England 2009

O, to be in England
Now that April 's there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England—now!


Courtesy of Robert Browning, poem Home thoughts, from abroad

And indeed, in England to be... after a zillion years, the whole McKeowns + a few Chetwoods, Neales and MacLeods united to celebrate mum's birthday, yay! It was really nice to see cousins, aunts, uncles etc, not to mention mo and bro... The family had not met in its entirety for about 7 years at least, and I not having been back for almost 4 years (wow.. how time flies) there was some stuff to catch up on, new family members to meet, etc..

England is so very green and surprisingly lush in April, I just couldn't get over seeing so many flowers!

First stop with my Uncle Paul in an interesting zen garden ("for adults".. zen porn?)

Naaaa, it's just some artsy place, but also very nice.

A pub in Ilkeston. Not very interesting except it makes me laugh, ´cause the English language being true to itself, you don't pronounce that "earwash" but "errywash" :o)

On that subject..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IzDbNFDdP4

On another subject... An interesting guitar found in a shop in Derby. The ultimate would be if siamese quintuplets walked in looking for a guitar they could play together.. I've heard of stranger stuff happening.. :Þ

House in Derby

Still in Derbyshire near Ilkeston, in a park. Some artist carves faces on the stumps of trees that have been felled. Looks slightly eerie with a druidic touch :o)

My brother can be such a playboy... :D

Farmhouse with a wicked roof and tower..

And a rather interesting weather-vane..

Little brother with his big sister (cough)

There are 13 years between us, and someone ACTUALLY did think Benjamin was my older brother.. haha. I know I was IDed twice just before I turned 30, but it's fun to hear someone claim they believe you're 16 when you're almost twice the age. I wonder if I'll look 45 when I'm 90? Oh well, I'll probably still act like 12 anyway :Þ

Chesterfield church spire.

Was it the same guy who designed the weather-vane?

Is there something in Derbyshire water that in*spire*s people so?

Canal in Ilkeston

Apple blossom

I quite liked that signpost, it's rather random.. In fact it does give a direction, to the edge of a cliff overlooking thisThe Chechshire plain (I think) (and gosh what a difficult word to write)

Before catching the plane back to the rock, I spent a day in Stockport (above, the tower of the old hat factory, which is now a very interesting museum about the hatting industry in the Stockport area in the 18-19th Century. I also visited the Stockport Air Raid Shelters, which were equally interesting.. Several miles of tunnels underground, built from 1938 onwards and which at the height of their use could shelter up to about 6000 people at a time.. crazy..)

It was over 20 degrees today in England, really hot along my current standards, clear blue sky, really summery..A 15th Century house in Stockport. Of course, it has to be a bank now.It was 4 degrees celsius and raining sleet when I got back to the rock (so what's new)

And now as I'm typing, it's not quite 5 am and I can already see the contours of Esjan getting lighter in the rising sun. Another week gone, 50 more minutes' sun...

..

Une petite promenade a vélo en sortant du travail ce matin. Il faisait tellement beau.. malgré la neige au sol qui incite a la prudence quand on roule sans clous, c'était trop tentant..

Un beau contraste entre ce ciel tellement foncé d'un cote, et le ciel bleu clair, tellement ensoleillé de l'autre...
C'est si calme le dimanche matin apres les festivités du week-end.. tout le monde dort et on dirait que la ville ne se réveille réellement qu'apres-midi..
On sent que le printemps est pour bientot.. la seve monte, chez les bipedes comme chez les plantes. Il y a des crocus dans le jardin, qui percent a travers la neige et il fait jour de plus en plus tot. Je n'en finis d'ailleurs pas de m'émerveiller de la vitesse a laquelle le jour regagne son terrain sur la nuit. En ce sens, c'est chouette de travailler la nuit pour observer le phenomene, et d'avoir comme cadeau de sortie de travail (en ce moment) un beau lever de soleil.
Ca y est, le jour commence a poindre vers 6h30 et il fait encore jour quand je commence le travail a 20.00.

