Cut-throat world of the danish bike lanes

It is a cut-throat world on the danish bike lanes. On some days it feels like everything is out to get you. Children, elderly people, other cyclists... especially other cyclist and they are creative about it. Everybody except the car drivers, they, are super considerate to cyclists. And of course they are, if there is a crash with a cyclist and driver being a part of it it will be drivers fault by default unless cyclist went through red light. But at the same time, deep down, drivers hate cyclists.

"Copenhagen cyclists are the worst", one of my friends said.

And I must say that I understand the sentiment. 

When I just arrived I was working with a friend who isn't a passionate cyclist. Also, we both recently moved to Copenhagen and we didn't know the city so we were relying on a GPS a lot and we weren't riding fast. We were definitely slower cyclists out there. Oooo boy, I was feeling like a moving target! Other cyclist were just swooshing past us, often angrily using their bells, somehow you can just hear the frustration from the way the person uses a bike bell. We were just a slow crawling nuisance that was reducing Danish commuting efficiency.

That lasted for two months. My friend and me learned the ropes of our job and we started working independently. Since, by that time I got to know the city as well I started riding my usual style, fast and determined, like a well integrated immigrant.

Since then I saw the other dark side of Copenhagen cyclists. They don't care for pedestrians at all and sometimes they really should. Danish cycling infrastructure is great but it has it's flaws. For example bus stations are in between the road and the bike lane, so when passengers are going on or of the bus they must go across the bike lane. On multiple occasions, when bus would stop and passengers would start going of, I would either stop or crawl so people can normally get of the bus. I thought other cyclists would do the same, I was wrong. They don't, they just go into mode; moving obstacles... avoid... avoid, so they just go zig-zaging through the passengers getting of the bus and almost colliding with me, since I am letting people go over the bike lane. Even though the default is, squeeze through the pedestrians and try not to hit them, I still stop and let them through and risk being ran over by a determined Dane on the bike. It is the same with crosswalks. You would think when people are crossing the road on the green light that cyclists would let them through, they don't. I guess their reasoning is that if someone ends up under their wheels, it is their fault.

Position of the bike lane in between the road and the sidewalk causes other problems as well. When people are getting out of the car, or fetching stuff from the car they have to be on the bike lane. That is what is causing a lot of potentially dangerous situations. On multiple occasions I was in a situation where I thought that I will slam into the person getting out of the car, or into the person going across the bike lane. Two times I was in a situation in which the person going across the bike lane saw me, looked me straight into the eyes, acknowledged that I am approaching and still made a step unto the bike lane even though I was just 2 meters away approaching in high speed. Fortunately for me, disk brakes had enough power to stop me before I hit the person.

Cyclist are also a menace to other cyclists. A lot of them is making turns without signaling, joining the bike lane without any thought of the incoming traffic, squeezing in past you in places where there is enough room for just one bike, people riding children bikes overtake when it seems there isn't enough space. On occasions it can really feel like: "Ok, this one will crash into me, but then they don't." I will conclude that I am the inexperienced one.

To conclude these 2 cycling posts. Danish bike lanes are amazing. If a person lives and works in Copenhagen there really is no reason to commute by car. The fastest way of commuting is using the bike, but it isn't the safest one. So, in a tame country of Denmark, where everything is regulated and controlled, if you want to get some adrenaline, get a bike and jump in! Who knows, maybe that is the reason why are Danes doing it, so they can feel alive at least while they are in their daily commute.

Cycling in Denmark

Cycling is a great hobby of mine. In the second year of studies I was mugged in a tram in Zagreb and for a short period of time I was afraid of using Zagreb public transportation. That didn't last long but it lasted long enough for me to notice the crappy old green bike in front of the apartment. I think dad bought it when I was a kid, but nobody ever used it. That time I thought, why not, let's try. Oooo the freedom.... being independent from public transport, not wasting your life away in traffic jams and the commuting speed. It was love on the first sight and it just grew from there. First it led to me working as a bike courier as I was wrapping up my studies. And I loved that stupid job. Roaming around the city on the bike for the whole day, beautiful! 

After I got into the grove I was doing between 50 and 80 km a day and then one day I woke up and asked myself: "How far could I go if I just cycle in one direction?" The answer was the coastline. Zagreb is located a bit less then 200km from the coastline. And that was it, eternal love between my bike and me was sealed.

As it turned out my dear friend was equally crazy about cycling as I was. From 2010 to 2016, 4 out of 6 summers we spent on cycling trips around Europe: Berlin, Tirana, Lake Ohrid, Swiss Alps, Krakow, Sarajevo, Dubrovnik, Prague; to name just a few places we have seen with our best 2 wheeled friends.

Cycling is just a part of me and it will always be a part of my life in a smaller or larger degree.

