Swans

Well, there's been quite a lot going on in my life recently. The big news is that I am moving house very soon! My situation at the moment was only ever going to be temporary, and I was planning to find other accommodation some time in August. However, events have conspired so that I will be moving in with my friends Ahmad and Thomas a lot sooner than I had anticipated. It all happened very suddenly - we met at my house one evening to discuss living together, had a look at the listings, phoned the number for a three bedroom basement flat on Grenimelur, went to look at it and pretty much made an agreement with the landlord that night. You might think that is a bit hasty, but honestly, good accommodation in Reykjavík goes really fast. It is a great flat; my bedroom will be a bit small, but the communal areas are super spacious and it's an excellent location, just into 107, a short distance from where I am now. If everything goes well then this will be the first place, apart from my parents' house, where I will live for more than a year. I am definitely looking forward to that.

I have found someone else to move into this room, and then hopefully should be spending the first night in my new home next Thursday. Exciting! The only trouble is that my new toaster is pretty much all I own in the way of furniture and household appliances, and Ahmad and Thomas aren't much better off. Accommodation in Iceland is rarely rented furnished, and this place does not even have a fridge yet. There's going to have to be some IKEA-ing and some trawling of bland.is and so on to get some second-hand stuff. As well as the fridge, a bed is particularly urgent. 

In other news, the job is going OK. It's not so exciting or well-paid of course, but I've been working with some nice people and the free food and drink is good. I am not very good at cappuccinos, but otherwise I feel like I've mastered the coffee machine. The weather recently has been a bit rubbish, squally is the word I'd use, with a lot of hail, showers, sleet and brief flurries of snow. But on the other hand the winter darkness is well and truly over and the summer brightness rapidly approaching - in fact it's only just over a week until we'll be getting more daylight than Britain.

So I suppose I'll keep this blog updated on how the move and everything goes. In the meantime, I leave you with this picture of swans and one of my favourite views in Reykjavík. I know like eighty percent of the pictures on here are of the Tjörn, but it is hopelessly picturesque and I can't help myself. I'm sure you enjoy looking at it from all angles and in different weather conditions as much as I do, right?

Whooper swans looking for clues on the Tjörn. It's a different sort of swan to one you might enjoy in a sandwich in Britain. It has a rather bitter taste.