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:

Gleðilegt sumar! Summer is here!

I am turning into the grumpy lady in the neighbourhood. I think this is the effect of living in very close proximity to everyone in the village. I really like it in terms of my work, seeing that you know where this dog and this cat lives and whose horse was brought in with a nasty wound. However, when I get home in the evening or at the weekend, I want to be anonymous, minding my own business in the garden. So I am still keeping the dream alive that I can move to a place of my own where I have acres to myself and my eccentric habits.

Another thing bugging me today is that Lappi seems to be having a teenage crisis a bit early, being disobedient on purpose, as if to try my patience. People that know me well would maybe know that I don't have a lot of patience most of the time! He seems hellbent on eating my 'gúmmískór'-Chech made rubber slip-ons traditionally worn in the Icelandic countryside. This in spite of him knowing from an early age that he must not, and has always obeyed by this rule. Also, he tears out the insoles knitted by my mum and chews on them. I am sure that he loves the buttery sweaty juice coming from these wonderful flaps of wool, but even sweeter must be the feeling of being naughty!

Today is the Icelandic 'sumardagurinn fyrsti', or first day of summer. Traditionally it is very wet, windy and cold, if not snowing, on this day. People will however persevere with going on parades and children will receive a summer gift of a rubber ball, skipping rope or summer clothes. This is a very Icelandic day and an official day off. So today I have been in the garden playing with Lappi and planning the beds (in my head, I am not doing anything yet as we can still expect snow) and the weather has been behaving so far. It is great to have a day off, as the last two days have been craaaazy at work. Everybody seems to be selling horses abroad these days (they must be getting a lot of Icelandic krona for their Swedish krona and Euro) and the lambing season is looming large, so the next few weeks are going to be manic!

Well, I guess it was about time people got some news from the wonderful town of Hella! By the way, I am not doing anything about my thesis corrections yet....yikes!

Lappi sees the world

Went south for the weekend, all the way to Reykjavík, spending the first night in Hafnarfjörður at my parents'. Lappi came with, experiencing tarmac for the first time. Also, he had to be on lead the whole time. We had meat soup, my favourite, which lasted me and Sverrir two more meals at the weekend. Lappi was good and didn't harass grandmother which was a big plus in her books. Saturday we spent in Reykjavík after mum and dad had left for Snæfellsjökull glacier for some skiing. We took Lappi everywhere round town, even to buy wine and beer for the party we were going to in the evening. Had a picnic in a sunny park and everything was hunkydory. After all that Lappi was totally knackered and could sleep all the way through the disco party we were going to later in the evening.

*As you see everything revolves around the dog these days*

The party was great, I never knew there was that much disco music to be unearthed in the world! Well, it began snowing in the night and in the morning everything was again covered in the white stuff (no, not cocaine and not dandruff).

It was a bit hard to get to work this morning, but on the plus side I got meat soup for lunch from one of the farmers wives, so now I am saturated with the stuff!

Yup, life is OK, I guess. Just the time to start worrying about doing my thesis corrections!

Time for some news

Tax returns have been handed over, the puppy is now formally mine and I am having a bit of nights with broken sleep due to his need for frequent visits outside. I am really enjoying his company and today will be our first day on the job together. It will be interesting to see how he manages. Other news, the snow is gone and the migratory birds are flocking to Iceland. Many of them will be flying over here on their way all over the country. Last night there was a lot of whooping swans squabbling on the river, a bunch of duck quacking, and my favourite the oystercatcher was peeping joyfully over mine and Lappi's heads around midnight. Lovely!

Last but not least, my parents were over for one night at the weekend and brought with them my brother Magnús all the way from Shanghai! It was a great time we had together and I look forward to the next opportunity.

Anyway, must get to work. Behave while I am away!

I am still here

A few things have been going on although I haven't been writing much. First of all, Lappi has been visiting for a couple of times with great success. Then, I found a house and plot that I am now wondering if I should put in an offer for, for then to break down the house and build another one. Hence I have been finding out all sorts of info for the price of preparing a plot and the prices of building a new house. Well, a girl is allowed to dream, right? Apart from this, my time is spent on tax returns and knackered staring into space.