Weird Weekend Without Happy End: Eggebek, Flensburg, Denmark, Bremen

Published on February 18, 2007 (↻ June 12, 2021), filed under Adventure (RSS feed for all categories).

To be a bit more transparent to my valued readers: a brief account of a not quite optimal weekend of mine.

1. Having taken a day off on Friday, I spontaneously decided to take my car and visit a region where I lived around 16 years ago: Schleswig-Holstein, Northern Germany. First station was supposed to be Eggebek, a village with about five residents. At least this was my impression when I arrived there after driving four hours and simply rode right through that very village. (It’s so small that I passed the second city sign after ten seconds, and had to turn around.)

   

   It had already turned dark when I arrived, which added to the strange atmosphere. I took a walk to indulge in reminiscences, noticed how nothing appeared to have changed since I was a little boy (except that the village seemed to be smaller now), and felt happy not to live there anymore. It was a little “psycho.” Okay, next.

2. Only a few kilometers to the north or north-east of Eggebek lies Flensburg, a beautiful city with about 80,000 residents. There I checked into a hotel and took another walk in order to relax and reflect. Flensburg’s midtown is really nice, but it’s been weird as well—there were very few people out that were 20 years old or older (from 9 pm on). This is weird, isn’t it, or are these just impressions of a man not turning younger? Yet in comparison, I feel confirmed: It’s my experience from Hamburg, Munich, and of course Berlin that also (or especially) the “more mature” people enjoy the nightlife of their respective cities.

   

   However, I was tired and went to bed swiftly.

   

3. I got up early on Saturday, had a terrible breakfast in the hotel, and checked out accordingly. New mission: Refresh Denmark impressions, and buy some Danish stuff. Denmark is always cool, I enjoy that country.

   

   Accordingly it was nice to drive around, yet then it soon proved difficult to find a supermarket close to the border. At first, I tried to find one in Krusa, the one where my family had ran errands up until a few years ago. I didn’t find it, I asked for help, but Krusa seemed not to have a supermarket anymore. I found the former store nonetheless, by accident.

   

   Figure: Run-down Rita supermarket in Krusa.

   To accomplish my goal I continued to drive through Denmark and finally ended up in Padborg. There I could buy all the stuff I urgently needed: Danish hot dog sausages, Danish butter, and Danish licorice. Must-have.

4. Next, derby time! Werder Bremen vs. Hamburger SV. In case you didn’t know: That’s the match for both Bremen and Hamburg, and this season, it’s been particularly attractive—while Bremen aims for the German championship, Hamburg needs to avoid the relegation. To watch this game I drove from Padborg to Bremen, about 250–300 kilometers, managed to buy a ticket (the match’s usually sold out early, and the ticket wasn’t cheap), ran into some people I knew and entered the arena.

   

   Unfortunately, the misadventure started now. The match began promisingly, not only due to our fans and the great choreography, but rather due to Bremen’s offense that brought some good scoring chances. Alas, Hamburg scored the first goal by Rafael van der Vaart (penalty resulting from a foul). Since wins against Hamburg are twice as nice, losses are twice as painful so I won’t continue to describe the match… After all, Bremen did not win. Uh, I’m starting to get upset again. I tend to find almost every club more likeable than this club from Hamburg.

   

   Figure: “Let’s get started with the last derby.”

   Defeated, it’s been the first time I left any stadium before the final whistle, and made my way back to my car that I got to park quite closely at the Weserstadion. Surprise: I opened the driver’s door and wondered about the CD etui on my seat. Where was that from? Next I noticed the empty center console—MP3 CD radio gone. Moving around the car, I noticed the broken lock on the passenger door. Who steals a radio worth 100 euros, in front of about 500 police officers!?

   That was it. Definitely having had better days, I dropped my plans to visit my adoptive home, Friesland, in the evening, and deciced to return to Berlin immediately. On my way back, I stopped at a police station near the highway (since a policeman in Bremen told me that I could file a complaint at any police station), had an interesting dialog for one to two hours (including a breath test, “just to make sure”), and prepared for the talk with my insurance.

   At 11 pm, I was home.

The best is, it’s Sunday, so the weekend’s not over yet—probably my car is now to be stolen, since the lock’s still broken. (Meh, but I’m just disappointed and frustrated, not pessimistic.)

One final note to drivers out there though: Use the right lane! Whenever I drive around Germany, people are so [expletive] and use the left or middle lane even when the right one’s free. (Remember you’re required to use the right lane?) Not only is this stupid and arrogant since these people block two lanes, it’s really dangerous. Stay in the right lane whenever possible. No one wants to die just because you are too dumb to drive on a freeway. Thank you.

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m a frontend engineering leader and tech author/publisher. I’ve worked as a technical lead for companies like Google and as an engineering manager for companies like Miro, I’m a contributor to several web standards, and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.

I love trying things, not only in web development (and engineering management), but also in other areas like philosophy. Here on meiert.com I share some of my experiences and views. (Please be critical, interpret charitably, and give feedback.)