Copenhagen Day 7

The big news of the day is that my case arrived sometime during the night.  It looked a little sheepish as it crawled into the bedroom at goodness knows what time.  No word of where it has been or what it has been doing. But now it is sat there in the corner all quiet and holding onto its secrets.

Another find today was I found I can listen to BBC radio on the laptop, I know what your thinking but you cant watch the iplayer and other stuff as it doesn’t let you when you are abroad.  Anyway I can listen to Radio 4 apart from the fact I can listen to it for about 60 seconds at a time then it loses connection and has long pauses.  Its like listening to a dramatic show, you get some interesting news and then get a30 seconds for it to sink in before it re connects and you get the next piece of news.  I am expecting a da daaaa sound just to drum it in a little further.

So Day 7 in Copenhagen begins as pretty much is becoming the norm, apart from the fact I did not work yesterday, shattered after the long journey and waiting around and news that once again my colleagues are rushing over to the other site and I am on my Jack Jones again.

It is always interesting seeing people on the metros as they make their way to and fro.  Today I noticed that it isn’t really that cold, double figures in the centigrade, but still as people looked to exit the trains they pulled their coat tighter, fastened up scarves and put gloves on, you would have thought it was minus 20 or something and not just the odd person but pretty much everyone.  It is rare if you see a person without a pair of gloves on or a wearing a scarf.

Whilst on the metro I was listening to a local man talking to who I think was an American colleague and explaining how the tax system worked and I found it a good idea.  As I understand from what he was saying, firstly they have very little income tax, their VAT is 25% which is on everything.  I like this idea as if you want it you have to pay for it but if you don’t, you don’t pay.  Not like our country where you pay upfront from what you earn and the harder you work the more you pay.  Then on top of VAT there is a further tax which is based on sugar, for example a can of diet coke is cheaper than a can of normal coke.  There is no tax on fruit and vegetables but tax on cake and sweets.  To me this is brilliant, as in England it is well known that pies and biscuits are cheaper than fruit.  If the country wanted you to be healthy they would do it by taxing food that is bad for you and food that is good for you should be subsidised.  It seems so simple and other countries seem to be doing it but I think that the English powers that be wont.  There you go, my ranting is over for the day.

In fact the day is almost over for me even though it is only 9.00 p.m.  I think missing sleep on Sunday night catches up with me and as I am going to be up at 5.30 then I am going to have an early night and hit the pillows.

Goodnight all.