One by one Iceland’s oil company bosses come crashing down from their pedestals like the infamous statue of Saddam Hussein. By dinnertime yesterday I’d lost count of how many had resigned from this board or that board, or severed ties with this company or that. Am most surprised that Iceland’s populace isn’t down at the pier dancing and jumping around the big oil tanks in unbridled glee. Probably we’re just too repressed. Or something.

AND THE MAN OF THE DAY WAS…

Reykjavík Mayor Þórólfur Árnason, who called a press conference at 6 pm to announce his resignation from office. Having been severely embarrassed on his behalf by his hapless attempts to “defend his honour” in the media over the past several days, I must say that I was relieved. What I didn’t expect was that my estimation of the man would shoot up after watching the announcement. (Ok, so it didn’t have anywhere else to go, having taken such a precipitous nosedive over previous days.) It was ever so graciously done, without bitterness or regret, and with genuine sincerity. And when he said he was doing this for the good of the R-list (which he heads in the Reykjavík city council) and the people of Reykjavík, I actually believed him!

It was the Right Thing. It was also a little sad, because when all is said and done he’s been a pretty good mayor. Yet IMHO he’s secured the possibility of re-entry into politics with this very tactful move – something that would have been impossible, had he persisted with his ‘woe-is-me’ strategy.

AND NOW: MODERN LIFE – THE COMPLICATIONS

YT plans on taking a veeery deeeep breath today and installing a Whole New Operating System so I can stop crouching in the corner (see post from last Saturday in case you’re confused). ‘Course it means everything gets cleaned out – like a self-induced Computer Crash (and who would put themselves through such trauma unless it was absolutely vital?). The upside is that I get to prepare by taking backups of things I remember to keep; the downside that I lie anxiously awake at night thinking of the things I may forget.

WEATHER

It’s shaping up to be of those dreadful days in which heavy cloud blocks what little daylight there is, making the world feel like a big cave. Forecast is for rain and strong winds from the southwest, with temps of 3-10 degrees. Sunrise was at 9.41; sunset scheduled for 16.41.