Before I moved to Denmark I knew that Denmark has an amazing cycling infrastructure and that the cycling is a big thing there. Even with that knowledge I wasn't prepared for reality, which was just WoW.

First time Al'Shadar took me to the center of Copenhagen I felt like a small child, full of awe and wonder for the new world. Bike lanes were everywhere and they were wide enough so you can overtake and they were packed! First group of people commuting was around 70 bikes large! Up to that point the largest group of other fellow cyclist I was waiting for the trafficlight in Zagreb was 5! So I recon you can understand my surprise when I saw a group of that size.

Danish cycling infrastructure is just amazing. There are not two places in Denmark that are not connected with a bike lane. Bike lanes are just everywhere in Denmark even between nowhere and nowhere. For real! There are even bike lanes in rural area with just couple of people living in them.

But, cycling lanes is one thing but bicycles are something else. Before I moved I expected that in a country with such a great infrastructure, quality of the bikes will follow but it doesn't. Most of the bikes you can see in traffic are crappy old city bikes and when I say crappy I mean crappy! If bikes were supposed to pass some road safety test, most of the bikes on Danish roads would fail. At first I was surprised with that but as I started to get to know Danish culture it started to make sense. People in Denmark don't cycle because it is there hobby, they cycle to commute. Bicycle in Denmark is a transportation device and Danes treat them as such. Bicycles are tools to be used for commuting and not hobby items you will pamper.

But that can also be seen on the Danish streets. During workdays most of the bicycles looks like they will fall apart if you look them in a bad way. Weekends are a different story though. Then avid cyclists pull out their babies out of storage and these bikes are something else. Sexy roadies worth 10000 dkk or more. Mountain bikes are a rare sight in Denmark. When you get to see one, you will remember it, and that makes sense. Of course mountain bikes are not popular and why would they be. Denmark is FLAT and the usefulness of mountain-bikes is very limited. You just don't need mountain-bikes in a flat country.

But there is a lot of weird looking bike-things that are used for transportation of people and/or things. On multiple occasions I have seen a parent transporting their two or more children in children-bikes. Some of them are three wheeled with a transport spaces on the front axle, some of them have two wheels with transportation space between the wheels, but these are made just to carry cargo. The most interesting one I have seen is for transportation of blood.

To conclude, biking is huge in Denmark and you can see it everywhere. But it isn't huge because Danes are passionate bicyclers, it is huge because it is a mean of transport. But if you are a passionate cyclist, moving to Denmark will be a huge quality if life improvement.

In the next blog entry I will talk a bit about how it is to cycle on danish bike lanes.

Danes in public spaces

Denmark is a bit over regulated country. 

Laws are set in place and people adhere to them and everything is working like clockwork. Problems arise when there is a part of everyday life that is not regulated in that way, then Danes get a bit lost. Great examples is open public space that isn't strictly regulated: behavior in daily commute and in shopping.

But let's start with road traffic. That will offer a great contrast to the point I am trying to make, because it is highly regulated activity. When Danes are driving cars they are borderline boring, in a good way. When you are driving in Denmark you should feel safe. Like any other regulated aspect of life in Denmark, this one is also working spotlessly. People don't speed, during peak hours, if there is no traffic obstructions everything is flowing. If you need to change lanes, you just need to turn on the blinkers and they will immediately allow you to change lanes. Totally, non stressful and safe. My favorite element of road traffic is when Danes are using a lane that is obligatory turn. You will see ten or more cars standing in a obligatory left lane for example and all of them blinking that they will make the left turn, like they have any other options. Why is this aspect of everyday life working like clockwork? Because it is regulated and the fines for infringement of traffic rules are very high. So, Danes are not given any freedoms and nothing is left to interpretation. Speed limit is 110, you will not drive faster. When you turn left, you will blink. Easy peasy! Danes excel at following rules.

But behavior in trains, shopping malls and bike lanes is not regulated, Danes are left to their own devices and than things start going a bit wrong.

Trains and shopping malls sometimes look like battlegrounds where speed and relentless determination are essential for survival.... no wait do you need them in order to board a train or buy groceries? Of course you don't, but it certainly looks like you do.

When Danes are boarding a train they will form a narrow passage way around the doors and eagerly wait to jump on its pray. At the moment the doors open if foot does not peak in a split of a second the relentless stampede will start. If someone does want to get of, but he did not react fast enough, the Danish stampede will stop and reluctantly give only minimal space for the person to get of the train. They are on a mission! Board the train like your life depends on it! It is the same with getting of the train. If a woman with a child, person with a bike or a person in a wheelchair wants to get of the train, the Danish stampede does not care. Tightly packed line is formed and if you are not in it you must wait until they pass or you will be trampled. Women with baby carts receive help to get of the train usually from the conductor, or the first person that is trying to get on the train. I recon that a woman with a baby cart is seen as an obstruction that reduces the efficient boarding so it should be removed fast. Train rides are ruthless and should not be taken lightly in Denmark.

