Round Trip #11 Svanemølleværket-Svanemølle Strand
Saturday 5 June 2021
It's Constitution Day in Denmark. Hooray! All the shops are closed and people sit around and do nothing, waiting out the time until they can go shopping again. Though strangely, it's not an official holiday, so if you've got a job, tough shit!
We're off to the beach again! Via a power station and a marina, or two. More boats I'm afraid. So, so many boats.
7am. Thankfully, despite the earth shattering volume of my alarm, Ringo sleeps. A very good thing as my patience has been worn thin, not to mention my sleep stolen by George insisting on washing the exact same part of my left arm until about five in the morning. Just what it is that she finds so tasty about it remains a mystery. She started doing this 5 years ago, when, returning home from hospital after a triple slipped disc (me, not her) she decided that I needed looking after, and has not left me alone since. George has a talent for three things: sleeping, washing me, and a supernatural ability to smell chicken before I've even opened the fridge door. We're also pretty sure that she fell on her head when she was small, so there's not much difference between her and Ringo in terms of brain power. Except she's cuter. And quieter on account of her being asleep for 20 hours a day.
Ringo is still sleeping. My luck's in.
Starting off at Svanemølleværket, the power station on the western edge of Nordhavn. This is either an enormous red brick monstrosity, or, as I think, the best looking building in Copenhagen. Built between 1947 and 1953, it's constructed in reinforced concrete and dressed in red brick. Its constellation of boxes and cubic volumes is inspired by American high-rise and factory architecture of the 1930s.
Moving away from the power station I chance upon a group of people on a team building weekend. You know, those things where you have to work out how to cross a stream using only the supplied equipment of a washing up liquid bottle, a bicycle repair kit, and a potato. They are apparently trying to make a floating raft. Later on I hear the distant sound of the ambulance sirens and the helicopter rescue.
While I'm relaxing at the marina with my morning coffee and admiring all the boats I can't afford, my phone buzzes. It's a text from Ringo.
Ringo: Where are you?
Me: Relaxing in the sun at the marina, with a nice cup of coffee.
Ringo: Why didn't you wake me up?
Me: Why would I want to do that? It was blissfully peaceful.
Ringo: Because it's been exactly 17 minutes since I was last fed, and I'm feeling the icy grip of death.
Me: Don't be melodramatic.
Ringo: You said you were going to the beach, and I wanted to come with you.
Me: You want to go to the beach?
Ringo: I've been chatting up this young thing on KittyR, on that Super Interwebs thing you use. We were meeting down by the Ice Cream van. I was going to help lick out her Cornetto.
Me: !!!!
Ringo: We were going to sniff each other bottoms while gazing into the sunset.
Me: We're on the east coast dumbass. The sun sets in the west.
Ringo: F**k my life.
And with that, we're off to the beach! It's 18 degrees today, and a little hazy, so you can count on the fingers of one hand the number of people on the beach. Had it been busy I could have just removed my t-shirt and waited for a large clearance in the crowd. As it is, it's lovely. Very calm, sea swans sailing by, ships on the horizon etc. Almost perfect. Though nothing is ever absolutely perfect, as is illustrated by the sudden scream of a small person, and a dog peeing on a deckchair. Life returns to normal.
Weather: Just right.
Reflections: I will miss the Pandemic
Coffee: Café Sundet 6/10. Café Latte 40kr. Not bad. Not enough.
Distance: 4.39km