The Iceland Weather Report

This blog has moved

2008-04-22T23:09:00.002Z

Hi. This blog has moved to icelandweatherreport.comYes, I know, that used to be the address of THIS blog, but it's since changed to a .blogspot blog and the Weather Report has moved to a WordPress platform. These are just the archives.Remember: icelandweatherreport.comSee ya!

If you had a quarter to spend in a jukebox, what would you play?

2008-04-15T22:41:00.009Z

Dear readers, I'm in the midst of a small conundrum and need your assistance.It's like this: EPI belongs to a 'listening club' - i.e. a few times a year he and his pals get together for an evening, eat some good food and drink some beer [or whatever] and introduce each other to new and inspiring music they've found since the last time. It's a pretty cool undertaking, but what's even more cool is

Vín og skel: a wee tale of redemption

2008-04-14T12:33:00.002Z

A few weeks ago YT and EPI went out for dinner with a couple of friends to a place called Vín og skel, on Laugavegur. Now, having been on intimate terms with the restaurant business in my North American incarnation [many moons ago], and having worked in some places that considered flawlessness to be merely the starting point, YT considers herself a bit of an expert when it comes to the many

Someone should take away all their toys and make them scrub toilets

2008-04-11T16:24:00.006Z

Soon after the first news hit about the serious financial crisis the Icelandic nation was supposedly in the midst of, word started circulating that the whole thing was an elaborate set-up, orchestrated by unscrupulous individuals who stood to gain from the plummeting value of the Icelandic krona. I must confess that this sounded rather implausible, to my ears at least, and I more or less

Chez YT: the excitement never stops

2008-04-10T21:52:00.008Z

So I came back from an errand early this evening and found three of my neighbours all standing around in a tizzy by the front door. Seems the girl upstairs encountered a flasher this afternoon.GIRL UPSTAIRS WHO GOT FLASHED AT: ... so he threw her down the stairs and he was in his underwear and was, like, pulling her out into the street and she was hanging on to a tree and screaming ....NEIGHBOUR

Your questions answered, episode III

2008-04-08T22:44:00.006Z

Alright, so where were we? ~ Yes... From gkb:As someone who lived in North America and returned to reside in Iceland, what differences do you notice most between the two places (both good and bad, of course)? Apropos of this, what commentary, suggestions, or advice might you have for someone who is considering moving to Iceland?~ There are loads of differences, I couldn't even begin to list them

Hi my name is Alda and I'm sad and I spend my nights surfing the Internet

2008-04-07T18:15:00.003Z

So, I was just up at the Iceland Review offices having coffee with my friend Jonas when an unnamed someone who works there came up and joined in the conversation. And we started talking about t'Internet and blogs and pedantic readers and such, and in the heat of the conversation the unnamed person said something like, "You know, there are so many sad people out there who spend their evenings just

The things I tell you. Really.

2008-04-04T23:55:00.001Z

This question thing is easy, perhaps a bit too easy. And I'm sure it could get tedious after a while, seeing as how I'd have to be answering questions all the time pretending I was in the loop about all kinds of stuff and couldn't just rant about daily stuff, like the ditzy woman with wet hair who had her open [black] car door pushing against my [silver grey] car outside Bónus today while she

Question time II

2008-04-03T21:23:00.005Z

Okay, "On with the butter" as they say here in Niceland ... I asked for questions, you gave me questions, so here we go.From Alisonl:So my question: Is one child enough or do you wish you had more?~ Oh, boy. I think I could probably write two volumes of memoirs on this one. Let's just put it this way: circumstances in my life have not supported me having more children. Do I wish those

Slight deviation from schedule to bring you some running April

2008-04-01T20:54:00.007Z

Today is one of my favourite days of the year here in Niceland because today is the day that all the Nicelanders try to trick each other into 'Running April', as it's called here. What this means is that the April fool's joke has to get you to cross a threshold, otherwise it's a failure. In past years YT has been highly successful in the April-running sweepstakes, getting EPI and AAH to cross the

Blog food for the withered mojo

2008-03-31T22:23:00.008Z

Everyone: THANK YOU. I love the diversity of your questions, and your comments. And your feedback. This interactive nature of the blog is precisely what attracts me to blogging over other forms of writing - I've learned that for me, at least, it's essential to feel that I'm not writing in a vacuum. So, thanks.And now, without further ado: From Bluegrass Mama:Anyway, my question is: are you

Ask a question, help YT recover her mojo

2008-03-30T16:17:00.011Z

Ladies and gents, it's that time of year again: YT's blog mojo has gone AWOL. It generally happens in the early spring [why?], and it seems equally dire every time. I can't think of a single interesting thing to write about, I think this blog sucks lemons and get all oh what's the point because people aren't leaving me comments and stuff. I hate the layout and it bothers me no end that there

Put that in your happy pipe and smoke it

2008-03-28T19:28:00.007Z

So, remember Eric? The guy who asked to meet with YT because someone told him I had an opinion about everything? The one who was here scratching his head about why the Nicelanders were so damn happy all the time when they had every reason to be SAD? Well, evidently the book he was writing burned up the New York Times best seller list on publication, making it to number eight [or higher] and

In which the YT cranium ejects random incoherent thoughts commonly associated with newspaper horoscopes

2008-03-27T23:26:00.008Z

1. I have a new obsession: the saltwater hot pot at the Laugardalslaug swimming pool. It's the poor man's Blue Lagoon - cures what ails ya without the resultant bankruptcy. Seriously, there's just something about that water and salt combo that MELTS away tension and anxiety and leaves your skin feeling silky smooth ALL OVER. [Say, why did I never get into doing voice overs for North American

So, at the risk of sounding like a guidebook ...