Les Islandais sont tres doués pour se stationner bizarrement, surtout le week-end (on trouve des epaves de voitures garées n'importe ou le dimanche matin, sur les bas-cotes, les trottoirs, ou carrement sur des terre-pleins au milieu de la route..) Ceci dit, la, ca bat tous les records ;o)

Evidemment, je rigole..

Ce bateau garé n'importe comment, la, c'est le Gorch Fock, voilier-école de la marine allemande.. si je me souviens bien, d'ailleurs, c'est la-dessus que le proprio de l'hotel pour lequel j'avais "bossé" en Équateur, ainsi que le cuisinier, avaient fait leurs armes, pour ainsi dire..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorch_Fock_(1933)

Il est beau, hein..? J'aimerais bien le voir sous voile.

Ásmundur Sveinsson Museum

The said Á.Sveinsson is an Icelandic (dead) (but not stuffed) artist you can learn more about here courtesy of Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81smundur_Sveinsson

I'm getting to love that site more and more, because of the precious time it allows me to spend not searching for stuff I afterwards don't have to explain. So read it yourself if you will! :D

But yeah, just a few words. The museum is set in a small white sort of rectangularish house not far from Nordica. It is very bright and minimalist inside the building, the architecture and sleekness of which I really like. I also like the works of that artist very much. I'm not necessarily into sculpture usually but I really like the textures and material he uses (wood + metal, essentially)+ they are full of humour, and Mr. Sculptor looks like a total wacko, sort of Charlie Chaplin mâtiné d'un crazy Hitler en Charentaises.. Chweet.

Eruption is the name of this one


Well, since I've been here for a year now, a year and 5 days exactly, I decided to celebrate that "anniversary" with a little road trip to Snæfellsness, place I've already been to last year but really wished to go back to, because I love the glacier (which I still have never been to, it's always good to keep some stuff for later, not only between one's teeth) and just because.

The first adventure consisted in getting Alice's car stuck in litterally no snow, and feeling pathetic on the side of the road.

In actual fact, I didn't look pathetic at all, as immediately I sprang into action and started shovelling the snow away from behind the wheels and bespreading the afore-mentionned with little lava pebbles to give the tyres some ground to wheel away on.

I didn't even have time to test the absolute genius of my handling of the situation, as after aproximatively 2 minutes I was there (didn't even have time to get cold or pissed off) a knight in shining Range Rover stopped by the side of the road, jumped out, whipped out a rope and pulled me out in no time. Fortunate for me, but rather very unfortunate for tourist's reputation in Iceland... To say that I was embarrassed is an understatement.

I don't usually blatantly lie, but when the guy after noticing rather insultingly fast that I was definitely foreign and stating "ha! you don't speak Icelandic!", asked if I had been in Iceland long, I just answered... "hum, well, no, not really.. " *blushes*

After getting unstuck, I laughed and drove off into the not yet sunset, towards my next stop, Bjarnarhöfn, where one can admire the beautifulitude of the oldest wooden church in Iceland.

That's the one.
Apparently there are sharks over there as well, 'cause when I left, I bumped into an old grandpa (again in a Range) who was dragging two 2 metre long sharks in his trailer. Funny thing to take on a casual ride you'd say, but no, he was actually taking them to the farm, where I think somebody was going to prepare them into that revolting shark-O-mix they dare call food here. (sorry fellows, I still can't relate to the pleasure of eating squares of fish that would be toxic if they weren't left to rot until they taste like piss..)
Anyway, grandpa was fun to talk to, AND in Icelandic dans le texte.. *happy!*

Drove off to Hellissandur in screaming wind, the car was barely stable, and me neither as I'd hardly slept the night previous. Really wanted to stop in Grundarfjörður, in order to climb up Kirkjufell on Friday, but the wind was so strong I figured it wasn't even worth the try. Not suicidal. And it'll be a good excuse to drag Florian up there when he comes.

