The rather sparse use of the comment boxes over the past couple of days would indicate that the topic under discussion is not a huge hit; however, please bear with me, it is the single most significant matter the Icelandic nation currently has to contend with and really no different to, say, an earthquake or a volcanic eruption.
The fallout continues; stone after stone is overturned and the sordid details revealed. Curiously, at the same time as the whole business appears to be deteriorating into a complete and utter soap opera, the machinations also take on a more sinister air. I don’t know if it makes sense to anyone who does not live in a nation as tiny as this one what a profound effect this sort of business has on each individual living in this community. When there are so few people, everything that happens has a more pronounced effect on you personally. Granted, nothing that’s been turned up by this messy affair is terrible for me personally, there’s nothing I need to concern myself with up close, but nonetheless it’s a new reality, a new dimension next to the one I thought I was thoroughly familiar with. Suddenly you realize how much there was that you didn’t know, how much darkness, menacing stuff that is going on in the backrooms, people pulling strings that have an effect on your life.
Maybe I’m being super-paranoid. Or maybe I’m waking up.
WEATHER
Honestly, it’s like it’s mirroring the current atmosphere. The stormy gusts, cold and aggressive, have continued today. It’s the sort of day I’d just prefer to stay inside; however, by around noon I start getting a serious case of cabin fever and need oxygen in my lungs or else my mind gets all in a muddle. So what did I do: went out and walked around the golf course, which is easily the most wind-whipped place in the entire capital area, as it sits on a spit that is surrounded virtually on all sides by the open sea. Struggling, almost blown off my feet quite literally, I found myself wondering how people ever managed to survive up here on the edge of the habitable world before Gore-Tex windproof breathables and rough-soled hiking boots came to the rescue. Like in the days when Icelanders fashioned shoes out of sheepskin and had only wool [which offers no protection from wind] with which to keep warm. A mere century ago it was. [Getting all reflective now, see? Blame it on Baugur.] Current temps 4°C plus windchill, daybreak was at 06.38 and nightfall 19.58.