2008-03-25T21:46:00.007Z

The few days we spent in Berlin barely allowed us to scratch the surface of the city. Everybody raves about the culture there, but I didn't really get a feeling for it. I think a few things contributed: EPI being sick meant that we couldn't spend a lot of time wandering around because it was freaking cold, and there wasn't really any sort of street life. I'm sure going there in the summer would

What the war spared

2008-03-24T22:33:00.008Z

The first time I went to Berlin was in 1990. It was March, and the infamous Wall had come down the previous November. The German government, led by Helmut Kohl, had just decided that Germany would be reunified and the process to remove sections of the Wall had begun. Most of the facade had been chipped away by that time, however; in fact anyone who had a hammer and chisel was out chipping off

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T15:51:00.006Z

[I promise I shall have the Berlin toilet report for you very soon - in the meantime I've uploaded a few pics to Flickr. More anon!]PS thanks for all your comments and good wishes.

Ein Telegramm aus Berlin

2008-03-20T12:39:00.004Z

long time no write STOP no wireless in hotel despite online promise STOP sitting in turkish cafe in prenylauer berg STOP berlin fascinating as ever STOP epi got sick STOP spent full precious day in bed STOP weather cold and kinda nastz STOP z and y are changed around on this kezboard STOP zt went to turkish hammam [steam bath] & got scrubbed down bz Lebanese ladz STOP lady STOP met friends for

Auf Widersehen, bis bald!

2008-03-13T21:16:00.006Z

Here in Niceland we get the phenomenon known as the árshátíð, which literally translated means ‘annual celebration’ and figuratively translated means ‘a big party in which there is entertainment and everyone gets juiced and to which you must wear really nice clothes and get your hair done beforehand.’ [NB ‘juiced’ is not an absolute requirement, particularly if the árshátíð is being thrown by,

Completely overlooking the inherent opportunity

2008-03-12T11:41:00.011Z

YT: Remember that blogger in Paris, the one who got fired?EPI: ... YeahYT: She got paid 62 million krónur to write two books. EPI: [...!]YT: The first one just came outEPI: What's it about?YT: I dunno. Her life in Paris, probablyEPI: AhYT: She was living with this guy who was always working and they had this baby, then she met some other guy on her blog and had an affair and then she split up

I mean, who doesn't love Chocolate and Zucchini?

2008-03-11T13:50:00.010Z

So results are in for the 2008 Bloggies and top honour for Best European Weblog went to Chocolate and Zucchini, which I must say I find absolutely deserved. Not that I would have minded taking the top prize myself, of course, but it's all in what you bring to the table, innit? I have to admit that I knew nothing about C&Z before we became co-contenders for the prize, but I've now perused the site

YT gets served, shame about the food

2008-03-10T13:07:00.006Z

Ok, enough whingeing: here comes a restaurant review. EPI and I went out for dinner on Friday night with a couple of friends to Vín og skel [Wine and Shell – NB not the oil company] on Laugavegur. I’d been curious about the place for a while, having heard good things about it. In fact, I’d wanted to try it in its previous location, a bit further up on Laugavegur, tucked away down an alleyway and

A few more thoughts on publishing

2008-03-09T23:14:00.005Z

Thank you everyone for your generous feedback on the last post – I loved your responses and was completely fascinated by the opinions some of you expressed about the Icelanders and their communication skills [or lack thereof]. It’s always interesting to hear what ‘outsiders’ say about ‘us’. [Or ‘them’, as the case may be … of course I identify with the positive aspects of the Icelandic national

Interpretations invited for bizarre hypothetical scenario

2008-03-06T18:54:00.005Z

Suppose you are the owner of a semi-popular Internet weblog. A time comes when your weblog is the focus of some attention, and a couple of days later you receive in your inbox an email from the head of a publishing house which, although it is new and small, has a fair bit of capital behind it and a proven track record. The publisher introduces himself, says he has been reading through your

Taking intimacy to a new level

2008-03-05T18:10:00.002Z

EPI and I are gearing up for a trip to Berlin next week [w00t!] and have just discovered that the hotel we're staying at has rather, um, unorthodox arrangements concerning their en-suite bathrooms. Apparently they're sort of right inside the room, separated only by a glass partition.*I'm thinking they hired the same architects as the Smáralind people. You?WEATHER: CRISP AND CLEAR AS A BATHROOM

Fourteen years

2008-03-03T22:41:00.004Z

Today it is fourteen years since AAH and I moved to Iceland. I was terrified to move back. ‘Back’ being an anomaly, because from the age of five I hadn’t really lived here. I’d moved back with my mother for three years when I was seven and would happily have stayed, but it wasn’t to be. I moved back again when I was 22, in a fit of intense rebellion, when I’d come face to face with the fact that

