The Red Mist - like anyone actually cares…

Have just returned from a 5-day trip to Denmark’s capital with Gddik Jr. It was the first time that we have been away together, just the two of us, and it was wonderful to spend time with him, just doing whatever occurred to us on the day.

As our hotel was wonderfully positioned only a couple of streets from the main railway station, and about 10 minutes walk from the Tivoli Gardens, we were ideally placed. Copenhagen is a very grand city, rather than quaint, as Amsterdam is. There are even more cyclists, though, and the traffic flows around them very smoothly. It’s all very civilised.

Being flat, too, it’s very walkable, and we managed to get to most of the places we wanted on foot. Including our Grand Tour of the Danish Health Service, on our second night…

Jr. was complaining of some ear soreness on the first evening, so we resolved to visit a health centre the following day. Our enquiries established that there was an “Emergency Room” about a mile and a half away, and another at the main city hospital, about a couple of miles from the hotel, and also from the other ER. As we’d planned to visit Malmo in Sweden that day, we decided to try our luck in the evening, after we returned - his discomfort wasn’t too great, probably just an infection.

So, upon returning from Malmo (lovely city, by the way…) we set off on foot to the first ER, arriving at 10:05pm, only to find that it closed at 10:00pm. Probably no bad thing, though, as it looked like a private one, and if nothing else, Copenhagen is EXPENSIVE.

OK, thought we, off we go to the main city hospital. Having plodded round Malmo’s streets all day, and hiking to the first ER, were were a bit footsore by the time we arrived. Imagine, then, our dismay upon being informed, very politely and in perfect English, that the was no ER at the hospital at all. Trauma centre, yes, but ER - nada. So, if we’d been hit by a truck, we’d have been fine, but minor stuff - no. Bear in mind that this hospital was the size of a small nation state…

But we were in luck, though! A hospital two or three miles further out of the city has an ER! AND - there was a bus service more or less directly to it. So, off we set again, getting on the bus, and being helped to find our stop by a very helpful lady. After a couple of hours in the waiting room, we were seen by a doctor who politely informed us that there was nothing they could do for the infection, but hey - here are some pain killers (that we could have got over the counter at the chemist around the corner from the hotel…)

The buses had stopped running by the time we got out - 1:45am, so we got a taxi back to the hotel - £20. Expensive and hard-won pain killers, to be sure.

It’s the kind of thing that seriously pisses you off at the time - not least being told that there was an ER at the main hospital when there wasn’t - but we’ll laugh about in the future. It sort of defined the trip, in a way.

Lots of interesting stuff to see in Copenhagen though - and that doesn’t really include the little mermaid statue for which Copenhagen is famous. It’s nice enough, I guess, as statues go, but just a little underwhelming. The hippy commune of Christiania knocks it into a cocked hat. It’s a fascinating story, check it out on Wikipedia…