EUROPE NEWS

Another dispatch from wonderful Copenhagen.

I was unfair to describe the town as "grim" in my last report. It snowed yesterday, transforming it into one of the most beguiling cityscapes TUPNews has ever seen.

Last night we were bussed from our conference hall to an old brewery on the outskirts of town, for a party. Alone, tired and a little drunk, I spent the half-hour journey staring out of the window at frozen lakes, gothic factories, snow-encrusted churches of unrecognisable architecture - it's like a Tim Burton film here. Or the cover of the Bloc Party album. It's amazing.

The best thing is seeing a tree that has fallen into a river, when the river is frozen and covered in snow.

Once I had drunk my fill, I left the party on foot rather than queue for a taxi. I wanted to soak in more of the snow, even though it was dark. I came across some interesting things, like a fifty-foot bottle of beer. I stopped at a service station to buy a hot dog - it was excellent, so I bought another. When it got too cold I caught the underground back to the centre. The trains are clean, and the seats are shaped oddly and asymetrically, like everything in the Jetsons.

Upon leaving the station I immediately became lost, which was good because it gave me a chance to ask someone for directions, which I kind of like to do. A polite Dane directed me across the street, into which I instantly stepped out, sending another polite Dane skidding into the slushy ground on her bike. The young girl picked herself up and instantly apologised to me - in English.

I would have felt less guilty if I had murdered someone - I was so shaken I had to stop off for one last Tuborg to calm my nerves.