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SOCIAL CALENDAR OF AAH, AGED 14Friday, 4pm: Meeting of community centre council.Friday, 6pm: Dinner at friend's place.Friday, 7pm: Joined by posse of galfriends, glam self up for...Friday, 8pm: Dance at community centre.Saturday 7am: Work in bakerySaturday 4pm: Go...

Such a serene day. No fear No anxiety No insecurity No resentmentsNo impatience No unreasonable expectations No adverse reactions to others' behaviour ... Just a buoyant heart and a sense that everything is as itshould be.I'll take more of those. Please.PERHAPS IT WAS...

There are 293,537 cellular phones in use in Iceland.There are 293,577 Icelanders.Which means that somewhere on this rock there are 40 poor unfortunates who are not constantly reachable on their 'gemsi'.*Spare a thought.MEANWHILE, TODAY'S REYKJAVÍK WEATHER...... ran...

Tonight at dinner EPI entertained me with tales of what his daughter did at the hospital today. [She in turn had entertained him with these earlier]. She's interning, and today it was brain surgery. Evidently they simply slice the scalp open along the hair line and...

A new and alarming trend has been sweeping the Icelandic nation of late. It is this: men picking their noses in public. On a grand national scale. I kid you not. I first noticed the odd guy doing it in his car, stopped at a red light. I’d turn and glance [as you do]...

Today I caught on to the real meaning of the Icelandic word for ‘midwife’ – which is ‘ljósmóðir’. ‘Ljós’ means ‘light’ and ‘móðir’ means ‘mother’ – so a midwife is a ‘mother’ who helps the child into the light. Just figured I’d share that little epiphany. AND WHILE...

Went to Penis Mall today, specifically to go to Zara. It’s my store of choice when I want to pick up something new to wear, because their clothes are stylish and smart and don’t cost a bloody fortune. [So what if you have to throw them out after a few months because...

Have I mentioned how much I love Emiliana Torrini’s latest CD, Fisherman's Woman? It’s so gorgeous. The melodies are delicate and simple – they manage to get under your skin so that suddenly without realizing it you’re hearing them in your head wherever you go. But...

[NB: if you're reading this category in full you might want to start at the bottom.] So – our man showed up at 9am, as promised. [I’ve never met a more punctual plumber - it ain’t normal.] Having taken his shoes off outside the door [this is new] he marched directly...

Today I had occasion to call up the immortal plumber. Contrary to what regular readers may believe, the reason is not that I am wasting away from want of his enchanting company. The thing is that when he sledgehammered his way through the bathroom wall and removed the...

ON SATURDAYI took my visiting sister to the cemetery, as you do. Note bene, it is a nice cemetery, the nicest in Reykjavík, in terms of character at least. It's the oldest, and it's where all the Important People are buried [the People that used to be Important, that...

Hot on the heels of YT’s declaration that ‘nothing ever happens in Iceland in September’ comes the Reykjavík Literary Festival with its line-up of luminaries. This year’s festival – which started yesterday – is packed with a Whole Bunch of Famous Authors: Margaret...