June 2005

Thank you friends in Blogland for all your kind words and wishes. They really do mean a lot.

There has been no major change. Still, the imminent event seems so overwhelming and huge that just to blog about something silly and insignificant seems, well, silly and insignificant. We go about our daily business – and yet the grief has already moved in so everything is just a little harder than usual, like walking underwater. There’s a sort of fatigue that permeates everything.

It’s strange, grief. It often seems that when it comes, it triggers a whole pile of other grief that has accumulated along the way. You grieve for one person or event, and at the same time are also grieving for a lot of other people or events. Things which for whatever reasons you have not been able to grieve before, or not at such a deep level. Even old, old things. Primal things.

Icelanders are not big on grief. And they abhor sentimentality. Therefore it can be a tad difficult for some to tread that fine, thin line between denial and artifice. I suppose that is true of anyone though. Finding that emotional truth that allows you to accept all of it with dignity and grace is a grace in itself.

Appropriately enough the weather has been rather bluesy today. It’s been overcast and drizzly with a fairly strong wind. Some, like YT, might call it refreshing. Went out for a run earlier and the scents from the earth were so pungent – the grass, the birch trees, the earth. The wind was not cold at all, but friendly and invigorating. Temps are currently 14°C and the sun came up at 02.59, will go down at 24.02.

EPI’s mother is dying. It’s a matter of hours now, rather than days. It’s huge and rather scary. I have never been so close to anyone going through this process before; have never observed it up close like this.

It’s so often said that here in the West we’re so removed from death – we keep it locked away in institutions and don’t want to see it. I suppose that’s true. With EPI’s mother, however, it’s been happening in increments for the past ten years or so, when she first started showing signs of having Alzheimers disease.

His father – her husband of over 50 years – looked after her for a very long time, absolutely refusing to have her placed in an institution. Finally it became an impossible task. Just before Christmas last year she fell at home and broke her arm. Hospitalization followed, and she has not returned home since then.

About two months ago she fell again, and this time broke her hip. After that, it was almost as if she gave up on living. She was put on painkillers and more or less slept all the time, only waking occasionally and sometimes attempting to speak. Nonetheless, those who loved her continued to visit her, to sit with her and hold her hand – or even just to meet in her hospital room, to sit and chat with each other, confident that she would know that they were there.

She was a wonderful woman – elegant, gracious, charismatic, and above all kind, and even when the disease had robbed her of most of her faculties, she still had the power to create a sense of harmony and goodwill in her immediate surroundings. In fact, all through her disease, the thing she would tell people most, over and over, was how pretty or beautiful they were. That was her recurring theme. Telling people they were beautiful.

She’s being amazingly well taken care of. The nurses attend to her every couple of hours, turning her in her bed, making sure she’s clean and that her skin and lips are moisturized, and administering morphine. I know the nurses have a special fondness for her, because ever since she went into that ward they have repeatedly remarked on how gracious she is, and how kind. Her family – EPI’s father, his brother and three sisters, their children, and others who are close to her – take turns staying in the room with her. They’re saying goodbye.

The deterioration has been systematic, and it has now been about four days since she stopped taking in any sort of nourishment, or water. She does not respond to any sort of stimuli, neither sound nor touch. She lies motionless on the pillows, her eyes half open but not seeing, her only movement being the rise and fall of her chest. I can’t even say she looks particularly peaceful. I don’t think she’s the sort of person who surrenders easily to death – she was too full of vitality for that. And yet, like the Inuit people, she has gone out onto the ice floes to die. She’s gone – except that her metabolism continues to tick as if by habit. But soon that, too, will stop.

THE WEATHER REPORT…
… will resume tomorrow.

Boy, this moving business sure is a pain. All that packing of the old archives into boxes and transporting them to the new address, contacting the relevant parties [electricity, water utilities, service providers, stat counters] to inform them of the changes, and finally going back to the old place to make sure it is left behind in an adequate state.

Plus my life is asking to be lived. [Pesky life!]

Hence this hasty posty - I shall return very soon to write something infinitely more interesting, but in the meantime, adieu, adieu, a thousand times adieu!

It’s midsummer night – one of my very favourite nights of the year. It’s so totally irresistible – that sense of mystique, mischief and celebration.

Here in Iceland we don’t celebrate as much as the other Nordic countries do, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t myth and folklore in abundance. On this night…

… The cows talk.

… The seals shed their skin and become the people they really are [seals have human eyes, donchaknow].

… You can find magical stones – ‘óskasteina’ – and if you do, you can make a wish and your wish will be granted.

… If you sit at a crossroads that face directly in all four directions [n,s,e,w] all your wishes will come true at midnight. Some also say that if you sit at those crossroads, elves will come and incite you to come away with them. [Elves are big in Icelandic folklore and are not to be confused with gnomes, who are not half as elegant]. If they do, you must not under any circumstances go with them. And even if they offer you all sorts of gold and silver and diamonds and treasures, you must under no circumstances take it because if you do you will go insane.

… If you go out and pick a special ‘draumagras’ – dream grass – and put it under your pillow and sleep with your right cheek on the pillow, you will dream what you wish to know.

… It is recommended that you climb seven fences. [Nobody knows why, though.]

… You should pick seven types of flowers – some will heal you, others will reveal who it is that has stolen from you. [Missing anything? Sleep with flowers under your pillow and find out who took it.]

… If you roll around in the dew naked you will be healed of whatever ails you. If you let it dry on your skin you will be healed of all itching and anything else troubling your flesh. Some claim that you can also make a wish when you’re doing that and it will be granted to you.

ON THE MORE TEMPORAL FRONT, HOWEVER
There’s lots going on this evening. There’s a midsummer night’s run starting at 10pm [and before you ask NO I’m not going to run because I don’t do marathons] after which participants will get free admission to the Laugardalslaug pool. Nearby, the Family Park and Zoo will open at 11pm and stay open until 1am, just in case the cows start talking. Admission is free, even. And on this night [or sometimes on the subsequent weekend] there are all-night midsummer night hikes in various places throughout the country, which I’ve never had the privilege of taking but which I’ve heard are AMAZING. You start off in semi-darkness, walking in the mysterious Icelandic landscape, and get really tired and then suddenly BAM! the sun is full-on in your face and you’re wide awake. Rush!

MEANWHILE THE WEATHER IS…
Mm, let’s just say that YT is going to pass on the rolling-around-in-the-dew-naked thing. The weather’s not exactly bad, it’s just not that good. No sun. Wind. And temps currently a mere 10°C [50°F]. Meanwhile, the sun came up at 02.56 and will go down at 24.04. Day getting shorter now. Sniff.

EPI and I went out for a nature walk last night, it being the summer solstice and all. Encountered lots of tourists with huge cameras out by the lighthouse, taking pictures of the sun setting behind the clouds. YT wielded her little handy-sized digi-cam and managed to procure these pics, taken at midnight:

This is facing east [incidentally, that rather stately house with the black roof was the home of the first physician in Iceland and is now a museum with lots of gruesome old medical instruments and body parts in bottles, shudder] …

… and this is facing north.

It was a beautiful evening, very serene.

Today’s weather was beautiful too: started off rather cool but with hardly a cloud in the sky. The sun shone brilliantly all day long and by late afternoon I was by the poolside, soaking up the rays. This greenhouse effect business sure is fantastic. [Ahem]. Current temps are 14°C and the sun came up at 02.55, will go down again at 24.05.

Right. So now that I’ve waxed all lyrical about the Icelandic nation and the glory of independence and blablabla, I think it may be time to come down to earth for a short while and dissect the Icelandic national psyche in an effort to find Ten Glaring Flaws.

And so, in random order, and completely subjective, and undoubtedly filled with sweeping generalizations, I give you the Icelandic national psyche exposed:

1. Icelanders are horrible drivers. It’s true.

2. Icelandic men have no talent for hitting on women. They just don’t. They’re either too shy or too drunk.

3. Icelandic men don’t hold doors open for women. Say there’s a door, and a man and a woman reach the door at approximately the same time, the man will barge ahead and squeeze ahead of the woman, frequently shoving her aside in his zealous effort to be first. Similarly, Icelandic men see no point in helping women on with their coats or lighting their cigarettes or whatever. After all, women are equal to men, right?

4. Icelanders are terrible at recycling. They throw newspapers, bottles, furniture and electronic equipment into the household trash. Through a serious effort on behalf of the municipalities, however, they’ve finally managed to learn that toxic things like batteries must be disposed of in the proper locations.

5. Icelanders do everything at the last minute. I am not kidding. As a freelance translator and copy editor, at least 80% of the assignments I get are for things that needed to be done yesterday.

