Brits in Iceland and the ex-pat image

A few nights ago I met two fellow Brits. Well, both very polite English gentlemen so not so much my fellows but fellows themselves. I can´t say I felt particularly British until I came to Iceland. I realise despite being a proud Scot I have some of that British reserve and a liking of polite conventions which I´d never even recognised before. I suppose I believed that all those pleases and thankyous were just part of being a good girl and a generally acceptable human being. It turns out I was wrong. Icelanders are great thankers and will thank you many times in a conversation, always thank you for dinner and wish you your good health, say thank you for the last time you met and how good it was to see you but don´t expect to hear please and try not to be shocked by a direct expression of opinion, request for anything or abrupt comment in passing. It is just how things are done here and though perhaps takes a while to get used to .. took me a while to get used to and still I sometimes come away from an encounter with another person feeling like I´ve met the most rude and rough person yet.. in the end anyway, it turns out there are different rules about being polite even in countries just separated by a little bit of warm ocean current and cod-rich waters.

Back to the Brits. I keep coming across them all over the place. Why are we all here? What makes a British person head even farther north? And why oh why don´t we all get in touch? There are times of the year when you want to share Christmas cake, light a sparker to celebrate or otherwise Guy Fawkes´attempts to blow up Parliament, paint and roll Easter eggs and share some haggis when nobody else around quite gets it. I am attempting a blend of Scottish and Icelandic traditions in our household and though nobody quite understands the point of Christmas crackers that don´t explode even half as much as any Icelandic cracking festive traditions, they are all polite and join in, slightly bemused.

Is it the ex-pats in Spain image? Overdone tans and fish and chips? Is that the problem? There is no risk of overdone tans here, at least not naturally and the fish will be so much fresher than anything back home. Iceland is becoming a very diverse society. There are many cultural groups here .. for people from far away and from those as close as the Faroe Islands and Greenland. There is even an organisation called the Edinburgh Society which is a group of Icelanders who have all studied in Scotland. There are both Irish and Scottish themed bars. Icelanders make societies wherever they go, for example the Icelandic Society in London, to stay in touch with each other and maintain their traditions outside of the family home. Maybe the Brits are all here to get away from other Brits. But I don´t think so. I´d say we have a lot of things to share with each other and the varied nationalities here .. start a sausage making club, a morris dancing organisation, a deep-fried Mars bar trend.. I´m not saying lets all go round singing the National Anthem.. who knows the words anyway.. though perhaps Jerusalem or Flower of Scotland or Danny Boy (also a traditional Icelandic song) might be fun. Maybe we are all ashamed about being from the UK; what a shame.

Anyway, nice to meet the English gentlemen. Now, do I want to start the haggis, bread and butter pudding and gin and tonic club in Reykjavík? Maybe a Buchan-Icelandic club would be less offensive. With one Scottish member , some Icelandic ex-Aberdeen students and a few bothy ballads (also locally known as traditional Icelandic songs.. more on that later). All ideas for celebrating British and North Atlantic culture very welcome.