There are two really good reasons to check out this YouTube video.

Firstly, it reveals that Denmark is the happiest place on Earth. Blue Zones has surveyed hundreds of thousands of people around the world and it seems that Danes are just really happy - not just at the time of asking, but with life in general. Which, if you live in Denmark, may be enough to make you forget about the weather for a while.

Secondly, it’s a great example of comments becoming more interesting than the piece they are commenting on. When I checked, 106 comments had been left - and the debate is raging as to why Danes are so happy, and whether they really should be. It’s fascinating reading. But be warned: not everyone is happy for the Danes…

As a longtime resident of Denmark now living in Norway, I’m often asked what’s different between the Danes and Norwegians. I’ve already posted about the service industry in the two countries. And over the last few months, I’ve begun to notice another major difference: the idea of a good time is completely opposite.

The Norwegian attitude is expressed wonderfully in this passage from Odd Børretzen’s book How to Understand and Use a Norwegian: A User’s Guide.

“[The Norwegian] wants the time he spends with other people to result in something sensible, or enable him to:
1. learn from it
2. have a child by it, or
3. obtain a good Fisheries Agreement.
The Norwegain has never quite understood how people from other lands can find it morally justifiable to sit in a pub, at a sidewalk cafe, or in a marketplace for hours, and talk about anything for no other purpose than just sitting there talking.”

The more time I spend in Norway, the more I realise this is true. Norwegians love to be doing something in their spare time. They climb mountains, go fishing, walk the coast, sew, better themselves. The idea of doing ‘nothing’ is thoroughly alien.

Compare this to the Danes, whose idea of a good time is nothing but sitting and chatting with friends.

There’s something funny about the Danish lunch break. It doesn’t really exist. It’s 30 minutes of quick eating, a short chat and then straight back to work. Is this a good idea?

As an Englishman, I grew up in world where lunch is long and leisurely. In the UK, a one-hour lunch is considered the minumum and two hours is not unheard of. People use their lunch breaks to rest, read the newspaper or do some stuff in town. I remember my teenage years working on building sites where the one-hour lunch was the most wonderful time of day. Starving after a morning’s work, I’d eat slowly and then still have 25 minutes to find a quiet spot in the shade for a quick nap. Wonderful.

In Denmark, you barely have time to swallow before it’s back to work - which at first glance seems pretty paltry. But, there’s a huge upside to this. In the UK, it’s not unusual to start work at 9am and not get home until well past 6pm. Sure, you can enjoy a long lunch, but isn’t that time better spent at home with your family? With the short Danish lunch break, people often leave work around 4 pm - and have a full evening ahead of them.

There’s also the beauty of the Danish canteen. My brother was on a visit recently and I told him the story of a Danish friend of mine who took the quality of the canteen into consideration when taking a job. My brother was (a) shocked that this was important to him and (b) surprised that so many work places have a canteen. I guess if you only have 30 minutes to eat, you don’t have time to pop out to the sandwich shop - so having food provided is essential.

Well, I’m not sure if it’s the absolute worst. But the English lyrics have got to come close! It starts off with a line that means absolutely nothing:

“I was not looking for arty-farty love”

What’s that all about? There are lots of types of love, but arty-farty is not one I’ve heard of.

This is followed by one bad cliche followed by another - topped off by the brilliantly conceived:

“The wuthering heights,
And the stormy nights”

(Poor Emily Brontë - and Kate Bush, for that matter.)

The song, called ‘10,000 Nights of Thunder’, is by the Danish band Alphabeat.  It still gets so much air time in Denmark, which is pretty sad, don’t you think? But good on for them for making such a success out of a load of drivel. On the bright side, the music is fun, jolly and upbeat, which is maybe meant to cheer up radio listeners amid these dark, grey months.

What are your all-time worst song lyrics?

Sometimes the simplest ideas are just the best. And here is a great one. Visit FreeRice.com and you can practice your English vocabulary and learn new words.

And at the same time, you generate grains of rice to food programmes through the United Nations. The connection between English vocab and rice isn’t clear to me - but it doesn’t matter because the site is addictive and for a good cause.

It’s simple, you are given a word and have to choose the correct synonym from four options. And the site adjusts to your abilities, so the more you get right, the harder it gets. And each time you get an answer right, the site donates 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Programme.

The concept is simple, too. The rice comes from sponsors who advertise on the site.

Go and try it! If you already know the answer, someone gets some rice. If you don’t know the answer, you learn a new word. It’s win-win.

Our old friend Aaron sent us word of a great link. normann copenhagen is “a design company - with an opinion” and a passion for plastic dogs. The blog shows interesting views from around the world and doesn’t hold its punches when it comes to saying what it thinks of what it sees.

The safety scissors particularly caught my attention - a great example of pointless packaging.

Check it out for some examples of good and bad design around Copenhagen and the globe.