Martyn Glanville: 2010

Banksy Simpsons Intro

Check out this video on YouTube:

Genuine Mexico 86 World Cup memorabilia found in Copenhagen

THE LAST few days have been full of junk.
For instance, I was prowling around a loppemarked (or flea market in English) recently looking for I wasn't sure what and I was pleased to find a couple of dodgy action movies - Crank: High Voltage and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. These were purchased immediately, and I know you would do the same.
Prior to that, however, I had a real find in discovering a Mexico 86 World Cup inflatable football still in its original packaging:

There were two of them, in fact. I should have bought at least one.

Flea market

Got Crank High Voltage and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. I'm class, me.

The truth about buying international train tickets in Denmark

Image by kaffeeeinstein via Flickr

THE OTHER day, I was at Copenhagen Central Station to buy some tickets to Frankfurt.

The first time I tried, the international sales desk was closed. I duly came back later in the day and asked for the price of a 4-berth cabin from Copenhagen to Frankfurt and back in August. The conversation went something like this...:

Sales clerk: "I can't tell you. I can't, unless you want to buy the tickets. That's the only way I can tell you how much it will be."

Me: "But I spoke to a colleague of yours a few months ago and he told me a price of 4000 Danish crowns."

SC (signing, and picking up a clipboard, which she scans): "It would be around 1200 crowns each."

Me: "Is that for a cabin?"

SC: "That's just for the basics. No add-ons!" she snapped.

Me: "So you can't tell me the cost of a cabin?"

SC: "Not unless you buy the tickets."

Me (shrugging): "Ok, I'll buy the tickets."

SC: "You can't."

Me: "I can't?"

SC: "I am too busy right now," she answered looking over my shoulder at the queue behind me.

Me: "But I waited for 15 minutes in the queue."

SC: "I have to serve these people first."

Me: "So even if you could tell me the price of the tickets, you wouldn't sell them to me?"

SC: "That's right."

Me: "Wow. What a great system you have."

SC: "I didn't design it. Try our website dsb.dk"

I left. Subsequently bought my tickets on Deutsche Bahn's website. Denmark's dsb.dk had no online facility. It did, however, have the email address of their CEO Søren Eriksen. I sent him a mail about my experiences.

Strangely, no reply at the time of writing.

Update 11/8/2010:

""We sincerely regret the circumstances on the 6th of July, when you went to inquire about a ticket fare for Frankfurt.

It is not usual practice that our passengers should feel forced to buy a ticket just to be informed about the fare, and we are very sorry about the treatment you experienced when visiting our ticket office.

We thank you for your e-mail to us and promise we will make sure this will not happen again.

Yours sincerely,

xxx xxxxxx

Manager

DSB Customer service"

Village

BEEN meaning to add this for a while.

I took some photos of The Village while it was playing on a small TV on a boat going from Ibiza to Denia, in Spain. I remember thinking their blurred look was quite engaging.

Let's see how it comes out...

Buying an iPhone in Denmark - the truth

Image via Wikipedia

YOU can't buy an iPhone from a 3 shop in Denmark if you aren't Danish.

Let me explain. Just the other day I went into my local 3 shop to join the iPhone bandwagon. As usual I had done weeks of research because I was buying some that cost more than a Pepsi and needed to be sure what I was doing.

Matey behind the counter remembers me from a previous investigative visit and smiles knowingly - "Ah ha! I have you!" he thinks.

And he does. He gets my phone and we begin the tedious paperwork process. But before pen hits paper, he asks, "Do you have any Danish picture ID like a passport or driving licence?"

No, and no. I'm English, see, so I have British passport and an EU driving licence.

"I can't sell you the phone," he says. "Our system needs that information for the subscription."

"Do you lose a lot of business?" I asked. He nodded sheepishly.

Anyway, I left the shop, went home and bought it from 3's website (for less, I might add) with the only inconvenice being a two-day delivery wait.

What a strange company.