Here’s a tip: if you’re thinking of using your little travel iron, which you occasionally like to use instead of the more cumbersome and occasionally leaky ‘regular’ iron, and someone tells you that they’ve just used it and it may still be ‘warm’, DO NOT assume that it’s ‘WARM’ and not ‘HOT’, and consequently grasp it firmly with the fingers of your right hand pressed tightly against the element. Okay?
BECAUSE YOU WILL BURN YOUR FINGERS!
I am quite at liberty to give you this bit of advice because I speak from experience. Last night this is precisely what took place chez YT. Here I was, happily going about getting ready for a dinner party, sailed into the laundry room, reached for the iron and YOWYOW-DOUBLE-YOW!!
Needless to say the offending iron was sent flying through the air, while our YT made a dive for the nearest cold-water tap in an effort to glue her skin back on. Meanwhile the iron went on to wreak more havoc in the form of melting a hole through the plastic laundry basket, not to mention the plastic bag Marks & Sparks bag that has been acting as such a luverrly container for the clothes pegs.
Long story short: YT’s hand was quickly submerged into bowl filled with ice water; EPI and YT were an hour late for dinner party; YT spent entire evening with hand submerged in similar plastic container; host was forced to make unforseen trip to nearest convenience store for extra ice. Ah, the trials!
On the upside, though, YT’s fingertips remained out of harm’s way so are still able to send this little story into the blogsphere to warn other potential victims of the dangers of handy-sized travel irons.
MEANWHILE!
Today is the 1st of May [for another 30 minutes or so], which means that a nominal number of the Icelandic proleteriat went on a symbolic march and perhaps 15% of shops were closed on this particular Sunday, as opposed to the regular 5% or so. [Yes, most shops are open VERY LONG HOURS in this country and always on the weekends.]
Meantime, AAH and I went on our own private march. Spurned on by the enthusiastic reactions to my illustrated Weather Report last week, I thought of taking that extra step, as it were, and heading out to the lighthouse for a close-up. Oh but alas, as AAH duly pointed out, the Big Yellow Sign was up, declaring that the area is closed from May to July because it is now officially Nesting Season, and it is now officially May.
But no matter. Instead we headed over to the nearby golf course [the periphery of which loyal readers will know is one of our favourite strolls], and out at the furthest end of the spit I got out my camera to record this illustrious image:
This ugly construction would surely be considered the most dire of eyesores and have been torn down A LONG LONG TIME AGO, were it not for its historic value: it was a watchtower for the British Army during WWII, and also allowed them to send surreptitious light signals to their vessels out at sea. Yet currently it just sits there and makes a fine shelter for those who like to watch the sun set in the west. In fact somebody has schlepped a rather bedraggled wicker chair in there, presumably for their viewing comfort. However – and this is the gross part – whoever it is that has been playing house has also turned one of the corners into their very own personal toilet. Yes! And lest you think I tell a lie, witness the stray bit of toilet paper visible down around the signpost near the bottom there.
Since making that discovery, YT has not ventured inside. And probably will not for a long time yet.
STILL, THE BEST WAS YET TO COME…
AAH and I continued on our walk, and about three-quarters of the way around, who should we encounter but this little fella:
[Tip: Click on it for an enlarged view.] A mere teenager he was, lying there on a rock on the edge of the water. The thing about seals is that they are about the most curious creatures alive. They’ll stare at you for almost as long as you stare at them. So this guy actually let us get to about 15 metres of him before he decided we were pushing it a bit and slipped away into the water. Even so, after that he still kept poking his head up to see what we were doing.
So. Not a bad day. Even if we’ve been having a cold spell and we actually encountered flurries [what?!]during our stroll. The sun strugged to shine through the clouds but unfortunately was unable to so gave up in the end. Highs were around 4°C today; it is currently 3° and daybreak was at 3.51, nightfall at 23.03. [Though I’m kind of suspicious of these factoids because when we got home at 2 am there was still a wee light in the sky].