It is very similar in the supermarkets. When waiting in line at the cash register, you can feel them breathing down the back of your neck. If you want to take a slight step outside of the line, you are running the risk of losing your space. In general, if you display any hesitation while trying to get in line or while you are waiting in line you are doing it at your own risk, after all there is only so much food in the store, it just might run out.

If you are looking at something on the shelves and another Dane is looking at it as well but he got there before you, do not expect it will give you any space so you can look as well. The only thing you will get is a mute angry stare that says: "I got here first! I will move when I am done and not a split second before!" Ooookkkk.... it is not like the milk will run anywhere by the time you are done. There are counters to this behavior. Option I usually go for is just wait. Relentless Danish shoppers are usually done within half a minute. Second option is that you could ask them to give you some space. It would be acknowledged as demonstration of force and if you would leave the impression that you are the alpha hunter in this isle the weaker shopper could retreat and acknowledge defeat and wait it's turn.

Third alternative is to ask them for some space. With popping this question you are putting a Dane in a state of internal conflict between making a scene, if he decides not to give you space and pulling back. The last thing a Dane in public wants is to be noticed by others, so he will give up and let you look. They just can't stand being noticed by strangers.

Why is it like that? Because Danes are great at following rules. Whenever they see a rule, by default and without thinking, they oblige. That is why, if rules are set up in a smart way, that part of life will function without a glitch. But there is a negative side effect of this behavior as well, it creates boiled up frustrations inside. These frustrations surface on weekends or in non-regulated activities. That is when Danes give in to their urges that are buried deep down inside and that is what makes them to see a lady with a stroller just as an obstacle that needs to be solved in the shortest possible time!   

New Croatian caste system

Today I read another typical Croatian horror story. A lady works as a cook in a school. Couple of years into her employment a new main cook is employed. After the first year of his employment, sexual harassment starts. She goes to the school principal to report it, and the response that she gets is, that she is making it all up. The school immediately filed a counter lawsuit against her for stealing school property. She won that case and the verdict is final, she was declared innocent of the charges. One time she asks the offender: "but why do you do it? "Because nobody can touch me, I have the school principle under my control". The harassed lady filed the law suit against the harasser and won, but the verdict still isn't final. There is still the right to appeal to the supreme court. Since the harassment began, years have passed. The harasser is still working in the same school - still doing his thing.

Major of Split between 2009 - 2013

This is only one of many stories of the same type from Croatia. The pattern is the following; a person of influence - be it a politician, a business man or their family members - commits a serious crime on the level of; murder in the first or second degree, embezzlement of the huge amount of money, fraud, harassment, blatant ignoring of laws etc. Institutions do the work and file a lawsuit - no need to mention the case is clear as daylight, even to someone with the IQ of the room temperature.

Consequences? None. In most cases years or even decades later, judicial proceedings are still not over, the final verdicts still haven't been reached or the trials have been rolled back to the start. In some cases, there are verdicts with a laughable punishment (fx. one of the former ministers was charged with embezzlement of tens of millions of HRK Čobanković, and the sentence was one year in jail that was replaced with volunteer work). In other cases, people in power just blatantly breach the laws and nothing is happening (fx. second person in command of University of Zagreb refuses to go to retirement after he passed all the legal limits of the age when you must retire by law).

On the other hand, you have normal, every day people that are not in a position of power; that do some minor infringement of the Croatian law, people who suffered injustice, people in need of a special care or just normal young people fresh out of school trying to make a living.

Consequences? Severe! If you live in Croatia and you are not in a position of power, you don't want to be in a situation where you need the "services" of the Croatian legal system. Just to mention some short examples. In 2015, lady in Osijek was arrested and taken to a police station because she crossed a street on a red light. 

Son of a businessman that was financing the strongest political party in Croatia, killed two high school girls because of speeding. After two years and annulled judicial proceeding, the killer got a reduced sentence by six months - that was later reduced even further - that needed to be served in a open correctional facility. Justice for the families of the killed girls? Who cares when they are not coming from a good Croatian family, right?

A number of my friends, fresh out of university, were looking for any jobs for years and couldn't find any. Finally they left and guess what? They got on their feet fast and are living successful lives in whichever country they decided to go - but there was no place for any of them in Croatia. 

Conclusion, when you are not in a position of power in Croatia, legal system will not protect you, police will not protect you and your career opportunities are very limited if you are not from a good family.

All of this made me thinking; didn't Croatia somehow develop a caste system? There is a clear pattern in Croatian society: if you were born in a family with a position of power, all the doors will be open for you and no matter what shit you cause, there will be no consequences. You are just beyond the reach of the law and Croatia is your playground.