Sunshine in a pot and other good stuff

2008-03-02T16:38:00.004Z

Yesterday was a perfect day. Brilliant sunshine in the morning, so EPI and I had the instant desire to stick our cross-country skis in the car and head up to Heiðmörk*. First, though, we had to go grocery shopping at Krónan [formerly known as stupid old Krónan – we shall see if they manage to amend their ways in their brand-new shiny store] to pick up something yummy for dinner that could

The Iceland Weather Repoty

2008-02-28T10:02:00.003Z

Welcome to the Iceland Weather Repoty. Yes, dear readers, someone actually searched for this last night and found this website, after which they splashed around in these murky waters for a total of 7 minutes and 52 seconds, and viewed 6 pages. Which I suppose is all a testimony to the fact that Google is invincible and is not above washing the feet of the linguistically feeble [witness all those

The little bitch goes home

2008-02-26T23:21:00.007Z

We bid a tearful farewell to the little bitch* today [aka the Yaris] after I'd managed to squeeze out an extra few days with her thanks to the extreme tardiness of the auto shop that was fixing my car. They never call to let you know when they've finished the repairs [annoying], and in this case, seeing as how I had a rental car in lieu, I didn't bother to chase after them [annoying for them no

It's pretty scary when you can't turn us off just by closing a window

2008-02-25T10:21:00.004Z

So, I went to my first Expat Quiz Night here in Reykjavík last Friday. Apparently they have them once a month at Café Cultura, in the Intercultural Centre, but then how would I know because I’m obviously not a genuine expat, just as I’m not a genuine Nicelander. [Falling through the cracks: the story of my life *sob*]. In fact I wouldn’t even have known about it if my friend Jonas hadn’t alerted

Get this, get the essence

2008-02-24T00:45:00.001Z

EPI and I have just come back from one fantastic concert: Hinn Íslenski þursaflokkur with the Caput ensemble, performing at Laugardalshöll arena. This was their 30th anniversary concert and they reassembled for just this one night, having disbanded in 1982. The Laugardalshöll was packed [it takes around 5,500 people, according to Wikipedia], which gives some indication of their popularity, even

Just make sure you wash them off before you enter the pool

2008-02-22T14:14:00.010Z

Ah, yes, dear readers. The latest googlie searches: floating refuse from the dark, aquatic depths of cyberspace. Read them and weep.~ The "porno dog" brigade was out in all its barking glory, with slight variations on a theme:dog end vomen porn [Ankara, Turkey] vomen end dog porn [Urfa, Turkey]dog porno . com [USA]porno doog [Croatia]what ever happened to the porno dog [anyone? - Pittsburg,

The last time this happened, I bought a new car

2008-02-21T21:14:00.004Z

My car's in the shop, so I've been zipping around on a rented Toyota Yaris since yesterday. I'm completely smitten. It's so nimble. So quick. So easy to maneuver out in traffic. I don't want my old car back. I want the Yaris. SNOWING AGAINBut not too much, so that's OK. And there's no wind, so that's doubly OK. And I have a Yaris to drive around, so I don't care anyway. Temps currently -1°C [30F]

Adoptakind.is

2008-02-20T10:50:00.003Z

Always dreamed of owning your very own Icelandic sheep but just couldn’t find a place for it out on the balcony? Well, now you can, thanks to kindur.is, which allows you to either adopt or purchase a sheep [aka kind] on an Icelandic farm, name it, choose a ram for breeding, utilize the wool from it and, if you so choose, have the meat from its little lambs processed and sent to you every autumn [

Við Tjörnina: slightly dusty and a notch above average

2008-02-18T23:05:00.004Z

Við Tjörnina, literally translated, means “By Tjörnin” – Tjörnin being a Reykjavík landmark that, depending on who you talk to, is either a pond or a lake. [Personally I think it’s too large to be the former and too small to be the latter – so for lack of a better word we’ll call it a ‘poke’.] Hence it should come as no surprise that the Við Tjörnina restaurant is located – you guessed it – by

A short reflection on living and learning

2008-02-16T22:39:00.006Z

Last night my father-in-law invited EPI and I, and EPI's brother and his wife, out to a lavish dinner at Við Tjörnina*. Just ... because. I'm such a fan of my father-in-law. When I'm 82 I want to be just like him. Well, maybe not just like him, but similar. He's completely unstoppable. After EPI's mother died a couple of years ago, he could easily have withdrawn and given up, robbed of his raison

Smokin' in the [ig]loo

2008-02-13T23:22:00.004Z

The wretched cold puddle has not been kind to smokers who, since the implementation of the nationwide smoking ban, must huddle outside on the sidewalks in the freezing cold to get their fix. Not so in Ísafjörður, however, where an ingenious pub owner has constructed a rather unorthodox - not to mention deliciously cozy - smoking salon.It's enough to make me want to start smoking again, so I can

More shameless name dropping

2008-02-12T22:50:00.000Z

So old Eric Clapton has finally agreed to bring his guitar over to do a bit of strumming for the locals next summer. Around the campfire, like. Old Eric is a regular guest here in Niceland, visits every summer to indulge his passion for salmon fishing, but until now his guitar has been conspicuously absent. Apparently he's been nagged ad nauseum every year to do a concert, and has finally caved.

