Frábært vörumerki

Nýja Europris sjampóið mitt heitir glemo, sem hljómar næstum eins og SoulGlo. Það er rosalega kúl.

I bought a new brand of shampoo in Europris (akin to Lidl or Aldi, but even less food and even more strange stuff like chainsaws) the other day. It's called glemo, which reminds me of the fabulous afro product SoulGlo. Liking it a lot!

Mrs. Robot-son

Af hverju fannst Japönunum sem fundu upp kennslukonuvélmennið nauðsynlegt að það gæti sýnt undrun, hræðslu, fyrirlitningu, reiði, gleði og sorg? Eru þetta einu og nothæfustu tilfinningarnar sem barnakennari þarf að geta sýnt? Þarna á meðal er auðvitað fyrirlitningin mín uppáhalds. Ekkert lærði ég betur en það sem mér var kennt af fyrirlitningu. Númer tvö á listanum mínum er svo hræðslan. Uppáhaldskennarinn minn í barnaskóla var eilíflega hræddur, nema hvað!

Edit: So sorry Bea, I know I should have posted in English as well! The post was a comment on a newspaper story on the preschool teacher-robot from Japan reported to have the ability to show the following emotions: surprise, fear, contempt, anger, joy and sorrow. I wonder if the inventors saw these as the most useful emotions harnessed by a preschool teacher? My favorite was of course contempt. Number two, I think is fear, as of course my favourite teacher was forever scared shitless!

Lazy weekend

We had a great relaxing weekend doing nothing but enjoying each other's company, going for a walk and eating good food. Last night we had ptarmigan for supper, two birds that Sverrir shot in the autumn. He skinned them by the back door with white feathers flying about, Lappi standing in awe and keeping his distance so as not to intimidate the alpha dog! I have never had ptarmigan before and it was yummy!

Oh, I never mentioned we are attending dog training on Thursday nights, trying to get Lappi used to other dogs and to learn that he should always obey us, no matter how pretty next door's Rottweiler is. We were advised to get a pliable leather lead for him, but as we couldn't get one ready made we asked the local saddler to make us one. We are really happy with it and it came at a reasonable price in addition of supporting our local craftspeople. At the same time they fixed my old travel chest which had two broken leather handles, but is now looking fresh and cool again thanks to Söðli the saddler.

The Alpha bitch

If Lappi ever doubted that it is me who brings home the bacon in our house, after last night he doesn't need to doubt any more. I went out around 8 last night and returned home with a 16 kg piece of smoked foal withers in a black bin bag. This is the last piece of the half-a-foal we bought a month ago. I then proceeded to chop up the thing into smaller pieces with Lappi hovering like mad around the whole business. Luckily, it is frosty these days so we managed to put the meat out in a closed box for chilling until we manage to find freezer space.

But maaan, this is a lot of smoked meat!

Time for some news

Now then, my dear friends. I'll start off with this:

Happy New Year !!!

If anybody is wondering why they didn't receive a card, the answer is simple: None were prepared, let alone sent. Sorry, but December just vanished into thin air somehow. I am grateful for the cards I did receive myself, it is always really nice to get news from my dear friends.

Now, the year has started with dark, foggy days filled with ill cows and so I am not enjoying it as I should. The day is growing ever longer, though, so hopefully the sun will be shining on my days soon enough.

The economic situation in Iceland is still getting worse for most people, and still none of the government ministers or bank directors are leaving their posts. There is a lot of activism going on in the country these days and it is great to watch. Only on rare occasions have I taken part, as the actions take place mostly in Reykjavik, but it's been great to feel the atmosphere and people's fighting spirit. In the meantime, a lot is going on on the Internet so I can follow the discussions there.

Right, this is all for now, will try to write sooner next time!

All set for a long winter of depletion...

...as we wheeled home 23 kilos of foal meat last night. A local blacksmith offered me half a foal as he was about to send a couple to the slaughter. Looking economical depression and deficient food stocks in the eye I had to say yes, especially as I am a great believer in local food and self sufficiency in general. Also, foal meat is delicious!

So last night Sverrir and I found ourselves on a farm on the outskirts of habitation in pitch dark and strong winds, sorting our foal meat into goulash and various steaks. The farmer, a dab hand at deboning and sorting meat was so nice as to help us with the processing, whereafter we took the whole lot (meat from three foals) over to the next farm where they grow and sell pink trout and therefore own a vacuum packing machine! So there we stood in the kitchen packing and labelling until half ten in the evening. When we finally headed home the weather was crazy mad and we figured we probably shouldn't have been travelling on such a night.

Now Sverrir is poised over the meat kettles cooking horsemeat sausage processed and smoked by the aforementioned farmer and Lappi is chewing on a huge bone from one of the foals...cozy!















Oh, and of course I have to mention my two little nieces, one born on December 2rd in Reykjavík and the other on December 6th in Shanghai. I am thrilled to bits with both of them, although I will have to wait a good few long months to see the one in China - boohoo!

On Saturday last...

...I was among 6-7000 Icelanders protesting against our government (as well as an agreement between them and the IMF) in Parliament Square. I was also among approx. 500 people protesting outside Reykjavik Police Headquarters, an action resulting in people being pepper sprayed after they had forced their way in. Me and Sverrir stayed well away but still shouted our lungs out.

I am amazed at the situation here, how corrupt bankers (or should I say wankers!) can still keep their positions in the banks, taking their time to hide away their sins and dirty laundry so that no one will know just how rotten their tiny little brains are.

However, I am really happy that people are putting pressure on the government to get to cleaning the joint, and to start by resigning their power!