I am relieved that...

...I wasn't in the abbattoir refrigerating room when today's earthquake shook the place. Yup, we had a "Suðurlandsskjálfti" today, which is the term used for quakes in the south of Iceland that reach a caliber over 6 on the Richter scale. They say it was about 6,2 and that is pretty big.



I was just back from castrating two yearlings (year-old horses) and worming a bunch of crazy cattle. I guess it wouldn't have made the task easier if the animals were going mad from quake frenzy. We were all hanging about in the clinic, prepping for the next task or tidying away from the last one when all of a sudden there was a booming sound and everything went wobbly. I had been feeling some shudders last night and this morning but it still took me by surprise. We all huddled in one doorway and then quickly ran out. Phew, it was ok here in comparison to further "south" (which is the term for "West" here) where many houses are now full of bashed stuff. I really didn't think of my house until I got home after work and waited a bit before opening the door, just to prepare for the ensuing sight. I was expecting broken glass jars on the kitchen floor but these were unnecessary worries, as the only thing on the floor was Björk's "Vespertine", whereas other CDs had just shifted slightly towards the edge of the shelf. Also, a whisky bottle was curiously close to the edge, so all in all quite lucky. This is a timber house after all, and the ground floor, so less damage could be expected.



And yes, the refrigerating room in the abbattoir was stuffed with carcasses of cows and horses in full swing while the quake lasted! The workers were in there at the time and apparently it was rather spooky. To tell you the truth it is quite spooky enough when you are in there among the carcasses, alone after hours and then the lights go out...!

A Horribly long Day

When I was wee I had a bit of a fixation on factory work. I don't know why, but I guess I was fascinated with the organised repetitiveness of working at a conveyor belt. I used to dream of working in a factory, such as a fish plant or an assembly line so that I could stand there doing the same thing again and again with rhythmic movements.

Well, today I got the chance to live the dream as I got to do some locum work at the big abbattoir on the weekly day of pig slaughter. Needless to say the day was horrible. The noise, the heat and the endless line of pigs soon set me straight but the worst thing was the lack of organisation and nobody telling me what to do and how to do it. There is one useless person particularly that I am peed off with and I am planning to never do that person a favour again. It leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth when a grown person promises something in order for you to do them a favour and then betrays that promise with a pack of lies. And then feeling that you don't want to do your work properly just out of spite is plain crap.

I am used to a tiny abbattoir here in Hella but in this other one I had to stand on a hoisty platform thingy with pedals that I kept accidentally stepping on, sending me rocketing sky high or plummeting to the floor. I am amazed that I didn't break my neck in there.

Anyway, when I got out of this noisy hothouse the weather was actually nice and I managed to do some garden work after I got home. All's well that ends well!

The lambs are poppin'!

Oh dear, I thought of something really clever and deep to put on the blog today, but seem to have totally forgotten it now. My days are really busy at the moment, and so are the nights, as the lambing season is properly over us now and have already had a busy weekend shift pulling them out all over the area. It is one of the greatest experiences in the job, seeing the little things quivering and heaving for air and then hearing the first me-e-e-e (which is icelandic for 'baa'). However, a couple of them I haven't been able to save and then there are always the sheep that tear badly and the odd extruded uterus. All in all, good days. Also, the garden is coming on in leaps and bounds. Lappi and I are enjoying digging the weeds and tending the compost heap, as well as planting veggies outside.

Finally, evidence of sunny mornings in Hella: