Columna de Vapor

GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER: Miguel Holgado I got this great email from Miguel Holgado on Tuesday and I thought I'd share it. He sent me some photos and I ended up liking this one of our famous Geysir best. He wrote:

Hi Maria,

On saturday i was at Nasa waiting for the Gusgus concert, and a nice girl gave me a sticker about this site. Tonight searching in my pockets i found the sticker and i was curious to see the web. Great web in fact.

That girl was u ? Well thanks any way. I fell in love with Iceland in my first visit to your country. That's why i would like to see whats going on there often.

I also like grats u about the style of the site and then content. Wish my fotos were so good as yours so u could put any on your site. I thing i have a few about the airwaves concerts, let me know if u are interested.

Keep on the good work and keep this spaniard up to date about Iceland !!

Bests Regards

Miguel

I say, Cheers, my friend!

Strike

Have I mentioned the elementary school techers' strike? 45,000 kids between six and fourteen are out on the streets while the grownups argue. We're in the sixth week of this standoff and everyone's pretty much tearing their hair out over it. Teachers are indignant, parents are bewildered and kids are just bored. Turns out the teenagers are using more drugssince the strike began. Now they are getting drunk and high on weekdays at noon instead of on weekend nights only. Honestly,according to one newspaper, a very reputable source has been watching the progress of teens in the capital area and has seen a dramatic increase in illicit activity in the eleven to fourteen year old set, which is of course one terrible side effect of adults just not being able to get along.

Sunset over Reykjavik

Icelander

Autumn

In this dark and dreary pic I took on the corner of Baldursgata and Nönnugata, near where I live, you will notice that new hard frozen snow has crusted the brown grass by the empty bench that sits lonely under the bare and spindly tree. Backround windows glowing golden in the evening murk hint at folk gathered in warm kitchens to avoid the ever-present frost and the harassing northern winds that blow artic fronts into our collars and cuffs.

Autumn has arrived.

Current Affairs

A photo from 2015 that I added to this ancient post just for fun. 

In the newspaper the other day was an item on the hit and run driving over of a cat in Ísafjörður, a town way up north in the West Fjords (Vestfjörður). I liked the idea that such a crime is still newsworthy here in Iceland, especially when other, more heinous crimes are taking place here in Reykjavík, for example money collectors armed with crowbars breaking men's arms in public for not paying up a $40 tab to a bootlegger peddling rotgut, and the government not condsidering it their business to get involved in an elementary school teachers' strike that's dragged on for a month now with no end in sight (circa 40,000 kids between ages six and fourteen are the victims of this stupidity; the state government says the issue is to stay between teachers and their regional governments, which are sadly lacking funds to increase wages. Meanwhile, the state whips out some outrageous amount of money to send a big chunk of local iceberg to Paris for a promotional gig. Hmmm)

Anyway, the dead cat harks back to the old days when being responsible for the death of another's livestock meant paying it's owner dearly for the loss. I think it still goes that if you kill a sheep while driving you have to fess up the reimbursment dough, but I'm sure it's a lot harder to pin down the murderer in this day and age. It's supposed to be an honor-system thing, but who knows how many drivers still respect the system enough to track down a sheep's owner and compensate them.

I'm actually surprised that more sheep aren't victims of modern autos, given how fast people drive hereout in the country and how the sheep tend to hang out on the road for warmth. I was told that whole families of sheep are Road Sheep: they are taught by their mothers and grandmothers to hang out on the warm tarmac and never learn any better. Beware of Road Sheep when Driving in Iceland!

So, shame on the irresponsible human who crushed the poor beast and drove away, shame on evil collectors with bad weapons and shame on the government for choosing to look the other way on a very important issue affecting the entire nation!

Aqua

Today's tip: You CAN drink the tap water here, and you should. It's really good. Don't let the sulphurous smell of the hot water fool you: the cold water is true glacial stuff, straight from the mountains and as sweet as it comes. Just let the tap run for a few, then dip your glass in and fill it to the brim with liquid pleasure. Lift it to your lips and let the joy of unparalleled purity bathe your senses. It's really that good. Then fill your waterbottle and pack yourself some aqua sunshine to go...

Goose

This goose posed for me down by the town lake. He looks proud, doesn't he?

Someone told me that other day that the reason kids don't play on the huge expanse of grass outside his apartment building is because of all the goose droppings. Geese have taken over the plot of land, and there they eat grass, hang out and poop. Everywhere. The poor kids are forced to play at the playground a block away, where there's gravel on the ground and broken beer bottles that teenagers have left behind. Sad.

Geese are big and slow and they honk. They're ok birds, I guess. This one, anyway, seems to know a thing or two about attitude and poise. He seems almost philosophical as he gazes out across the lake towards the evening sunset. Who knows where he's been, over what waters he's flown and to what distant lands he's journeyed. He is a goose with a vision and I'm proud to feature him in my humble Icelandic journal