Here come the dark times: Winter in Denmark

Hi, I'm Kay Xander Mellish, and welcome to the How to Live in Denmark podcast. It's been a beautiful week in Copenhagen. Golden autumn weather, crisp cold air, and sunny blue skies. But we all know what's ahead. Here come the dark times. The dark times in Denmark last from October to March. You really start to notice it when daylight savings time ends, usually the last weekend in October. By that time, the sky is dark when you get up in the morning, and it's dark when you leave work at the end of the day. If you don't take an outdoor lunch break, you can go several days without seeing the sun at all. I knew a painter once when I lived in New York— an art painter, not a house painter— and he said painters loved to come to Scandinavia because of the gorgeous white winter sunlight. I guess that's because artists want to paint things that are unusual and rarely seen, like angels or dogs playing poker. There is light during the winter in Denmark, but you won't see much of it during the dark times. What you'll see most days is gray sky and rain and cold and biting wind that stirs up dead leaves and stray garbage. If you want your friends and relatives to visit you in Denmark, don't invite them to come during the dark times. They'll get a bad impression of the place. It's because of the lack of light in winter that Danes are so crazy about candles. They love candles. They're an important part of hygge, the Danish passion for coziness. I challenge you to find one page of a Danish home decorating magazine that doesn't feature candles. My personal favorite photo layout was of a home with little tea candles arranged in patterns All over the wooden floor. It was extremely practical and not at all a fire hazard. I don't know if the house had small children, but that would have made the candles on the floor an even better idea. During the dark times, the evenings are very long. Up until Christmas, you can use your time preparing for Christmas, and nobody can decorate for Christmas like the Danes, except perhaps the Germans. But January, February, March are the months when everybody's broke, pale, pimply, and fed up with winter. To make it through, you need a project. For example, see Matador, the 96-part historical miniseries that Danes say truly explains their modern culture. It's not really 96 parts, it just seems like 96 parts. Go skiing in Norway if you can, and if you can't, stay home and study your Danish verbs. Really, you've got nothing better to do until spring suddenly brings Denmark back to life in April. Or sometimes May. Sometimes also June or July. But for now, you can just enjoy the early days of autumn. It's a funny time of year in Copenhagen. Tivoli is closed, and cruise ships have stopped running for the winter. Mostly, the locals have the city to themselves. So relax, enjoy the sun, take a walk in the park, and buy a light for your bike. Without one, you can get a 750 crown fine if you ride your bicycle after dark, and almost any time of day can be after dark once the dark times begin. And that's the How to Live in Denmark podcast for this week. Visit our website at howtoliveindenmark.com and let me know what you thought of the podcast. This week's podcast was sponsored by KXM Group. If you're a Danish company doing business abroad, we make you look good in English. Check us out at kxmgroup.dk. Music arranged by George Garvis. See you next week. Remember, the How to Live in Denmark book is available for download on amazon.com. You can read it on any phone or tablet. All you need is the Kindle app, and the Kindle app is free. The book's not free, but it's not very expensive either. If you read the book and enjoy it, please leave a review on your local version of amazon.com. It helps other people find the book and find the podcast.