Reykjavík - home of the laid-back slacker

2008-02-11T22:09:00.000Z

So, dreamy Gael Garcia Bernal is in town to do a play that opens at the Reykjavík City Theatre on the 21st of this month. Tilsammans.YT: [to EPI over dinner] I read this interview with Gael Garcia Bernal in the paper yesterday EPI: who?YT: you know, that Spanish actor ... no, Mexican ... you know, who's here to do that play with Vesturport about the commune thingEPI: [blanco] noYT: you know ...

And visitor number 200,000...

2008-02-09T20:59:00.000Z

... is from Sherbrooke, Quebec, and came through on the oh-so mundane search 'iceland weather'.Congratulations you lucky people!!!Thing is, I'm guessing they've already moved on and so won't be able to claim their prize: an Icelandic Þorrablót dinner for two, replete with pickled ram's testicles and singed sheep's heads. Served in a trough. With a couple of shots of Brennivín [Black Death] thrown

A short tale about a long night

2008-02-09T14:00:00.000Z

Yesterday I woke up at 4 am after 2.5 hours of sleep to discover that Daughter was not yet home from the school formal she'd gone to. It was [is] the major event of the year at her school. Everyone had Thursday and Friday off, and the day began early with a premiere of the school musical at 10 am. After that she went for brunch with her classmates and hung out with them, playing board games, etc.

There is nothing quite so wonderful as money

2008-02-06T23:02:00.000Z

Really, I'm no fun these days, what with my nose immersed in books and glossaries and excruciatingly dull sample texts*. So in lieu of my sparkling wit and exuberant demeanor, allow me to share with you a short video created by a reader who visited Iceland at Christmastime, a video that explains precisely why we Nicelanders behave like extravagant tycoons every time we travel abroad.Um ... I'm

Anyone have a spare indictment lying around?

2008-02-05T20:40:00.000Z

I’m taking my translator’s certification exam next week and have been doing a bit of studying. Have discovered that I’m feeling pretty confident when it comes to the specialized employment contracts, the various nuances of the EFTA agreement, various bilateral treaties, the diverse aspects of the banking industry, the global warming reports, the Competition Authority appeals, etcetera etcetera. I

Today marks a year since my mother died.

2008-02-04T22:35:00.000Z

My wonderful cousin Signy called from Canada to check in, see how I was feeling. I'm feeling fine. I was a bit wary, a bit observant of myself, on the alert. But truly, it was just another day, although memories of the events that occurred one year ago today passed through my mind. I wasn't upset, wasn't sad. I felt serene, and balanced.I wondered, now as before, whether my calm feelings about my

What do cream puffs and bloated bellies have in common with dead cats?

2008-02-02T18:58:00.000Z

I was somewhat surprised yesterday to discover that three of my favourite days of the year are already coming up right after the weekend: bolludagur [Cream Puff Day], sprengidagur [Eat Salted Lamb Until You Burst Day] and öskudagur [Ash Wednesday]. This happy trio marks the beginning of Lent, and as you'll probably know Easter comes exceptionally early this year, hence their early

A bit of history, a dash of grammar, a pinch of tradition, a swish of serendipity

2008-01-31T21:20:00.000Z

Got an email from my uncle this evening, assuring me that he had cast his vote for the Weather Report [last chance, everybody!] and also reminding me that I have some pretty significant ties to the captain's quarter noted in the last post. Which, as it happens, I had not forgotten, but had simply omitted because I didn't have a photo of the particular house central to those ties - the house that

A virtual tour of the captain's quarter

2008-01-30T16:20:00.000Z

I had a meeting in town today, and on the way back home I walked through the area known as skipstjórahverfið, or the 'captain's quarter'. About a century ago, sea captains made up Reykjavík's elite - they were the people with influence, and they were the people with money. They built stately homes in the west end of Reykjavík, near the harbour, and those are still some of the most beautiful homes

Would you download free software from this man?

2008-01-28T23:17:00.000Z

Shalya, that great bowman who is highly regarded joy at thesight of this packet, and his friend from real antislaverypeople. There was, however, witnessing that dreadful andwonderful body of last night? You did, you know, philidor,or you told his charioteer, 'that large division which attainsto brahma. As the track of birds along with it. How lightlyhermia's name had dropped without my

YT passes on the shark and feeds EPI tulips instead

2008-01-26T22:01:00.000Z

I have my favicon back, HUZZAH!! Look! Up next to the web address.OK, now that that's sorted, I can finally get back to relating the inane details of my daily life.So yesterday was feed-your-man-putrid-shark day here in Niceland, also known as bóndadagur, or 'man of the house day'. It's the day when women are supposed to go out and buy rotten food for their husbands or boyfriends or partners, and

In which YT mourns the loss of her favicon and pines for a new set of clothes

2008-01-26T12:24:00.000Z

So I suppose a post is in order, for the benefit of the thousands of people who are passing through this site at the current time [think I'm kidding? It's enough to give a girl serious performance anxiety], in search of some outstanding brilliance, no doubt. [ahem]YT, meanwhile, has been of a mad search of her own, namely for my little favicon [the little image that appears next to the URL] that

Shortlisted!

