Magnuson's Absence Explained

[alanbrandenburg]

Drunken Swede tries to row home from Denmark

Copenhagen, July1: A drunken 78-year-old Swede stole a dinghy after a night out in the Danish town of Helsingor and tried to row back to Sweden, but fell asleep halfway, Danish police said on Monday.

When the man discovered he lacked the necessary funds to pay for the ferry from Helsingor to Helsingborg in Sweden on Saturday, he decided to row the five km (three miles) across the strait of Oresund that separates the two.

He quickly grew tired and, trusting fortune and the currents to see him safely home, took a snooze at the bottom of the boat, where Danish police later found him out at sea, still asleep.

The strait is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. Police said the owner of the dinghy had decided not to press charges.

Bureau Report

[dawnbrady]

Do those meters count for any Concept2 challenges?

[Alan]

Carl Douglas of the UK weighs in on the subject:

don't see why all the fuss about 1 drunken Swede. At his age he
wasn't endangering his own future too much since most of it was already
in the past. Since rowing while sloshed ought to be in his genes, he'd
probably have made it home if left to his own devices, while if he
failed he might've won a Darwin prize for Sweden.

Much more serious used to be the large number of possibly pissed Vikings
who liked to make regular booze cruises over to Britain 1000 or more
years ago. And don't forget their Norman cousins, who not only came
here but started a punch-up, stayed & generally bossed the locals
around. Still, more recent booze cruising Brits have shown the northern
French that we're not to be messed around with, no Sir!, & we're
perfectly prepared to drink them dry if that's what it takes.


When Jan & I visited Elsinor Castle during the '87 Worlds, we were shown
around the most important part of the casemates - the brewery. I recall
huge stone trays set in the floor, of whose exact function David will
remind us, I hope. Apparently the daily beer ration for the garrison
was either 18 pints or 18 litres, (can't recall which, & I don't suppose
they could either). So when the Swedes came for a battle the Danes were
suffering double vision, decided they were heavily outnumbered & invited
the visitors in for a drink. Or something like that.


The relevance of all of which is that it is, of course, all about rowing
(with a bit of sailing) & lots of celebration afterwards. So, nothing
like HRR, then?


Cheers -
Carl


--
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