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.

Last night we had our friends over from FLSmidth for a table tennis contest. In the weeks leading to the event there was plenty of competitive banter between the two camps (as we had previously played each other). But this time it was serious. There were more people on each side. A team strip (I mean shirts, not…you know…). Some snacks. And a trophy.

After a few practice games and some last-minute decisions about the rules, we were ready to go! Each game played was a doubles match, which meant that bodies quite often got in the way of each other (sorry Asya!), but the confusion over whose turn or serve it was added to the fun of the whole event.

The results were pretty close throughout the evening, but at 16:55 the FLS Warriors were trailing behind the EFI Bears by just one point. FLSmidth managed to pull it back so the scores were even. At 14 points each, both teams decided to give it their all. It was time to bring out the big guns…

Both teams put forward their best-performing players. The duo who could secure glory and the stunning trophy would surely be idols for table tennis players everywhere. It was Anders and Henrik versus Matt and David. As the four men picked up their bats and squared up to the table, you could have cut the atmosphere with a cheese slicer.

The game was fast and furious as each man played as if he was playing for his life. The table tennis ball flew in all directions, narrowly taking out a spectator’s (Shila’s) eye and causing each man to throw himself around the arena as he desperately fought for each point. Man and table tennis bat became one - it was like watching a scene from The Matrix. After notching up some well-earned points, Matt and David came through for the EFI Bears and claimed victory not just for themselves, but for the whole team.

The whole evening was really good fun and FLSmidth has promised us to a rematch so they have a chance to win the trophy next year. Thank you for coming over guys - we had a great laugh, and hope you did too!