Monday, September 15

I never want to hear about the war on terror again, because self-evidently the terrorists have won. How do I know this? I have just walked around the block from the Phoenix Hotel to find a convenience store, where I bought mouthwash, shaving cream, aftershave, fruit juice, water, and a few other things. Twenty years ago, knowing that I would need these, I could have packed them in Helsinki and brought them with me. Yesterday I needed to find an especially small tube of toothpaste, an especially small tube of face wash, and so on. In the last twenty years my ability to go about my own business has lessened considerably. The terrorists have won – twice. Firstly, they have stopped people taking their shampoo with them. Secondly, they have set up a situation in which most people feel that this is normal.

People have changed their views of what is possible and what is permissable. That is the real victory.

Now I have left the store, my unnecessary purchases in my bag, and I am walking around the area. Every second shopfront seems to be a restaurant or bar. Over the road I spy a cycle shop. There seem to be a lot of cyclists – presumably on their way to restaurants and bars.

The Nobanet meeting will start with lunch, but I will be almost full from breakfast, so my lunch will consist almost entirely of salads of one sort or another. We will then spend five hours discussing the business of the first two working parties. I am the leader of Working Party 7, so my turn will come on Wednesday morning.

When we have finished I will phone Naa to see how she got on in her six hour exam today. She will be in her journalism course, but she will talk briefly and she will tell me that she thinks she did okay. I will then phone Irma who will most definitely not be feeling okay. She is having a very, very hard time putting the pieces of her self back together after Auo’s death and, as she said the other day, in some ways it seems to be getting harder for her rather than easier.

At 18:40 I will assemble in the lobby and we will all march, by the scenic route, to a restuarant called Zeleste that is very close to the hotel. I will have caviar, followed by duck, followed by creme brulee. After this Regitze will attempt to show us Copenhagen by night, but everyone will ask how to get back to the hotel.