6. Icelanders are binge workers. They work a lot and often in spurts. They like it that way. It’s a throwback to the days when ships came in with the catch and everybody who was physically able was required to pitch in and work like a dog until the work was done. A lot of Icelanders say they can’t get anything done unless they’re right on a deadline.

7. Icelanders are compulsive spenders. This is a throwback to the days when inflation was so high [a mere couple of decades ago] that you needed to spend your money as soon as you got it, otherwise it would just… disappear. So saving is not big over here. Whereas being maxed out on your credit card is.

8. Icelanders love new gadgets. In this regard I believe they were separated at birth from the Japanese. As soon as something new hits, everybody has to have it. Mobile phone manufacturers do a rip-roaring business over here, let me tell you. As do the makers of Monster Jeeps.

9. ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’ is a national pastime in this country. ‘Wot? Jón across the way has a new Land Cruiser? Whell how about a new Hummer, eh Gunna? On payments, of course.’

10. Icelanders’ favourite motto is: ‘Þetta reddast!’ Which loosely translated means, ‘It’ll work out in one way or another.’ Icelanders place enormous faith in Providence, frequently with disastrous results. But you have to give them credit for being cool.

AND ICELANDERS LIKE TO TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER
… Which suddenly has turned nasty and cold. Who authorized this, please? We have summer, and then suddenly bam! it turns all windy and icky on us. OK, it’s 10pm and the sun has just come out as well it should as it is the longest day of the year and will be all downhill from now on. Which may or may not explain YT’s disgruntled mood – I much prefer ‘into the light’ over ‘into the darkness’. But what can you do when you live in a shoe? Current temps are 9°C [shrug. adequate I suppose] and the sun came up at 02.54, goes down at 24.05.

A lot of people don’t realize that Iceland has only been an independent republic for just over 60 years. Still fewer realize how amazingly far this nation has come in that time. After all, well into the last century, the people of Iceland were still living in turf houses and Reykjavík – now a modern and thriving capital – was just a small town.

Then came what the people here [only half-]jokingly refer to as ‘the blessed war’. First, Iceland was occupied by the British, and suddenly capital flowed into the country, enabling the building of a proper airport and roads. A couple of years later, the Brits were replaced by Americans, who set up a NATO base [which is still here]. And with the Americans came… jobs.

If you’ve ever read anything by Halldór Laxness [Iceland’s Nobel laureate for literature] you’ll know that if there is anything of supreme importance to the Icelanders as a collective whole, it is: Independence. [Indeed, the novel that is widely agreed to have secured him the Nobel prize is Independent People]. And after being granted independence in 1944*, it’s safe to say that things Took Off for the Icelanders. They purchased trawlers and took to the sea with even more fervour than before, they set about building an infrastructure, an educational system, a health care system – in short, transforming the nation into a modern republic with one of the highest standards of living in the world. Today, a mere six decades later, and even with a population of only 300,000, Icelanders are world leaders in such areas as equipment for the fishing industry and the utilization of geothermal energy, and pioneers in the use of hydrogen energy [we actually have hydrogen buses running on the streets of Reykjavík]. The work force is highly educated, with a large portion of the population obtaining their education abroad [there is a very good loans and funding system], after which they return home to enrich the nation with their know-how and expertise. The health care system is excellent and on par with the best in the world, as is the social system. This nation is very quick to adopt technology and, for instance, has the highest level of Internet penetration in the world. The Icelandic nation is also party to various European and international cooperation, such as the United Nations, the European Economic Area, NATO, the Nordic Council of Ministers, etc. To repeat an oft-used quote: Iceland is a small country with a big-country mentality.

In Fréttablaðið today, a handful of people are asked the question: What is most Icelandic of all? One man responded with a hint of irony: ‘Our overdeveloped sense of nationalism’. It’s true: the Icelanders do tend to think they’ve done pretty well. And I say: let them. Because they have.

AND OUR SUPER-DUPER ICELANDIC WEATHER IS…
Wet. Finally! This weekend you could almost hear the vegetation sighing with relief. It showered relentlessly yesterday and today there are scattered showers with overcast skies and a slight damp chill in the air. I’m told it’s supposed to turn nice again tomorrow, though. [See? Everything is best over here!] Current temps are 10°C and the sun came up at 02.54 and will go down at 24.04 – oh INCIDENTALLY! Tomorrow is the summer solstice, which means that will be the LAST DAY for a while that the day will be getting longer. After that, we begin the slow descent into darkness again. Yikes!