2008-01-24T15:57:00.001Z

So results are in for the 2008 Bloggies and ... the Iceland Weather Report has been shortlisted for Best European Blog, along with the stellar Diamond Geezer, Londonist, Chocolate and Zucchini, and the hands-down winner of the blog with the craftiest moniker, Arseblog.I suppose this is the part where I should act all cool and indifferent and pretend that I'm above this sort of nonsense, but that

In which YT fights killer winds and is sad about Heath Ledger

2008-01-23T23:55:00.000Z

So, I’m one of the multitudes who was completely stunned and saddened to read about Heath Ledger’s untimely death yesterday. And I have to confess that I was kind of upset about it today, too, and I couldn’t quite figure out why. Because, he wasn’t like my favourite actor or anything. In fact, I hardly ever thought of him. Except, bizarrely, around six o’clock last night, when I was lying on my

Bumbling idiocy, thy name is politix

2008-01-21T23:44:00.000Z

Gahwd. What a clutch of bumbling idiots we have here on the Reykjavík city council. Some of you may remember a post from about three months ago when – without warning – a new majority was formed in the city and before you could say whostabbedwhointheback we had a new mayor and a new city council. Well, today – some 100 days later – we had a switchback, meaning that once again we have a new

Farewell to Bobby Fisher

2008-01-20T21:37:00.000Z

Chess wunderkind Bobby Fisher died here in Reykjavík last Thursday. Three years ago, the Icelandic government decided to extend Icelandic residency - and later honorary citizenship - to Fisher. At the time he was incarcerated in Japan for travelling without a passport, since the US had revoked his papers for playing a chess match in the former Yugoslavia while sanctions were imposed. Extending

In which YT finds a string of googlies with matching earrings

2008-01-17T15:01:00.000Z

Dear readers, once again it is time to sift through the 'porno dog', 'naked weather, 'exposed penis' and 'spanking the weather girl' Google searches to discover if there are any precious gems hidden among the rubble. There are!We have the earnest queries:What is the proper procedure to invite the president of iceland to dinner? (Pulaski, Tennessee)~ send an email to dorroli@hotmail.com with the

We now interrupt our regular programming to bring you a naked service announcement

2008-01-15T16:31:00.000Z

Friends, no doubt you will be relieved to know that there are no regulations banning Icelandic women from baring their breasts [aka flashing their titz] at public swimming pools across the nation. Phew. This crucial bit of information came to light following a heated debate in Denmark, where they are apparently all a bunch of uptight puritans. Believe it or not, some swimming pools are demanding

And she doesn't even hang out with a bad crowd

2008-01-13T23:27:00.000Z

AAH went to a party Friday night, at some kid's house in what she calls austurborgin [eastern part of the city] but which is more like around Grettisgata. While there, her purse was stolen. She'd stashed it in the kid's bedroom and even made sure to have it out of the way, so it wasn't obvious. It contained her wallet with her debit card, cell phone, iPod video, all her makeup, a new blouse she'd

And you thought you had problems

2008-01-12T23:45:00.000Z

EPI: I need a new razor.YT: Yeah?EPI: Yeah, but it's so annoying ...YT: What's annoying?EPI: I've been looking around and I can't find a decent razor any more. It's like all the razors have gone all feminine, with curves [makes hourglass shape with hands in a disdainful manner] and pink or green things on the handles. It's ridiculous.YT: Oh. And what kind of razor do you want?EPI: You know, just

In which YT withdraws as gracious hostess and throws everyone out

2008-01-11T19:24:00.000Z

For the last three days, this blog has been at the centre of a controversy around a post that I wrote more than two years ago. At the time, the case of Aron Pálmi Ágústsson and efforts by a group of people to have him brought to Iceland from Texas where he was incarcerated was in the news. I wrote a blog post stating my views of the matter, which became one of the most controversial entries ever

Just a gentle reminder, dear readers...

2008-01-10T21:57:00.001Z

... That tomorrow, January 11, is your last chance to nominate your favourite blogs for the 2008 Bloggies.Have u done ur bit fur* Niceland?WEATHERBout* the same as yesterday.* Just giving them something to discuss on the chick board. See? Not a selfish bone in my body.

