The Thieves of Denmark

Well. How do you like the new look of the blog? No more pictures. My camera, the little square waterproof one, which faithfully took almost 10,000 pictures around the world is now in some stupid sub-human's possession.

Yesterday we had lunch at an outside (the only outside) table at the Kabob Place in downtown Svendborg Denmark (The one on Lundevej, I think). Unfortunately I took my shoulder bag off and hung it on the back of the chair. During the ordering shuffle Connor got that chair and when we picked up to leave, I forgot the bag. 10 minutes later, driving away, I noticed. We went back immediately but it was gone. The shop keeper hadn't seen it and none of the hundreds of people walking by had noticed or stopped a suspicious act like picking up a shoulder bag from a table and walking off.

I didn't loose all that much, the bag and camera being the vital items. But I've had that bag for nigh on 20 years, not to mention (almost) all the way around the world. It meant something to me. The bag was handmade by a nice person I met in Eugene Oregon. It had artwork on it handpainted by a Thai artist. I'm sure the stupid jerk that stole it will just toss it in a trash bin and attempt to sell the camera (which has a broken latch - ha!). So if somebody offers you a Pentax Optio 43WR with a broken battery door latch, please break his arm or cut off his hand for me.

Actually it was an altogether unpleasant visit to the once fine city of Svendborg. After having my bag and camera stolen, we discovered we had left our car parked 5 minutes too long in the EuroPark Car park. It seems the car parks are run by the local mafia. 5 minutes over and you get a bill for 510 Kronar (~$87). Now how am I supposed to deal with a bill for 510 Kronar? I mean, an even 500K, and I could just slip a 500K bill into an envelope with "EuroPark is a Ripoff" written on it and mail it off to the conveniently provided address on the bill (It's not a ticket, it's a bill, since it's issued by a private agency rather than the police.) But no, it's got to be 510K, which means I either have to mail a 10K coin (bad idea) or get a bank draft or something. Another fleecing opportunity for the local mafia.

And there's no way out of it for a tourist. If I just walk away from it, EuroPark goes to the car rental company and gets the money from my credit card. Then the car rental company gets to charge an additional hefty "handling fee" for taking the unauthorized money out of my credit card. EuroPark has a phone number (+45-7914-2117) but it doesn't seem to work. I've been told by two people (one in the tourist info office!) that EuroPark is known for ruthless pursuit of tourists.

Next, The Kabab place, where we had falafals turned out to be not so good either. Today we all have upset tummies and um, digestive distress.

This leaves me sadly disillusioned about the otherwise very civilized Denmark. I guess there are stupid people without ethics everywhere. Really can't say I recommend this city of Svendborg, Denmark.