Yoko flashes the light and speaks out on Nutopia

So Yoko Ono’s Peace Tower was lit on Tuesday night and it looks kind of cool, although also kind of scary, like a mammoth searchlight reaching into the clouds. Kind of like No Man’s Land has been transported to Viðey.

The ceremony itself was a little awkward, at least it had YT cringing in her seat in front of the telly, particularly when Yoko, Ringo, Olivia and Sean got out these little lights that they flashed on and off on people around them going: ‘I.love.you. I.love.you.’ etc. I kept wondering whether the people standing around in the audience were supposed to join them in the ‘I.love.you’ declarations, but if so then it was the wrong country because Icelanders are notorious for hating everything that is in the least bit sentimental and soppy. So most people just sort of stood around and fidgeted, with a few brave [or codependent] souls muttering ‘I.love.you’ under their breath, hoping they wouldn’t be seen by any of their friends.

Be that as it may, Yoko has been treated like a dignitary here, trotted out to meet all these politicos and CEOs of energy companies and suchlike, and of course everybody.loves.her because she’s very sweet and eccentric and – perhaps most importantly – she.loves.Iceland. And yet – I sometimes have to wonder whether she’s succumbed to the ranks of the Icelandic Utopianites [people who believe Niceland is Utopia on Earth, most of whom don’t actually reside here] because to hear her tell it, this place is Paradise. So clean, and so much energy, and so much clean energy [which is true] and so much wisdom and so on. [For some reason she’s said nothing about the nosepicking. Bizzare.]

The clincher in this little hypothesis of mine was a quote in Fréttablaðið this morning in which Yoko claimed that the difference between Reykjavík and New York was that there was no dust in the windowsills here, whereas in New York they had to constantly wipe the dust from their windowsills. Mokay.

First of all, I’d be extremely concerned if the luxury hotel in which she’s staying didn’t wipe the dust from their windowsills, and second, I invite Yoko to go into any normal home in Reykjavík, particularly the day after a storm, and examine the windowsills. I think she’d find even Utopia has dust.

AS FOR THE WEATHER
We’re between low-pressure areas at the moment and the weather looks awesome. The sun has just come out and there is not even the hint of a breeze, at least not as seen from my window. Time to get out there and make the most of it before a storm revs up later today. Currently 8°C [46F], sunrise was at 8:04 this morning, and sunset is due for 6:23 pm.

PS. Just noticed something - if you click on this link and read through Yoko's ceremony speech, you'll find this: "I know that John is with us, too, in this land of Nutopia ..." HAR!! NUTOPIA!! Is that a Freudian slip, or what? I mean, I know our Polly is living in the land of Nutopia, but I didn't know I was! HAR!