The Battle of Jutland

Am currently in Aalborg for the week at that well-known, international event, the DanFish Exhibition, where I'm showcasing our latest product with one of my distributors.

Due to this being somewhat of a last minute thing, all the hotels in Aalborg are stacked to the rafters with Danish fishermen, so I had to book somewhere out in the sticks and 30km from the city in a place called Dronninglund, near the tip of the Jutland peninsula (ended up with a manual hire car, but that's another story - why in the 21st century to car makers still manufacture the quill pen equivalent of cars? Moreover, why do drivers insist they have more control in a manual car, when that's patently false - you try emailing people when having to contend with a gearstick, especially when driving on the wrong side of the road - nightmare!).

The hotel is a wonderful old building having has a history going back to the 12th century (according to the booklet), but looks more like an 18th century royal hunting lodge in the chocolate-box, Munchausen style.

First class dinner last night in a dining room stuffed with hunting trophies (I had to listen to the waiter explaining all the dishes in minute detail, meaning the food was a tad tepid by the time I tucked in), but I returned to my room to discover breakfast is served from 8am, whereas I have to leave at 7am to stand any chance of getting parking at the exhibition.

I also discovered at 6am this morning that the water doesn't get heated till I guess around 7am, so it was a cold shower with a sliver of soap.

The shower is of the semi-wet-room style, and I have yet to find a wet-room shower that works as intended. Bloody water everywhere! It took 2 towels and a mat to mop up the water from where it shouldn't be. Must cost them a fortune in laundry.

Not looking forward to coming back on Friday evening - I was sold a ticket that leaves me 40 minutes to connect with the flight to Heathrow at Copenhagen, where I have to change terminals and renegotiate airport security, which will be at least 30 minutes. Given SAS sell the ticket as such, I guess it must be feasible.