The view from my window at 9 a.m. this morning. Simply complement this picture with some serious gale-force winds and you have an idea of what the weather has been like since last night:
It’s been a nasty weather day. Last night, it was reasonably calm and raining one minute, and the next BAM! a major storm was rocking the island. Today: all domestic flights cancelled, massive disruption to international flights, an Icelandair plane coming in from Boston this morning being forced to sit on the tarmac for three hours because it wasn’t safe to extend the airbridge. [Apparently, airbridges are not designed to withstand winds of more than 50 knots, and it was 65 knots at the airport this morning]. Cars are driving off roads and crashing into each other and generally we have mayhem on a grand scale.
PLUS ADOLESCENT ANGST
Ah, yes. At the tender young age of 13, AAH is going on her first proper date this evening. There’s a dance on at her school – and it’s a date dance. You can believe that nothing but NOTHING has come close to surpassing the excitement of this imminent event over the past few days. Who will ask whom? Who will ask her? Will anyone ask her? Will the right boy ask her?
There have been giggles and yelps and endless telephone conversations with her girlfriends. There have been Many Long Hours spent chatting to the general adolescent west Reykjavík population on MSN Messenger. There have been cries of ‘Ohmigod!’ and disgruntled exclamations of, ‘Oh.My.God.’ and finally the Thrill of being asked. And the flurry of excitement-mixed-with-agitation as she was forced to turn him down. [Because he wasn’t the right boy]. And feeling bad. And knowing that someone else was going to ask, and rushing off Messenger before he got the chance to do so because he wasn’t the right boy either. And then having him ask and turning him down and feeling bad because, after all, he’s so nice and he’s her friend. And then going to school the next day and everything being weird between them. And so on. And so forth.
And then picking her up from school today and on the way home having her say with an air of utter indifference, ‘Oh, I’m going with [insert name of right boy here] to the dance tonight’.
… !!
And watching her examine her nails and say, ‘I was kind of into just going with my girlfriends at this point’.
And hearing her now in her room, blow-drying her hair and singing a happy tune at the top of her voice. Sigh.
MORE WEATHER…
Temps are currently at the freezing mark and it is still really windy. The sun came up at 9.19 and will go down at 18.06 if all goes according to plan.