Southeast Iceland: Fog patches. Moderate or good.

Attention All Shipping, by Charlie Connelly

Sometimes it is hard to fall asleep as the days get longer and brighter and you are tucked up in bed, the curtains drawn, the blackout blind pulled down and your head under the covers but yet the light still intrudes. I am joyously welcoming the spring but am already recalling that this change in seasons and increased light also means that the time for sleep is over and the time for all night wakefulness, parties if you can summon the energy and lying awake at 3am, not really feeling too tired, thinking about what to do tomorrow, what you did today, fond memories of the past or occasional regrets and what ifs, is here.

Last Friday in the pub I was reminded, as we Brits met around 10 at night, a good 3 hours prior to the downtown migration of the locals and the fully integrated, of what I had always thought of as a very British tradition. And now I feel it might have other uses. The Shipping Forecast.. for years I wondered why fog and showers were moderate to good. I always hated stepping out of the back door (where I am from the front door never was opened, it was just decorative) and getting soaked, and to this day I hate to get a wet face in cold northern rain.

Now as I remember and listen to the forecast on the internet (my link to BBC radio 4) I feel comforted, and even more comfortable when the conversation reveals that Iceland has it too .. or at least a coastal forecast.. Veðurfregnir. I always thought it was some British institution, even after reading "Attention All Shipping" - recommended. "Sitting at home listening to the shipping forecast can be a cosily reassuring experience. There's no danger of a westerly gale eight, veering southwesterly increasing nine later (visibility poor) gusting through your average suburban living room, blowing the Sunday papers all over the place and startling the cat." (Charlie Connelly). I don´t know why I stuck with that idea that it was British after all I am no great lover of all things British (though sausage and mash has grown on me since leaving home soil). I think it always sounded so quaint that it had to be as British as cream tea or eggs with soldiers (I bet someone comes along and tells me that is American) to a land-based creature like me.

Ó tells me that it is not as it used to be; it used to sound much more sad, and I wonder if this is true of the British Shipping Forecast. The again, perhaps it was being woken at 5am to go out to sea that put a melancholy twist to the tone of that beautiful, gently meditative poetry.

So now I think I might have found my cure for summer sleeplessness and resultant nostalgia. What could be more relaxing than falling asleep to the shipping forecast? I can´t use the Icelandic one.. it is a rare example of gently, slowly spoken Icelandic which I might stand a chance of understanding and it might keep me thinking. For now I´ll stick with North Utsire South Utsire, Dogger, Fisher and I´ll lend a thought to where I am falling asleep when they reach Viking. Maybe I should look for those old recordings, monotone would be even better for sleep. How many sailors drifted off before their sector was reached? Have a listen, aren´t they good, even if a little modernised and jaunty?

Southwest Iceland: West 1. Moderate. Occasional showers. Good. But still sleepy.

Já punktur ís

Today I reached a level of acceptance about living in Iceland that I see as something of a turning point, or at least a recognition of reality. Not a decision to stay by any means, I hasten to add, not signing a lease or a mortgage for a flat bigger than the shoe box which some might consider to be a better sign of really deciding to stay (investing in that shaky thing, Icelandic property in 2008).

I finally reached a suitable level of Icelandic understanding to make my way through the online phone book and sign myself up to be included, findable, trackable, available for communication. I should soon be found on ja.is.

Another milestone today.. I arranged an appointment over the telephone entirely in Icelandic. It seems rather miserably small-scale but communicating, understanding and being understood have been issues which have separated me over the last few years from really feeling part of Iceland. I did have to ask for the date again.. I´d never heard of the 80th of May before. Still a little shaky on those numbers.

Feeling a little bit smug!