Wee gardens
One of the things that I find very strange in Scotland is that most houses are placed extremely close to each other and have tiny gardens. Not just in the middle of Glasgow, but everywhere. And these tiny estates are then surrounded by masses of empty space.
My best guess is that this has been caused by applying laws designed for England here. Look at the graph on the left (showing inhabitants per km², based on figures I found on Wikipedia): England is a very densely populated country, like the Netherlands and Belgium, and of course you would expect strict laws to limit the size of space for development and to protect the nature and agricultural areas. But Scotland, on the other hand, is less densely populated than Denmark or France and only has slightly more people per square kilometre than Sweden. In other words: There is plenty of space in Scotland!
Mentos og Cola
Der var i dag en artikel i Metro om effekten af at putte Mentos i cola (efter sigende helst Coca-Cola Light, også kendt som Diet Coke). Jeg fandt et billede på Flickr – det ser ret imponerende ud, ikk’?
Sold the fridge!
I finally sold my fridge on eBay. I got £35 for it, somewhat less than I had hoped, but it’s still real money! The guy who bought it will pick it up tomorrow. It’ll be nice to get some more space in my flat!
Supergrævling
Jeg fandt det her billede på Flickr. Gad vidst om Superman er død og blevet genfødt som grævling?
Jeg er i øvrigt lidt i tvivl om, om det virkelig er en grævling – jeg troede ikke, de kunne have brun pels.
Next DIY project
It’s time to start doing the next room – I’d like to paint it and lay a new floor before Miriam, Bjørn and his kids arrive. I’ve bought the paint and the floorboards, and I’ve spent a lot of the week-end clearing out the room (it was full of all the junk I had left there while I did the living room and the kitchen). See the full set of pre-DIY photos on Flickr.
The flooded backyard (part 2)
Remember how I wrote last week about the flooded backyard? They seemed to fix it a few days ago, but Saturday it was back again, and worse than ever. It also seems the drain pipes are leaking. I’d better have a serious chat with the factors tomorrow!
Oh no, pancakes again!
Yesterday, I got a strong urge to have American pancakes for breakfast. However, I didn’t check the recipe carefully, so I ended up making enough batter for two people. So this morning I had to have pancakes again. Oddly enough, they seemed to take longer to bake today, and then actually tasted nicer – perhaps because the eggwhites had collapsed a bit.
De bedste kredse i Storkreds Østjylland
Nu hvor de nye valgkredse er vedtaget af Folketinget, er det interessant at se på, hvilke kredse, der bliver de mest eftertragtede. Naturligt nok er jeg mest interesseret i Det radikale Venstre og Storkreds Østjylland.
Jeg har taget valgresultatet fra sidste valg samt antallet af vælgere i de nye opstillingskredse, og jeg har meget groft overført stemmeprocenten fra de gamle kredse til de nye. Resultatet er det estimerede antal radikale stemmer pr. opstillingskreds. Det er meget groft (hvis det skal være bedre, skal jeg have fat på resultaterne fra de enkelte valgsteder), men det giver dog et fingerpeg:
| Århus Østkredsen | 7996 | Djurskredsen | 2797 | |
| Århus Nordkredsen | 6215 | Randers Sydkredsen | 2689 | |
| Århus Sydkredsen | 5329 | Favrskovkredsen | 2663 | |
| Århus Vestkredsen | 4980 | Randers Nordkredsen | 1923 | |
| Skanderborgkredsen | 3892 | Hedenstedkredsen | 1516 | |
| Horsenskredsen | 3255 |
Man ser, at selv om Djurskredsen er den største kreds, er der ikke nok radikale til for alvor at gøre den interessant. Århus hersker naturligvis stadigvæk suverænt, men derefter kommer Skanderborg og Horsens. Man skal dog være opmærksom på, at kandidaterne i de to Randers-kredse muligvis vil lave en aftale om lade hinanden føre valgkamp i begge kredse, og hvis det sker, vil det stadigvæk være Randers, der har den bedste chance for at stjæle det andet mandat fra Århus – men Skanderborg har bestemt også en chance nu!
Pepino Secco
Efter at have skrevet det forrige indlæg fik jeg helt lyst til at kunne servere en Habermas’ Birthday for eventuelle gæster. Den eneste underlige ingrediens er Pepino Secco, men det regnede jeg med, en Google-søgning hurtigt kunne råde bod på. Men nej – Pepino Secco findes ikke! Jeg gad vide, hvad det var. Så vidt jeg husker, mindede det om Campari (rødt og bittert) – var det mon blot en slags camparierstatning, som studerende drak i starten af 90erne? Selv hvis det ikke findes mere, kunne jeg godt tænke mig at vide, hvad det egentlig var. Kan nogen mon hjælpe?
Habermas’ Birthday
This morning, I was trying to find a recipe for American breakfast pancakes amongst my notes. I didn’t succeed, but instead I found the recipe for a cocktail I once invented. I clearly remember it. It was a party at the Oriental Department (Østasiatisk Institut), i.e., most of the people there were students of Japanese or Chinese, and I somehow ended up behind the bar. There was a bottle of Pepino Secco that we were trying to find a use for, and I invented this drink that everybody seemed to like, although nobody liked the Pepino on its own. I called it “Habermas’ Birthday” – obviously, it was invented on his birthday, but why I knew this to be the case, I don’t remember, but I studied “Humanistisk Videnskabsteori” together with people from this department, so we might have been reading Habermas earlier in the day, I presume. Anyway, I guess everybody is by now anxious to get the recipe, so here it is:
For one glass of Habermas’ Birthday:
- 2 cl vodka
- 2 cl Pepino Secco
- 1 cm [sic!] Sprite
- 2 icecubes
- 1 slice of lemon
Mix the ingredients well and serve.