Danish
Mikael emerges from his small tent holding two plastic bottles, each
containing a yellow fluid. “It saves me having to get out in the
night”, he says. His bicycle lies nearby next to a small trailer.
This is Danish Mikael's life: cycling around Denmark and this part of
northern Germany looking at history, living in a tent.
Danish
Mikael tells us that he's never fitted in with those around him.
He's an intelligent, communicative person, but at the same time a
loner. He remembers his childhood and the fights between his parents.
Danish Mikael describes his father as a 'strong man'. He often
visits the past.
Danish
Mikael has diminishing assets. He exists on savings and state
benefits. His world is shrinking, a result of all the personal difficulty locked into his life. Danish Mikael no longer has a job and colleagues. No
close neighbours. No family. He has a small tent, a bicycle and a
trailer.
Danish
Mikael cooks, eats and sleeps in his tent. He doesn't join us in the
camping site's communal kitchen. In the world of his tent, Danish
Mikael looks within himself, and writes. He asks me to read a short
piece he's written. It describes a woman living in a castle. She
has all the material things anyone could wish for, but she sees no one. She is well fed and comfortable. She roams
the castle finding rooms that
give her pleasure, soothing tranquil places and dark sinister dungeons that terrify but
at the same time excite her.
She can go anywhere within the castle, the choice is hers.
But one day she manages to see beyond the limits of its walls. She sees a world so different from her own that she longs for a life beyond the confines of the grey stone. The outside is full of life; there's a horizon.
A
light rain has set in and Danish Mikael waves us off in the
drizzle. He'll stay another day, he says.
