Childs play

Browsing Alfies Antiques with my childhood friend Charlotte a while back I discovered how different the children's world is in different countries. We came across a section of vintage children's books and toys and Charlotte got really excited and nostalgic about all these things I'd never seen before. It surprised me because we grew up together, but her English mum had presented her and her brothers for all these characters and stories, that I never heard of. I thought I knew about British children's stories just because I also grew up with Winnie the Pooh and the Wind in the Willows, but it became apparent that there is much more to it.

So I thought I'd write a little about the fantasy world created for children where I come from - I don't want to make myself an authority on children's stories but if you have any stories you want to share from your childhood, I'd love to hear them.

To start with the building blocks of a child's world I will tell you about the toys we had. Everyone had Lego. The beauty of this concept is that they open up for many different ways of playing. To give an example my brother would always build what was portrayed on the picture, which came with the blocks. I on the other hand didn't see the point in that and wanted to build randoms shapes that looked different everytime I played. No wonder I never became a scientist. The great thing was that the toy allowed for both types of play.

Of course we also had dolls, muppets and little cars to play with - I even had a big red flashy car for my Barbies, which I believe my mother's colleague's little daughter now sleeps with every night. It's nice to know it is still giving someone joy.

The Smurfs were a bit of an obsession for me. I had comic books with stories about them and them I had lots of little smurf figures and mushroom houses for them. I loved these little Belgian creatures. It was a little surreal when I recently saw these little figures in a glass montre in Amsterdam in a shoop where you had the option of taking your mushrooms there or to go....I guess the Smurfs grew up since last time I saw them.

My favourite children stories are Swedish and were written by Astrid Lindgren. She created characters that I admired and could relate to. The coolest ones were Pippi Longstocking, Emil and Ronja the Robber's daughter. Especially the latter was a great inspiration - it is a bit like a Romeo and Juliette story, except with a happier ending and with characters that are wild creatures of the forest.

Fairytales also played a great role in the house I was a child in. First of all, fairytale is "eventyr" in Danish and they didn't have much to do with fairies most of the time. Most of them were written by H.C. Andersen and they were often about travellers. The most famous are The Ugly Duckling, The Little Mermaid and Thumbelina.

I also heard a lot of Folklore - to get an idea about these type of stories, I can reccommend the Norwegian film TrollHunter. In addition to stories about the trolls in Norway, there were also stories about elves - similar to the ones in Lord of the Rings but more see-through and airy...perhaps these stories were simply an attempt to make fog interesting...

Another child of Folklore is the "Nisse" - a pixie like creature that would play tricks on you if you didn't treat them well and gave them food/presents. They have become more of a Christmas thing these days, but according to old superstition they lived on the loft of the farms and could cause a bad harvest or sour milk if they were not content.

And lastly, here is an American's take on the current Danish children's TV in Denmark. Just to give you a more contemporary picture of what it is like to be a child in Denmark.

The Quirkiness of Britain

Everyone knows the British have a special sense of humour and noone knows how to have fun and dress up like the British. When you've lived in London for a few years, you don't look twice at the teletubbie or man in a tiger-costume on the tube. I recently saw an ad that summs up the bonkersness of the Brits:

T-Mobile add

The chasing of the cheese down a mountain is an actual annual event

Cheese Rolling Competition

I must admit it took me a while to get used to British cheese like cheddar and it's crumbly cousins but if it's melted, it's ok. Good thing about London is that it is outward looking in terms of cousine....British food is an aquired taste. 

But another thing the British do well is cross-dressing. Jake Emlyn is a good example off a camp boy

My Names Jake

A Danish man can't pull off a pink shirt and a purple tie without being called camp but I see many in the City of London dressed like that without being teased.

But perhaps it is simply a more feminine dressing culture compared to the Nordics. Even the woman seem to be more likely to wear skirts and more femininely shaped outfits in general. And definitely more make-up.
Compare the videos of this Danish song with it's English version with the same artist:

Fuck dig
Fuck you

Fairytale

Growing up, I have heard this story often:
Once upon a time in a land far away, a beautiful, independent, self assured princess happened upon a frog as she sat, contemplating ecological issues on the shores of an unpolluted pond in a verdant meadow near her castle. The frog hopped into the princess's lap and said: "Elegant Lady, I was once a handsome prince, until an evil witch cast a spell upon me. One kiss from you, however, and I will turn back into the dapper, young prince that I am and then, my sweet, we can marry and setup housekeeping in your castle with my mother, where you can prepare my meals, clean my clothes, bear my children, and forever feel grateful and happy doing so. 
That night, as the princess dined sumptuously on a repast of lightly sauteed frog legs seasoned in a white wine and onion cream sauce, she chuckled to herself and thought: I don't f**king think so.

So the morale is for all you guys out there: don't let an evil witch cast a spell on you. Stay true to yourself :-)

The Queen of Denmark since 1972

Last weekend when I was in Denmark, it happened to be the 40th anniversary of the Queen of Denmark. I went into town to see the Golden Carriage with HRM and the Prince travel from the royal castle to the town hall of Copenhagen together with my mum. We had a nice day together with a many other people who were there to take part in the celebrations.
I am not a royalist as such but I admire her. I think it is impressive that a woman past 70 goes on a sleighride across the Greenlandic Ice to camp in a tent. She speaks at least 3 foreign languages at a level to express herself artistically. And she is an artist and an inspiring public speaker. And she does it all with a fairly relaxed attitude. She is natural and unpretentious.
As long as the Monarch can act as an inspiration for ordinary people and represent the country to the outside world in a favourable way I think it is worth supporting.

Borgen

Recently a British bloke told me excitedly how he and his wife are watching the new Danish TV-series Borgen on BBC. They enjoyed it but had to pause it every now and then to discuss: "it is a bit unusual with all this political stuff" he explained.
His comment surprised me but then I realised that it was because I come from a culture where most movies and TV-series are political. Some are funny, some are serious, some are only funny to Danes but most take a stand politically or raises questions. It's normal for us.
The Danish mentality is very critical and sarcastic. It means that if we are not careful, foreigners might feel hurt or accused by a statement which was only an attempt to be funny or seem clever.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b019jr8c/ 
In this episode Birgitte Nyborg goes to Greenland. She suggests to one of her closest advisors that she will apologize to the leader of the Greenlandic homerule but is advised against it as an apology could incurr costs. In this case it is obviously a political decision about her position in relation to Greenland but it is also an example of how serious an apology is taken by the Danes. Compared to the English, we consider much more carefully if we were at fault and if we are willing to pay for our mistake before we apologise.

Suspiciously happy

Danish people don't do compliments very well. If you say something nice to a Danish person, you might get a reply like: what do you want from me? Especially when complimenting a woman you know on her looks, she will often say: so I don't normally look good? Don't get me wrong, the tone is jokingly friendly and it is only meant as a diversion because our Jantelov does not allow us to show if we are proud of ourselves or might agree with the compliment.
In general Danish people can be very suspicious if someone is too carefree and happy. Not that it meets disapproval, but you are less likely to be taken seriously in the Danish culture if you don't criticise anything. People will think you are either fake or a little slow.
I have met English people who seem to think like that but in Denmark that attitude is predominant in schools and the media, so you constantly get these attitudes reinforced.
The English media appears more focused on telling a story where the Danish media usually try to anticipate if the events of the story will have any consequences and if they are good or bad. Or if the motives behind the actions in the story were good or bad.
You can't change everything all the time and that is hard to accept if you have always been told you can change the world. While we need to be critical of some things in life, it is up to each individual to choose what is worth our attention. And why not try and spread some sunshine by pointing out the good things about other people in the process?

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