h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This was (allegedly) a British newspaper headline from the 1930's.
I thought about it yesterday when I wrote this on my Facebook profile: "For a number of hours the world was cut off from my island. Don't take this personally but I rather enjoyed the peace and quiet."
Fate has it that this remark has now come back to bite me
I was going to take the ferry to East Germany today but due to the storm, floodings and related problems both ferry lines from my island to Germany have given up. The small town of Rødby Havn is completely jammed with trucks and cars because the ferries haven't been able to sail for days - and even if they could people would be stranded on the German island of Fehmarn, because the bridge from there to German mainland is closed due to heavy winds...
Best chance - if it even is one - is sailing from Gedser to Rostock instead. But that line will not open until 11.15am at the earliest. And Bob knows how many trucks and cars are waiting there...
We will take our chances anyway. We sort of have to: My driver is supposed to play the clarinet at the jazz concert we planned to go to...
Wish me luck!

Good Luck!


lil x

Head line 7th.Dec. 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25278163

There was also a lot of fog in my area last night.

Such was our odyssey:

We had Tickets to the ferry Rødby-Puttgarden but hearing about the situation in Rødby we decided to try Gedser-Rostock instead. But on arriving there we were told that trucks enough to fill several ferries had piled up in the area - and it was doubtful whether the first ferry would sail 11.15am or 1.30pm.

So we decided to drive the long way around. But just then we heard on the radio that things might be moving in Rødby after all, so we drove over there first. To no avail whatsoever. Many kilometers of the motorway leading down to the ferry and many of the streets in this little ferry town were indeed packed with trucks and cars.

Having driven this far we decided to take a third ferry over to the island of Langeland from where we could drive to the Danish mainland (the peninsula Jylland) via 4 bridges and three islands and from there to our destination - where we arrived at 4pm. All in all we drove 597 kilometers (371 miles) which took us 8 hours.

The journey back today was a lot shorter (247 km/153 m) and completely uneventful since everything is back to normal, and only lasted 3.5 hrs




PS: The jazz concert, the food, the service and the accommodation was fabulous and totally worth the ordeal. Check out the place on Google Maps:
Herrenhaus Hasenwinkel, Bibow, Germany

Pierce it is good to hear that you finally got to your destination safely. It must have been quite a stressful journey getting there but I am glad that the jazz concert went well.

The hotel looks very grand.

Thank you, Thinker, it was most stressful for my driver who had to arrive in good time. The clarinet is the centerpiece of this band, albeit alternating with the trumpet, the trombone and the singer.

They played extremely well this evening. One of the guys in the audience said they were never better - and he has known this band for many years

The hotel was build as a summer cottage for a filthy rich family in 1909 but has also housed Sovietrussian occupants, fugitives and lots of other people since then. It now belongs to the association of employers in the North German metal industry.

On this page you can see the band "Vestre Jazzværk" - my driver is #3 from the left:
http://www.hasenwinkel.com/

It's a truism that people make sacrifices for their art. That certainly sounds like sacrifice to me.

indeed!

wibble

[said with great feeling and deep emotion]

Right back at you