La Beet

The Danish term Moster is closer to home than the wider English term Aunt. Moster means mother’s sister, whereas Faster means father’s sister. I’ve waited many years to become an aunt and surely it had to happen now, when the North Sea is between me and my new nephew!

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but David and I are great fans of the National Trust and go to their houses and gardens whenever we have the chance. Before we lived here, we’ve been on holidays in Devon/Cornwall and in Yorkshire and darted from one National Trust property to the next. Today we visited [...]

No matter how hard I try, I never seem to be quite up to speed with what’s going on out there in the world. Today I read about a phenomenon, which I’ve occasionally been arguing for (to a degree), but didn’t even know had a name… Well, it does have a name: The Gift Economy [...]

From a father at my son’s school I heard that India does not export timber, it imports timber. This was apparently decided some decades ago, as it dawned on the Indian government that there can be dire consequences when you fell the forests without replacing them. See the Forest Conservation Act. I’d forgotten about this [...]

Dane’s school has got permission to become a through school from this September. We’re SO happy. If you’re an outsider (or just Danish, tihi), here’s an explanation: Dane’s school, Ripley Church of England Infant School, has till now been an, yes, you guessed it, infant school. That means a school for children of 4 – [...]

Now, what kind of idiot does a thing like this? Thank you to Capac for the pointer. I’m always going on about TED (Technology Entertainment Design). As the happy owner of an Iphone I have taken podcasts to a higher level and sit on buses, trains and airplanes etc. and LEARN things in a very [...]

A reporter from The New Yorker went to Samsø recently to learn about the island’s status as “Denmark’s Renewable Energy Island” and how they’ve actually had considerable success in renewing their energy sources so as to leave less of a carbon footprint. So Samsø is now energy selfsufficient. Well done! Where they have not succeeded, [...]