On the other hand if you are an average Joe, or God forbid, skilled or talented without connections, your life options are crippled. There are loads of stories of talented Croatians who just would not get the lucky break in Croatia... but when they left all the doors opened for them. The last one I read was about a young opera singer. In Croatia he struggled. After he finished his education he couldn't even get a small and insignificant role in an opera. Then he applied for the scholarship in La Scala, Milan. Now he is singing with the most famous opera singers in the world. At the same time Croatian national opera is in the free fall. Guess what? Talent doesn't matter, but family does. 

I could tell a million similar stories. Is it really surprising that the quality of all institutions is going down in Croatia? Of course not! In a new Croatian caste system, family is all and talent and skill are nothing.

Agency for legalization of illegally built buildings

More then 300.000 Croatians left the country since 2013, all the doors for them were closed. Number of employed people in public and state companies rose since cousins need to work. How will it end? Either it will snap at the point when the money runs out or Croatia will become a pleasant country for cousins and summer holiday. I mean, isn't administrative personnel in Croatia, just a really expensive kind of social support?

But let's end this entry on a positive note. Do you know why there is no sex in Croatian state administration? Because everybody is related.

Come what may but I need to leave this place

It was the winter morning on 27th of January 2019 and 3 months passed since I started torturing my ex-wife, my soon to be new girlfriend and myself and I have finally decided. I have been finally deciding a lot of things often and all were final in these last three months, but this time it was final for real:

"So, have you made up your mind?"

"Yes, all my instincts are telling me that I need to go without you."

With these words I erased everything we have been building together for the last 18 years and this time I was sure, but my words had so little weight at that point. I have changed my mind so many times, I have been tearing myself apart for three weeks:

"I am sitting in the car now and leaving now, because I have to! But you can't, you have your friends here, you have your family here, everything you have built is here, your wife is here and everything is ok with you two, you can't do it to her, you just can't abandon it all." Every day, for three weeks, two times a day, these were the thoughts going through my head. After a while I would be so worn out by it that I would just throw myself on the floor crying in despair and then compose myself by the time my wife, at the time came home.

Since I was so insecure in these three months and changed my decisions so often, I told myself that I need to prove it to myself and to others, especially to Al'shadar, that this is it now, I am doing it for sure. I told her that I will start with preparations to leave for Denmark sometimes in the middle of February and that I will prove every step of the way and document it to her, or to me? I needed to do this for me as well, since my words had so little weight at the time.

And I did it, every day something: documents, apartment in Copenhagen, planning the trip, getting rid of stuff, packing, seeing friends, losing friends, disappointing friends, making my family cry. It was insane, scary, devastating, destructive, ugly, beautiful, exhilarating all at the same time. But finally after two and a half years I had a goal, a purpose, I finally knew what needed to be done and I did it! I am leaving for Denmark on 10th of February.

And that morning came, my whole life was in that car, it was so unreal and purifying at the same time. You actually realize, at moments like these, how much useless stuff you have and with how little you can actually live and be happy.

I was driving of to Denmark on February 10th but I was leaving the old apartment on February 9th. My ex-wife asked me to leave on that day I wanted to respect her wishes. I was the one who messed it up and made the call and she was the one who was super supportive to the very end. That last hour was devastating, I was aware that this is the last time I will be in this apartment, that I will see, I guess my ex-dog, that I loved soo much, my turtles that will get a new home in two weeks! My heart was broken but my determination was unquestionable. First you must destroy the old if you want to build something new. And I did! And it hurt like hell but it was necessary!

I sat in the car and drove of to a gas station first: "What have I done! I have destroyed everything and there is no turning back now!" But there was no turning back now for good 2 weeks and I new this. Off to a coffee with a friend: "OMG this is great! The best decision ever! Let's do this!" All of this was going through my head in a time span of 10 minutes but after the horror of leaving passed, there was peace and just the brave new world and a new life for me to build as I please. That's why all the destruction of everything was worth every second and I would do it again.

I said goodbye to a friend, my grandparents and went to spend the night with my parents for the last time... still feels surreal and that feeling will stay with me for some time. The more time passes the less frequent it is but it still pops up from time to time, both for me and Al'shadar.

The moment has come, last "systems check", fire up the engine and go... after 50 meters: "Oh shit, where is the passport!" I am stopping the car on a step hill... ufff it's ok it is here. Let's go! IIIII am DOING IT!!!! After 2 kilometers all the lights on the control panel lit up! "O c'mon! Don't give up on me now! We have been to so many places together, you can't fail me now! Ok, ok I will stop at the bus stop, turn it off and on again, it just needs a reset, it will be ok." Gravel crunching as the car is stopping and the gentle hum of the diesel engine dies, the car is off... One click, two clicks, crank it all the way, engine sputtering and... IT'S WORKING!!! IT'S WORKING!!! Bye, bye Croatia, see you... sometime but not soon.

Denmark here I come!!!