Stayed at Katja and Jón's in Hellissandur, from CS as well. Friday we went for a bike ride with Katja, and that's where I decided officially, mark my wordsI will NOT, EVER, go around Iceland on a bike. (unless I change my mind about it ;o) )

Christ!

Soft Jesus!

Crazy sjit!

Twice I was just blown off to the side of the road, and that's without luggage!! Yikes.

However, it was really nice, and fun. We cycled to this lighthouse in Öndverðarnes. Lighthouses are called "viti", and apparently it's so windy here that they are generically called "helvítis" as a joke, the latter word being a beautiful pun and meaning hell, basically.

I was really lucky with the weather though, as most of the time when I went walking it was sunny, then conveniently started raining as soon as I got back into the car.. :D

Sunshine out

Laugarbrekka

http://www.nat.is/travelguideeng/plofin_laugarbrekka.htm

where Guðridur Þorbjarnardóttir was born. And who was she?

Apparently the beautiful mum of the first white offspring born on the American continent, and a heck of an adventurous woman traveller. (Respect!!)

And of course, all Icelanders descend from her (...)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gu%C3%B0r%C3%AD%C3%B0r_%C3%9Eorbjarnard%C3%B3ttir

Rain in.

Cute weather on the way back.

Oh, yeah, forgot to mention, it was Spring day!!

:D

Sunshine ueber Alles!!

This week has been the most splendid week of the year so far.. sun sun sun every day. It's still pretty cold and especially windy (yo, so the bike's not moving, I'm no masochist!!) but there is a definite feeling of Spring in the air.. this week end I noticed the first crocus has come out in our garden!! :o) And I'm really looking forward to seeing some daffodils!!Since it was also luckily my week off, I spent most of it (when I was not lying around in hotpots in the pool) generally enjoying the sunshine and walking around the environs of Reykjavik pretty much every day..
Not much to say that can't be summed up in a few photos and words, including but not excluding : fresh, beautiful, happy, sore and muscles! :o)

A beautiful view of Reykjavik and Esjan, as seen from Perlan. Did I mention I also have a view on Esjan from my room? :o)

The Pearl and the tipi.

Reykjavik "woods", Öskjuhlið. SOME of the trees are actually bigger than I.

Friday I went walking next to Keilir (the cone)

I wanted to go up it, but somehow must have turned off at the wrong place and found myself faced with having to cross a snowed up lava field to get there, so I decided on avoiding breaking all my legs alone in the snow miles from nowhere and no one and phoneless, and went up the opposite "mountain"The day was incredibly clear and the view absolutely stunning. It's been like that all week (did I mention before maybe?)

That incredible Icelandic light is back. Energy is bursting from everywhere, vá!

Just look at these little mosses peeping out!! :o)and paws..

On the way back I stopped in Garður, which is actually not at all on the way back but in the absolute opposite direction. However, I went there, and this is the old lighthouse, which it seems did not stop countless ships from wrecking there.. amongst which a few Breton boats by the way..

This photo is not the clearest, but I really love the brightness of it, it really shows how absolutely "bjart" it can be here. And I love the snowy mountains in the background.. it looks quite polar! :o)

And a graffito I especially like in Reykjavik.. Icelanders are such skalds..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skald

In two weeks (well actually 10 days now) I'll have been here a full year already.. how time flies.. I remember in June I was talking about Gummizeit, the elasticity of time.. I mean, I've always thought iof time as elastic, but here it is even more, it seems..

Maybe it has to do with the way my life feels divided into two neat and VERY different (*looking for word*) well, let's say periods, what with the nightjob and all, working every other week.

It's almost as if real life was between parentheses for a week out of two.. probably why it feels like time goes twice as fast.

At least I hope it's that, 'cause if I start feeling like time is running out at my age, I'll most definitely have to reincarnate to finish everything I want to do.