* Just to avoid confusion: Iceland was granted Home Rule in 1904, but full independence came 40 years later after a series of peaceful negotiations with the Danes.

National day. June 17. Celebrated each year to commemorate the day when Iceland officially declared its independence from Denmark in 1944. It’s a big day for the people of this country and there are celebrations ALL DAY LONG. It starts with a ceremonial laying of a wreath at the grave of Jón Sigurðsson, leader of the independence movement. Then, at 10am, an official programme commences at Austurvöllur square in front of the Parliament building, with speeches and such. The President lays a wreath by the statue of Jón Sigurðsson, there is [choral] singing and whatnot, and then the ‘fjallkona’ appears – ‘the maid of the mountain’ – image of Iceland’s national identity, similar to the French Marianne. Traditionally there is an actress chosen to represent the fjallkona, and there is always quite a lot of secrecy beforehand about who it will be that particular year. The fjallkona, dressed in Iceland’s national costume, recites a poem. This ceremony ends with a church service in the Dómkirkja cathedral.

That’s when the more rambunctious celebrations get underway. All day there are myriad things happening in town – in the afternoon they tend to be geared towards families, with parades, toys and outdoor activities for the kids, plus street theatre, different performances on various stages set up all over town, food stands and generally a carnival atmosphere. You’ll typically see lots of parents pushing strollers around and copious amounts of helium balloons unwittingly flying into the air.

The big party begins in the evening, however, with concerts all over. Without fail these are Iceland’s best bands playing [in rotation], and the mood is generally wild. The town fills up with people [some in various stages of drunkenness] partying long into the long summer night. The official party finishes at 10pm, but of course it typically goes on much longer than that.

EPI and I are slightly woolly in the head following last night’s festivities, however, and are about to embark on a run in an effort to clear the cobwebs. Then there’s a little birthday gathering at his sister’s place, after which we’ll be sure to head into town. Poor little AAH, however, is feeling poorly [didn’t even make it to the party last night] so may just miss all the fun. Boo.

The weather is excellent – not a cloud in the sky and temps forecast around 18°C. Whoever claimed it was going to rain today was obviously wrong. [Ahem.] Sun came up at 02.55, will go down at 24.03 just as the party is at its height. Yowsa!

So yeah. Went out for a walk last night after pressing PUBLISH. Just as I was about to go out the door who should come home but EPI, so he tagged along. It was about 10 pm and there were lots of people around enjoying the evening. That’s Mt. Esja there in the background - everybody’s favourite mountain…

When we left at around 11 there were people arriving in hoardes, because that’s when the sky starts getting a little bit of orange and purple in it, like so:

Incidentally, this is the westernmost part of the capital [you can’t go any further west without swimming], meaning that the sun is literally going down right in front of your eyes. This shot turned out kind of interesting, because we took a photo right into the sun, which was behind the lighthouse. Kind of spooky, no?:

We walked along the black pebble beach in the direction of the oft-mentioned golf course and saw some pretty amazing things along the way [it’s all in the little things, you know]. Like this slime-covered rock, sticking out like a sore thumb [or perhaps index finger]:

… And this colourful seaweed at the waters’ edge…

… and this little red ant-type thing that I know is called something in English but which escapes me for the moment…

… and this beautiful mask-like thing on a stone, like something out of a Greek tragedy.

There was a bunch of other stuff too, but this will do for now. At least you can see how brightly the sun is shining, even if it is almost midnight.

AND TODAY’S WEATHER IS
Sunny again! And warm! A bit more wind than in the last few days, though. My father’s wife turns 50 today and so she’s doing the Icelandic thing and holding a big bash this evening - happily this fine weather will allow us to spend some time outside on their deck. Big Birthdays are a Big Thing here in Iceland - every time you enter a new decade of your life you are pretty much expected to celebrate it properly, which means throw a party with lots of booze [BYOB is virtually unheard of in Iceland] and fancy hors d’ouvres or - better yet - dinner. And 50 is The Biggest. These are generally quite formal affairs, where people get dressed up in their best clothes and there are speeches and toasts and funny stories told about the birthday person. So it should be fun. Current temps are 14°C and the sun came up at 02.56 and will go down at 2 minutes past midnight.