Frost on car windshields this morning. The sun is shining, the trees are unmoving, and the sky is streaked with smooth white clouds. Have as yet to venture outside but look forward to it. Hope to get there before clouds cover sky completely, which is what they say will happen. Later.

Caught an interview with Paulo Coelho on Icelandic national telly last night and am well and truly smitten. He’s in Iceland on a visit (well he’s probably gone now) – not to promote the publication of his newest book (Eleven Minutes), as everyone seems to think (he does not need to promote it, as he tactfully reminded the interviewer, it’s at the top of the bestseller list already) but because he’s wanted to come here for a long time (Paulo! We love you for deigning to do so! – this an example of Buried Icelandic Insecurity Complex). Was so impressed with his intelligence and wit. Have not read anything by him but that’s about to change – first thing I did this morning was to order The Alchemist and Veronica Decides to Die.

EPI latched onto the idea that Paulo was Portuguese – telling, because EPI and I love all things Portuguese. (Overstatement: but you get the picture. Have vacationed twice in Portugal and couldn’t fault it). But of course he’s Brazilian, he just speaks Portuguese.

Interesting picture on the front of Fréttablaðið this morning (Icelandic daily paper, delivered free, caught of late in intense battle between government and world-domination-or-death firm Baugur, currently elbowing out government mouthpiece Morgunblaðið, highly interesting story but too long to record here). Picture shows group of Asian men in a bar, staring at something that is likely a TV screen, laughing and jumping around in intense jubliation as men do when Their Team Scores. Before reading the caption I automatically assumed that this was in Asia but NO – here was a photo of Man United supporters celebrating in our very own homogenised little Reykjavík! In other words, Icelandic media MAY have started recognizing the fact that there are other ethnic groups that inhabit this little North-Atlantic rock. Fréttablaðið – GoGoGo!

Sunrise at 8.50; sunset at 17.33.