Who needs TV when you have message boards

2008-01-09T17:32:00.000Z

As I expected, posting yesterday’s blog entry was akin to firing a rocket into the thick of Nicelandic society and watching fires ignite. Within a couple of hours Mr Mike Trent’s comment was burning up message boards across the land and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find the ensuing discussions entertaining [the serious nature of the subject matter

Of fairies and flying trees and blog posts that were discarded

2008-01-07T12:13:00.000Z

So, Christmas officially ended yesterday here in Niceland, with the passing of þrettándinn, meaning 'the thirteenth' - or, in plain old English - Twelfth Night. [Incidentally, I wondered for years why it was called the 12th in English and the 13th in Icelandic ... until I figured out that here in Iceland we celebrate Christmas a day earlier than the Anglo Saxons. D'oh!]That day - þrettándinn - is

Because the sad truth is that I have no shame

2008-01-01T23:13:00.000Z

First post of the year, everybody, and what's it about? Not my New Year's hangover [mild] nor the New Year's fireworks last night [subdued, on account of the storm] nor the insanely delicious meal we had last night [seafood tartelettes/Henkel Trocken ... beef sirloin marinated in brandy and port and massaged by EPI twice a day for three days/Masi Italian red ... cake from Iceland's best baker Jói

The Gift that never gets old

2007-12-31T16:28:00.000Z

In Germany, they have a half-hour TV show that they've aired on New Year's Eve day every year for the past 40 years or so, that is an inextricable part of the tradition over there [and also happens to be one of the few things on TV not dubbed into German].Mindful of its popularity, and because we love our traditions here at the Weather Report, we give you our own little custom: the same New

After which she put on her faerie costume and went to make steaming drink for the tourists

2007-12-29T22:31:00.000Z

So the mayhem is underway. The heart-stopping explosions out of nowhere started yesterday ... incredibly startling at first, but quick to become commonplace. I'm talking firecrackers and fireworks being exploded beneath people's windows and in other inappropriate places. If any of you foreigners visiting our fair isle and reading this are wondering why there are not a single trash can in sight

Can we strap him to a rocket and fire it up at midnight?

2007-12-27T22:43:00.000Z

Old Quentin Tarantino's back. Spending New Year's here again. No doubt he'll have another go at getting a supermodel home before she passes out or vomits all over him. Although after his stellar turn on Conan O'Brien the last time, I'm hoping Icelandic women have enough self-respect to give the guy a wide berth - very wide - and to leave his sorry ass there to pass out all by himself.AND WHILE

Christmas reflections

2007-12-26T23:04:00.000Z

I feel vaguely guilty. I'd planned to send out a very ceremonious MERRY CHRIMBOS! type of post to all my lovely readers, but instead I've hardly gone near the computer for the past four or five days and it's felt really good. So - a belated happy Christmas, and I hope your Yule was everything you hoped it would be.Actually, it's hard to believe that only four days have passed since my last post.

At the pearly gates

2007-12-23T00:15:00.000Z

Poor AAH: just when the pressure is on, all her Christmas prezzies still to be bought, and she's scheduled to work back-to-back shifts, she comes down with a case of food poisoning.She believes a certain Ceasar salad is to blame, eaten at a certain cafe where she works. The day yesterday was alternately spent puking and screaming at the top of her lungs at the pain in her stomach; I wonder what

Getting the Yule on

2007-12-20T22:12:00.000Z

Today I spent a full ten minutes in my local fish shop and when I got home I was forced to put every item of clothing I was wearing in the washing machine. Reason? Putrid skate day is coming up, and they had a handsome selection of raw pieces already in stock.Dear readers, this blog has not been very heavy on the Yule lately, and those of you who have been reading alongtime may be asking

Score two points for the admission of guilt

2007-12-20T00:12:00.000Z

Just a quick postie to say that US Homeland Security has issued a statement expressing their regret at the treatment Erla Ósk Arnarsdóttir had to endure last week. They also claim they're going to review their working procedures for people who arrive in the US and who face deportation, with the purpose of making improvements.YT the cynic says yeah yeah, we'll believe it when we see it. On the

Behind the veil and under the skin

2007-12-17T23:54:00.000Z

I've just watched an unbelievably absorbing and powerful documentary entitled Afghanistan Unveiled, which reveals how life has changed for women in the five years since their so-called 'liberation' from Taliban rule. Surely there are few places on earth where the circumstances of women are as dire as in Afghanistan today. There are so many war brides, and no social security system in place, so

Ain't no Yule without The Virgin

2007-12-16T22:14:00.000Z

Christmas in Iceland is all about tradition, and for EPI and YT there quite simply is no freaking Christmas unless we get our Yule Platter at The Virgin. In fact, this conviction has passed repeatedly through my panicked mind over the past two weeks, having been told that The Virgin was all booked up every day and every evening until Christmas and there was not a hope in hell that we’d be

Welcome to the land of the brave and the free

2007-12-12T21:24:00.001Z

I've just finished reading an unbelievably shocking account of the detainment of a young Icelandic woman two days ago while traveling to New York with her girlfriends to do a little Christmas shopping. The blog post in which she describes her ordeal has the Icelandic nation abuzz and has featured prominently in all the main media today. It's caused such a sensation that the US Embassy has sent

We're not making nuclear warheads in here, honest

2007-12-11T00:14:00.001Z

Bye bye SAD. So, EPI went out yesterday and came back with a SAD light. Fired it up and instantly the place was filled with the light of a million suns ... made me want to strip down and lie right in the middle of the kitchen floor for a spot of tanning. However I wondered what the neighbours would think – not about the nudity, but about the light. Through the window I'm sure our place looks

