Though we have spent almost half our lives on the road since 2014 it has not been an attempt to 'get away from it all'. Most mornings the first thing we do is check the headlines on our phones, and quite often it's politics that is the subject of breakfast chat, the delights of where we are and any plans we have put on hold till later.
In the first couple of years of our travels it was the humanitarian crisis engulfing the eastern Mediterranean that dominated the headlines. The issue felt close and urgent as we travelled the roads of southern Sicily and the Peloponnese.
Since 2016 Brexit has been the can't ignore story, especially as the more time we spent in the EU. the more cockeyed the reporting of the matter in the British press appeared.
Looking back the issue first popped-up in the blog even before the referendum. Noting the UK's absence from a European festival at Aix en Provence prompted me to mull over the question of whether the UK had ever fully signed-up to the European project at all.
"The thought crossed my mind that rather than the current debate about 'Brexit', the real issue is 'Britin' - we have never really signed up to the core idea behind the European Union - 'Unity Through Diversity' - as a nation we struggle with the notion, we still perceive our history as 'an island story' that asserts a separateness that must be defended, and fails to acknowledge how Britain's past and current culture is inexorably tied to a broader European history. The simple truth is, at home you rarely see the EU flag at all, it's as if we are a bit wary, or scared of what it represents. Hopefully we won't exit in June - but I can't see a positive vote resulting in us becoming more enthusiastic Europeans, I suspect we are doomed to be forever the EU's lukewarm member. I find that sad."
With hindsight the observations have a certain naive charm. Nobody foresaw the collective nervous breakdown that has since enveloped the UK. Today, in yet another bizarre twist, Boris tops the Conservative MPs poll, the only thing that can stop him being crowned PM by the Tory Party faithful is the man's innate idiocy. He has a fantastic capacity to shoot himself in the foot, which is why his minders work hard to minimise his media appearances and attempt to keep him under wraps.
How can anyone think this charlatan and buffoon is a suitable Prime Minister? I ask you, would you be happy for him to be your GP, or the head of your local Primary school? So why on earth should he be able to become PM simply through the arcane machinations of the Tory Party rule book?
Such was the chat as we headed towards the Oresund bridge, neither of us felt too perky, aside from the news, last night's long and loud thunderstorm had ensured a grumpy start to the day.
This was a pity, as like any fan of Nordic Noir the Oresund Bridge is a place of pilgrimage for us, albeit a costly one - the toll for a one-off crossing in a motorhome given the dismal exchange rate at the moment is £110.
It is a magnificent structure, 16km in length, a combined road and rail crossing, mostly a bridge, but including a tunnel at the Danish end. It creates an international metropolis effectively turning Copenhagen and Malmö into a single conurbation. For tourists the hefty toll must make it one of the most expensive stretches of asphalt in the world. Regular users pay a fraction of the toll we paid.
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| Never said it was good Never said it was near Shadow rises and you are here And then you cut You cut it out And everything goes back to the beginning...... |
I celebrated the crossing with a loud and spectacularly tuneless rendition of 'The Bridge' series theme tune. As we crossed I decided 'The Killing' versus 'The Bridge' debate. The latter is my favourite Nordic Noir. I accept that the startling series end of 'The Killing' is probably more classically 'noirish', but the final scene of Saga stopped halfway across the Oresund, standing next to her signature vintage Porsche, finding, if not exactly freedom, but hope - it's a powerful redemptive moment.
Despite my best efforts to avoid the awkward truth, I am an optimist, a hopeful romantic really - Not even Boris could wreck our moment.
Sweden has been a revelation, the landscape tranquil and soulful, its culture more intriguing and complex to navigate than we had anticipated - we definitely felt like foreigners, slightly wrong footed and mightily confused half the time. Now back to Denmark - we loved the small towns and little ports as we travelled north, what now would we make of Copenhagen?
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