Obligatory Snow Photos

To my childlike delight, Reykjavík is now covered with a blanket of snow.

Three guesses what this Icelandic word means.

I was annoyed that I didn't have my camera with me yesterday, because the Tjörn was properly frozen but there was no snow, and the sun was shining on it. It was beautiful, but you will have to take my word for it. This is what Reykjavík looked like today, though.

The one spot on the Tjörn that isn't frozen.

Today I picked up the seven-year-old early, because he's no longer signed up for the after school childcare thing, and his normal school day finishes around half past one. We went to the café in the Þjóðminjasafn (National Museum) for coffee/kókómjólk and cake, and he wrote his name in the snow outside. We were talking about Bernard's Watch and he said that if cows were being naughty, he would use the watch to milk them whilst time was frozen. That's one I've never heard before. Then we went to the playschool to get the four-year-old and we all played on the frozen Tjörn for a long time, mostly running about doing skids. Or, in the four-year-old's case, just flinging herself face down in the snow. Fun times.

Coming down onto the ice.

Throwing snowballs.

Came out pretty well, although I did fall over quite hard whilst jumping from the B to the I.

Feelings on going home for Christmas / New Year

Things I am looking forward to:

Seeing my family
Seeing my England-based friends
Seeing my parents' dog (just a puppy when I left)
Proper cheddar cheese and nice bacon
Good beer and cider
Daylight
No ironing
Cycling round the moors and lanes
Walking in/on my favourite woods, hills, combes
Being (briefly) in Sheffield again
British television
Having all my books on hand
British birds and trees
English accents
Not being a foreigner 

Things I will miss:

My Reykjavík-based friends
My host family
Speaking Icelandic
The good Icelandic dictionary that I've comandeered
The bars and cafés
Being able to walk everywhere
Spot the tourist
Sub-zero temperatures, snow and ice
Mountains in the backdrop
Hot-pots
Being able to remember my phone number
Eating cake on an absurdly regular basis
The possibility of hearing a Páll Óskar song on a night out

Winter

I am quite a sleepy person at the best of times, but my energy levels are ridiculous at the moment. I am pretty sure it is a daylight issue - I just can't seem to wake up properly until it is light outside, and then I still feel all drowsy from oversleeping. Next winter I think I might consider trying to put on a lot of weight and storing up nuts and berries in the autumn, so that I can just be a dorperson through the winter darkness. 

In other news, snow has arrived in Reykjavík. Not all that much, but a bit.

Semi-frozen Tjörn.

Snowy Fríkirkja.

Apparently next week is going to be cold, especially Wednesday, and there should be more snow to come. Here is the current forecast from vedur.is:

We'll probably be able to walk on the Tjörn pretty soon, then.

I went down to Austurvöllur today with some people to see them turn the Christmas tree lights on. Every year, for about sixty years I think, the people of Oslo have sent a tree to Reykjavík as a present. The lights were kind of rubbish, but there was a band doing Christmas carols, and Jón Gnarr did a speech about how we should be more concerned with goodwill and kindness than Christmas presents, and it was quite fun, although I nearly got frostbite in my toes. We went to the Laundromat Café afterwards for some cake and jólabjór, and the stinging stopped eventually.

Jón Sigurðsson and some fairy-lights in the trees.

Not particularly impressive, but I suppose they made an effort.

I was thrilled also to see Bicycle Guy getting into the seasonal spirit. If you live in Reykjavík long enough, you will start noticing the same people again and again. Bicycle Guy is one of my favourites. I think he's American, but I'm not sure. He has a ridiculous beard and always wears sunglasses, and this picture of a dead polar bear on his back. He always has his bicycle with him, although he never appears to ride it, just walks it up and down Laugavegur. Or, as here, sits on it at the corner of Austurvöllur. Looking good, Bicycle Guy!

From the back. Dead polar bear which has "got no peace from Icelandic people".

From the front. Unfortunately this is out of focus because I got a bit flustered and didn't take my time. You also sadly cannot see his beard for his bizarre face-warmer thing.

Animal News

Today it was in the newspaper that an owl got stuck in a cattle-grid, and also that an unusually fat fox had been shot in Borgarfjörður.

Other memorable stories from my time in Iceland so far:

Cat stuck up tree

Bird gets into university building

Owl sits on fence for the afternoon

Unusually small calf born

It's all happening here! I mean, there is real news as well, but sometimes some of the smaller stories feel a bit Framley-esque,* as if Morgunblaðið were a local newspaper. Which I suppose, considering the number of people it caters to, it kind of is.

P.S. None of these beat my old local newspaper, The Mercury, which once actually ran a story about a man who had grown a very large marrow.

* If you don't know what this means, you're probably not my brother. You should go here and improve your life.

Frozen Rain

It's forecast to possibly snow later in the week, on Thursday or Friday. Recently it's been really quite warm, but the temperature dropped yesterday to around 4°c, and it's going to keep falling apparently. Meanwhile, instead of snow, we've been having intermittent hailstorms. The kids and I were caught in one today as we came over the bridge over the Tjörn. The wind was really whipping it into my legs and it actually stung quite hard. It was unpleasant. Hail is only fun if you're inside.

If we get snow I'll be quite pleased, though. The Christmas lights are all up downtown and Laugavegur will look like a storybook in the snow. Even though it is too soon to start feeling Christmasy - maybe it would be best if the snow held off until December.

Reykjavík Tjörn: A Study in Grey. This is four o'clock in the afternoon, for Christ's sake. Do not visit Iceland in November.

Lord of the Rings is more culturally significant to me than John Lennon

Yoko Ono has this thing on Viðey (an island just off the shore from Reykjavík) called the Imagine Peace Tower. It's to do with John Lennon and they turn it on sometime in October, as far as I recall. It is basically a beacon of light that shines up into the sky. I assume it is supposed to make us "imagine peace", but really it just makes me think that the Witch-King of Angmar is leaving Minas Morgul.

Horse Stew

During lunch-time conversation today I mentioned that I'd never eaten horse. 

"Yes, you have," I was informed. Apparently they have been feeding me things like horse goulash without my knowledge. I think I assumed it was beef. So there we have it, now I have eaten horse, although I wasn't really paying attention to the experience.

 

Just to be clear, I have no real objection to eating horse-meat and wasn't upset by this revelation - just surprised. It's not a meat I would necessarily eat by choice, but I don't mind if it's what's for dinner. Our horse would probably eat us if he got the chance and he weren't vegetarian - he is not a good-tempered animal. We might eat him if he weren't so old. Maybe he'd do for some sort of broth.

Duke. Broth?