Stuffed at Argentina

2007-12-09T00:12:00.000Z

Been suffering from Acute Cobweb Syndrome all day long on account of the copious amounts of red wine I drank last night while out enjoying a Christmas buffet courtesy of EPI's employer. Actually, 'copious amounts' is probably a bit misleading - the fact is that I normally suffer from cobweb syndrome the day after drinking anything in excess of a single glass of red wine. Sadly, red wine and YT do

Someone you definitely wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley

2007-12-06T10:22:00.000Z

Until now I've not had a propensity for posting YouTube videos on my blog, but this one is just too precious. If there was a prize awarded for Extreme Cuteness this kid would win hands down.Update: When I went back to close the YouTube page, I noticed off to the side another video, this one of the same little girl on the Ellen show. The little girl is still supercute, but I have to say that this

It's beginning to look a lot like ... you know what

2007-12-04T22:48:00.000Z

We're starting to gear up for Christmas around here, albeit slowly. Whereas the windows in surrounding buildings are all lit up with coloured lights, the most I've managed in terms of decorating so far is hanging up my little red lantern bought at IKEA a couple of years ago. Very soon I shall get around to descending the two sets of stairs down to the basement to fetch the Advent lights. Very

Retort of the day

2007-12-03T23:07:00.000Z

"OK, let me just be perfectly clear about one thing: if there is anything that makes me less inclined to study, it is nagging."- Young AAH sets some firm boundaries with her mother, who feels she should be studying for exams rather than playing SIMS.AND WHAT ABOUT THE WEATHER?Started off nasty and windy and cold, but then the wind died down and the sun came out and it became beautiful and cold. I

Almost flown

2007-12-01T16:41:00.000Z

Last night, before going out to a concert, I said goodbye to AAH more or less for the duration of the weekend. She was going out with her boyfriend, was going to stay over at his place, then going straight to work today, then straight to meeting her friends for dinner. By the time she gets home I’ll be at the National Theatre watching a play, and I expect she’ll stay over at her bf’s again

DeCode Me: evil offspring of pop culture and genetics? Discuss.

2007-11-30T13:34:00.000Z

So, old deCODE Genetics, winner of Iceland’s Most Clever PR Campaign Ever*, has come up with an ingenious new strategy to drive up their share prices: deCODE Me, the Personal Genome Scan. The rock ‘n roll of genetics studies, if you will. You have to admit it’s quite brilliant. For the nominal fee of USD 985 [or around ISK 60K] you’ll be sent a stick in the mail with which to take a swab of

Mancolds and girliecolds

2007-11-28T15:28:00.000Z

I've done d*ck all today as far as work goes and am feeling semi-guilty about it. In fact, I've done very little else than surf t'Internet like a zombie. My excuse is that I've got a cold. Sound plausible enough?It's AAH's fault. She spent all of last week at home with a cold and low-grade fever. Triumphantly I used this as an excuse to drive home the points that I can never stress enough, namely

The earth will shake, in two will break ...

2007-11-27T16:39:00.000Z

Ehm, we hope that last bit doesn't materialize, but the fact is that the earth has been shaking a fair bit around here for the last couple of weeks. There's been activity on the so-called 'western volcanic belt' which extends from the Reykjanes peninsula [approximately where we are] to the north of Langjökull glacier. We haven't felt any tremors in the capital area but the good people of

Something to chew on and spit back out

2007-11-25T23:29:00.000Z

Friends, it’s time to purge a few googlies from the cache. Over the past few weeks we had our collection of the usual suspects... ... the linguistically challenged: big penis vs samll penis pics (Lewiston, NY) wot is a advent (sum kind of hulliday, like? UK) conquering a porographic habit (Too much porography is bad for your skin. – Santa Cruz, California) … our besserwissers:

The most delicate of winter days

2007-11-22T22:14:00.001Z

It was such a gorgeous day today - sunny, cold, crisp, and totally calm. I went out at lunchtime and for once remembered to take my camera with me. Everything was covered in a fine veneer of frost - the stones, the seaweed down on the shore, the vegetation, even the footprints in the sand.There were lots of swans on the sea looking a bit lost, probably wandered off from the nearby pond which was

When political correctness goes horribly wrong

2007-11-21T15:43:00.000Z

Over in Australia, Santa Claus is being discouraged from saying "Ho ho ho!" because it may be offensive to women.*Instead they're recommending "Ha ha ha!", but won't that be offensive to paranoid schizophrenics who think everyone's laughing at them?Maybe he could say, "Hey hey hey!" but won't that be offensive to women who think he's hustling them?Or he could say, um, "La la la!" but then won't

The lack of witty titles? Blame SAD

2007-11-20T18:39:00.000Z

Ohboy. Some of us are really feelings the effects of SAD season around here. This is the toughest time of the year, if you ask me, and if I were still prone to the sort of depression I used to get, I’d probably be pulling a Virginia Woolf right about now. Either that or getting ready to leave the country. When I was in my early 20s [back in the mid-80s] I packed up all my stuff in Canada one

YT and EPI enjoy a romantic outing complete with spa, slippers and food to die for

2007-11-18T23:50:00.000Z

Last year when EPI and I got married, our four exceptionally wonderful daughters gave us a fabulous wedding present: a night at the Hotel Saga plus dinner at Grillið, their in-house restaurant that happens to be one of the best in Reykjavík. It’s taken us almost a year to fit this little outing into our busy schedules [a scandal, really], but last night we finally managed it. EPI’s main

Every title I come up with for this post is boring so I'll just call it National Language Day. Yawn.

