting to find the entrance to the Scandic Eremitage. I knew where the hotel was (you can hardly miss it built on top of the shopping centre) but it was only on the third lap of the block that I spotted the ramp in the middle of the high street down to the underground parking!

After last week’s lift noise my room was beautifully quiet. That is until 7 o’clock the following morning at which point the sound of the jack-hammers remodelling the concrete in the car park drifted all too readily up the lift shaft to the ninth floor.

Freetown running

May 18th, 2006

Went for a run from the hotel this evening and planned to do a lap of the nearby waterway shown on the map. This proved to be quite a good session with the numerous steps up and down the steep banks surrounding the water a passable substitute for hill reps. It was only when I got back that I discovered that the various ramshackle buildings on the route form Christiania, a semi-legal independent community. Perhaps not the most salubrious part of town and not somewhere I’d return to after dark.

Sleepless in Scandanavia

May 16th, 2006

Spoke too soon about the weather in Denmark – back in Copenhagen again this week and it has been raining fairly incessantly. I’m staying in the Radisson SAS Scandinavia this time and should have remembered from a previous occasion to ask for a room away from the lifts. They make a hell of racket during the night and I’m a pretty light sleeper. Unfortunately the hotel’s full so no chance of moving.

Copyright free maps

May 15th, 2006

Came across the interesting OpenStreetMap project which aims to create copyright free geographic data. Participants in the project are asked to upload GPS tracks and/or convert the tracks in to labelled features. The project seems to have a good start in Southampton with a recent weekend workshop also aiming to map the Isle of Wight. If I ever have a spare couple of hours at home (unlikely I know) then I’d be tempted to head out and fill in a few major roads around our house.

Al’s wed

May 14th, 2006

87Congratulations to Alison and Aloysius who tied the knot yesterday in Rickmansworth. Alison was a fellow Engineering and Computer Science student back in Oxford and met Al on a mountain biking holiday.

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Denmark shines

May 13th, 2006

84Just back from my week (well, four days really as Friday turned out to be a public holiday) in Copenhagen. Unlike my last visit in the middle of winter the city was bathed in sunshine late in to the evenings for the entire week. This, combined with the local habit of finishing work around four o’clock, meant that I had some very pleasant evenings running around the streets, taking photos as I went. Things were spoilt only slightly by the seeming propensity for Danish men to urinate in public!

London City Airport

May 7th, 2006

Had to fly out to Denmark at short notice and selected a SAS flight from London City Airport thinking that it should be easy to get to without having to find a last minute taxi. Indeed, it ought to be: an hour on the train to Waterloo followed by the Jubilee Line and DLR. Unfortunately Network Rail had other ideas and aren’t running any trains between Basingstoke and Farnborough every weekend in May. This would have meant getting a bus from Winchester to Alton and then changing again at Woking. Ended up getting a taxi after all which, at 2.5 hours and £100, still wasn’t much better. The airport itself was great though with all the advantages of a small regional airport – think I’ll leave it to the good citizens of London in future though.