The weather took a bit of a turn for the worse yesterday after I wrote the first piece. The rain lashed down and the wind howled a great deal. The rain stopped but the wind stayed and the ferries stopped running to Copenhagen.
Our intended trip to the Danish capital therefore meant a shorter trip by boat (which boasted that its Max Fart was 15 Knob a fact which we were pretty impressed with) to Helsingor and then a train ride to Copenhagen.
Helsingor has little to offer itself except for the rather impressive castle, Hamlet's Elsinor apparently, something the gift shop seems very proud of. We spent an hour or so in the high winds there before popping down to Copenhagen.
We didn't really spend long enough to get a real feel of it but it looked a city well worth greater exploration and was particularly spectacular by night. Tivoli Gardens was closed which was a bit of a pity, but gave a fair light show. A fair few Blues were being blown about the streets and laughing because friends of theirs were getting the ferry over from England in the somewhat unpalatable weather.
The national sport of Denmark appears to be Suicidal Biking. Everyone is at it. The roads are three lane each way big city sort of things but cyclists still think they have right of way at every turn. Danish motorists must all have several convictions for cyclicide by the time they are in their mid-twenties.
Pedestrians aren't safe from these two-wheeled hell-raisers either. When it says cycle path in Denmark it doesn't just mean pedal cycles but small motorcycles too. A bit of a shock to the English pedestrian who doesn't realise he is on a cycle path until a motorbike goes haring past him.
Then it was back to Helsingborg and streets which now rang with the odd Town chant here and there. A number of fans had been to the Marina Plaza Hotel and got autographs from players as well as being bought drinks by the chairman. Some fans also seemed to spend their time teaching teenage Swedish girls the intracacies of Town songs.
We spent the evening in a small bar called the Telegrafen where a number of Town fans, Swedes and ex-pats enjoyed a noisy and enjoyable evening watching Celtic and having a few ales. One of the ex-pats told us that there were fears from locals about trouble from English supporters after previous bad experiences with Aston Villa and Chelsea. The chief of police had been interviewed on TV just that morning but said his 50 officers should be enough to contain any trouble. Not that there is likely to be any. Everything has been very good natured as far as we've seen.
Today we're going to have a bit more of a wander round Helsingborg itself and maybe an early trip to the ground to buy a few Helsingborgs IF goods, returning later for the main event...