Blog

Today is the anniversary of Home Rule – the day Iceland obtained sovereignty from Denmark, in 1918. Whoo-hoo! Quick historical briefing, courtesy of Fréttablaðið: “A short and simple celebration took place at the Government House, a brass band played Eldgamla Ísafold...

WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IS What the bejesus is happening to The Sopranos?? A full head-scratching episode last night that jumped from one baffling scene to another, beginning with Tony’s girlfriend setting herself on fire and progressing bizarrely to Tony renting a...

A comment in the editorial of Saturday’s Fréttablaðið caught my eye. It concerned the abduction of the little nine-year old girl last week, the perpetrator of which has not yet been found. “In a large part of the world, including the one which we inhabit, a large...

Well, Windows XP has come sashaying into my life with all its snazz, flash and (misspent) pizzazz. YT is not impressed. In fact my acquaintance with XP has so far been a brutal disappointment. Whereas me and ME didn’t get along famously, particularly not in the last...

Was at a gathering last night where somebody described a recent illustration in The Economist (UK), which showed the diagonal lines of the Union Jack being painted over with blue, thereby creating the Icelandic flag – all because Icelanders are systematically invading...

EPI told me a funny story the other day. There was a guy he knew up in Akureyri (in the north)who immersed himself in the writings of Friedrich Engels. One suspects Marxist theory. Anyway, this guy sat and sat, studied and studied, working his damndest to get a grasp....

Harry Belafonte was in Iceland last week to promote UNICEF. I confess I knew very little about him before he came (except that he sang songs and has a daughter named Shari who is an actress). Last night, however, I got around to watching an interview with him on...

Cripes! Big, bad blaze last night. Down at Sundahöfn harbour, in a recycling lot. Immense piles of rubber tires, rubber tire bits, scrap metal and other mish-mash. All set to be transported out of the country (not to some obscure garbage dump at sea, one hopes), but...

Today YT got the deja vu taste of what it’s like to be a nine-to-fiver in an Icelandic winter. Spent the day reading proofs and editing copy for my friends up at Iceland Review, which meant that I left the house in the dark and arrived home – you guessed it – in the...

Interesting experience last night. Went to dance mentioned in previous blog. It was held at a community centre out on Seltjarnarnes, which is a tiny municipality adjacent to Reykjavík (which makes up for in affluence what it lacks in size). Now, here in Iceland one...

Today it’s a balmy –1 degrees Centigrade, a veritable heatwave compared to temps in the –20s that we’ve had lately. The wind has picked up, making it safe to go outside again, and the weatherman promises that we’re in for a warm spell, with rain and the accompanying...

First news item currently up on the Morgunblaðið website: Today, people in Reykjavík are asked to limit use of their cars, not to have them running in a stationary position and those with respiratory illnesses are advised to stay indoors. Why? Pollution! Who'd have...