This week, instead of posting one picture, I want to post a few that I took during our ring road trip last week. Our final two nights were spent at Kolkuós, a historic trading post that some idiots wanted to turn into the main garbage dumping site for north Iceland. [It’s the same morons who want […] Read more
June 2015
As many of you no doubt know [especially if you have read this], the Icelanders have a language committee that makes up new Icelandic words for things or concepts that pop up. By which I mean that Icelandic doesn’t just take the word, say, “computer” and call it “kompjúter”. Instead they submit the object “computer” to the language […] Read more
Today I am hitting the ring road [that circles Iceland] to distribute my books to retailers. We’ll be stopping in Höfn, Seyðisfjörður [two nights], somewhere near Húsavík [no accommodation booked yet so it looks like we’re winging it], two nights in Akureyri, and two nights at Kolkuós in Skagafjörður. Here’s a picture from magical Kolkuós – we […] Read more
Yesterday I saw a man of a respectable age out walking his dog. The dog stopped next to a light pole, crouched down, and pooped – as dogs do. The man stopped, observed, and when the dog finished started to walk away. “Shouldn’t you pick up after your dog?*” I asked him. “Yes, I should,” he […] Read more
According to the old folk stories, the Icelandic population had a curious relationship with the elves or hidden people [terms that are used interchangeably in Icelandic and mean the same thing]. The hidden folk were, obviously, hidden [read: invisible] to humans, yet they could see the humans without any difficulty. Which is kind of unsettling when you think about […] Read more
This waterfall, called Brúarfoss [Bridge falls] is one of my favourites in all of Iceland. It is off the beaten track, tucked away inland, with no road save a hiking/horse riding track to access it. I used to rent a cottage every summer very close by, and it would take me about ten minutes to reach […] Read more
When non-Icelanders hear about the Icelanders’ belief in elves, they usually picture us believing in the existence of little leprechaun-like creatures with pointy hats, or tiny fairies that flit among the flowers like butterflies. The “belief” aspect notwithstading [personally I don’t know anyone who believes in the existence of elves, though certain sections of the Icelandic […] Read more