2007-11-16T19:27:00.000Z

As regular readers will know, the Nicelanders are exceptionally devoted to their language, Icelandic. In fact, many people consider the language to be the factor that defines Iceland as a nation. We are joined together by one language - a language that no other nation speaks.It should come as no surprise, then, that there is an entire day every year devoted to the Icelandic language, and that day

Something to aspire to?

2007-11-15T15:24:00.001Z

Here in Niceland, when someone's making money, we have an idiom: "They're getting hairy palms". Meanwhile, Fréttablaðið has a daily feature called "Question of the Day" in which they ask someone - often someone who has been in the news - a question.No prizes, then, for guessing what they asked the beautician from yesterday's post.Heheh.MEANWHILE, MEC HAS BEEN VINDICATEDVery logically they have

Newsflash: Icelandic men addicted to Brazilian waxes

2007-11-14T10:22:00.000Z

Fréttablaðið has a groundbreaking news item on its front page this morning: Icelandic men are addicted to Brazilian waxing."Since last year, men have increasingly woken up to the benefits of Brazilian waxing," an employee at the Cera beauty salon is quoted as saying. "It sounds really painful, but it isn't ... when I was in Australia I was incredibly busy giving Brazilian waxes to soldiers. They

National Power Company says NO to smelters

2007-11-13T11:58:00.000Z

The best news of last week in my opinion was a decision by the National Power Company to refuse all negotiations with companies planning to build new aluminium smelters in the south and west of Iceland. Instead, the company will focus on providing energy to firms with more diverse operations, such as high tech companies seeking to establish server farms in Iceland [Google, among others, has been

Small is huge at mec.ca

2007-11-12T00:11:00.001Z

The other day I decided to order a few things online from Mountain Equipment Co-Op in Canada. MEC and I go back a long time; it was just starting up when I moved to Toronto in the 80s, I've followed its rise from grassroots outfit to trendy outfitter and have been a member for over a decade.I've made a point of getting stuff from MEC whenever I can [as my long-suffering Canadian relatives

Polly has the day from hell

2007-11-09T23:52:00.000Z

Poor Polly the cockatiel had a rough day yesterday. It started off fine – she emerged from her cage, flew down to the floor, ran into the kitchen, picked at the broccoli I set out for her on the paper towel while I ate breakfast, and then when I settled in with the laptop at the kitchen table, planted herself on top of my foot for a little relaxation. It was about an hour later that Polly’s

One of the perks of living on an island

2007-11-07T23:52:00.000Z

You know, I’ve had my gripes with the Reykjavík police authorities in the past, but I’m rarely as grateful or proud of Iceland’s finest as when the Nordic branch of Hell’s Angels sends its thugs over to stake out the territory and they’re met head-on at the airport by a swarm of police officers who refuse to let them pass into the country. On occasions like those I want to stand up and cheer,

More on raising the vagabond

2007-11-06T12:27:00.000Z

Apropos the last post, I have to say I find it interesting to hear about curfews in other parts of the world, from which I glean that teenagers elsewhere are generally not permitted to stay out as late as they are here.I'd like to be able to say that this is because Iceland is much safer than Everywhere Else, but alas, I fear that is not so, at least not any more. A few years ago I would not have

Some tricks just never go out of style

2007-11-04T23:12:00.000Z

There's been occasional family discord around here of late over the curfew for the resident princess. See, there's that weeeee discrepancy between the time AAH feels she should come home on weekends [4-5 am] and the time her mother feels she should come home on weekends [2 am]. It's not an easy situation. In fact it requires such absolute finesse in negotiating that I bet I could be called out on

Another profound conversation in a Nicelandic hot pot

2007-11-02T23:49:00.000Z

When I go for my massage, and afterwards when I go soak in the hot pot at the Laugardalslaug pool, I like to be quiet. I don’t like to talk. And normally I can get away with it, speaking just the bare minimum. Not today. In fact it was kind of odd that, on both occasions, I encountered people who just would not stop talking. Odd in particular because Nicelanders tend to be fairly reticent

Whodunnit

2007-10-31T22:54:00.001Z

Out by the golf course, where I like to walk, someone has gone to great lengths to pick up scrap stuff lying around on the shore and sticking it up somewhere, turning it into makeshift sculptures. Like this broken window that someone has found and wedged upright between the rocks, tying a stone to the side with a piece of string.EPI thinks it's cheap, but Iove the humour and the fact that in

Polly rocks

2007-10-30T23:29:00.000Z

Sigh. Despite our best efforts with hazelnuts, it looks as though Polly the cockatiel is not having any of it and has decided to proceed with her egg-laying plans as usual. She’s had a total of three hazelnuts for several weeks now and has laid on them dutifully. Her routine has gone something like this: wake up in the morning, leave the cage to take a poop [so as to not sully her precious