Wednesday 31 December 2008

Mum's gone to Iceland. Tell a lie - I left her at home

If there are only two of you getting a flight, don't rely on the other one to keep track of time. A lesson I considered as Russell and I ran to the gate with -3 minutes to spare, having only moments before been enjoying a breakfast-and-beer repast.

I'm now lying in bed listening to drunken Icelandic people giggle their way up the street outside the window. It's a fascinating language to listen to - some words are easily recognisable; so far we've discovered "Hi", "Bye", "Taxi", and "Tea" translate pretty directly. Other words.. are not so simple. This is partially because the Icelandic alphabet itself is a little different to English: in Iceland they use letters like ð and þ (called 'eth' and 'thorn', respectively), and in 1974 they abolished Z. Of course, as always seems to happen, everyone we've met has spoken perfect English so it really doesn't seem to be an issue.

I'm quite excited about tomorrow, it seems all the tourist gubbins on the web declaring New Year to be a major event in Rekyjavic are quite true - we've had quite a few people in shops etc. tell us how much we're going to love it. I think we'll probably go out to a bonfire or two late in the evening, then back to the apartment building where the owners have invited everyone to have sparkling wine on the roof, while we watch the fireworks. New Year's Eve, metres from my bed? Yes please.

Night all!