I'll just have to hope I don't come back as a slug.. ;o)

Les aventures de Emma et son vélo (suite)

Gullfoss le 18.02.09.. On est allé faire du skidoo en haut du glacier Langjökull avec quelques collegues.. froid de canard mais surtout grosse neige et gros vent.. Pour moi c'était la 1ere fois a conduire un motoneige, c'est rigolo et je suis contente d'avoir essayé, meme si ca aurait sans doute été + rigolo en voyant plus loin que 12 metres..

Exemple de grosse neige en travers..

Jeudi soir j'ai enfin réussi a trouver le chemin du club de cyclisme (voir http://www.ifhk.is/ ) de Reykjavik qui propose un atelier portes ouvertes régulierement, ou on peut venir réparer son vélo gratos avec (ou sans) l'aide de personnes sympathiques qui s'y connaissent de toute maniere beaucoup mieux que moi.

Y allant, j'ai appris que finalement c'est ouvert tous les jeudi, et c'est tant mieux. Ca faisait des mois que je voulais y aller et que je n'y mettais pas les pieds parce qu'a chaque fois que c'etait ecrit "ouvert" sur leur site web, ca correspondait a des semaines ou je travaillais.

Au moins maintenant je sais que je peux y aller n'importe quand.

Un dénommé Garðar m'a aidé a "truer" les roues et bidouiller les freins (malheureusement surtout le frein avant...), et j'ai utilisé une scie a métaux (yay!!) pour la 1ere fois, et ENFIN j'ai un vélo a ma taille, trop cool.

Donc vendredi, je suis allée en balade et me suis empressée de me vautrer pour la 2eme fois depuis novembre, encore devant une bagnole. Grrrr. Ca va, ce coup-ci je ne me suis pas fait trop mal, juste un vol plané du a une utilisation impromptue et légerement trop radicale du frein avant (le seul qui marchait VRAIMENT). Du coup (et partant du principe que finalement il y a peut-etre une raison si on dit "jamais 2 sans 3") j'ai été confortée dans l'idée que ce serait un vachte de beau projet de me trouver un casque, et j'en ai acheté un jaune vif aujourd'hui.

Tant qu'a etre visible, autant l'etre a fond, hein..

Plus atypiquement la journée de vendredi a été placée sous le signe du "orange" et "brouillard".. il faisait doux, j'avais meme envie de me baigner.. on commence a sentir que le printemps n'est plus si loin. Il fait nuit a 19 heures!!!

Tout le monde était habillé en orange on dirait..

Meme ces oeufs trouvés sur la plage.. Crabe, ou poisson?

Je suis retournée me promener la hier et j'avoue etre un peu écoeurée de la vie..

Reykjavik est assez crade le week-end, il y a toujours du verre cassé partout a cause des gens qui font la fete jusqu'a pas d'heure et ont cette délicieuse habitude de marquer leur territoire festivalier en brisant leurs verres et autres bouteilles. Super pour les pneus. On a beau faire, c'est pas toujours facile de passer entre les morceaux, alors ben ouais, sitot réparé, sitot crevé, fuck.

Comme disait ma coloc tout a l'heure, j'ai reussi a faire Canada-Chili en crevant deux fois, et ici il me suffit de 2 jours/5km.. ca doit etre ca l'ironie..

En parlant de colocs, j'ai donc emmenagé il y a 3 semaines dans ma belle petite maison en bois avec 4 fort sympathiques étrangers, une danoise, une néerlandaise, un italien et un allemand. Ca ressemblerait un peu a l'auberge espagnole et ca fait fichtrement du bien de parler avec des gens positifs qui ne passent pas leur temps a se plaindre de la crise, pour changer.. et puis, qu'est-ce que ca fait du bien d'avoir un VRAI chez soi, ENFIN.... je vais pouvoir mettre en place quelques petits projets, plantation de graines, jardinage, fabrication de maison a oiseaux et autres petits plaisirs domestiques difficiles a developper quand on n'a pas de domus propre..

I'm happy! :o)