Hello friends!
I am back from a weekend in Akureyri, north Iceland, where EPI (husband) and I went to visit with friends and attend the opening of an art exhibition by my daughter’s partner, Kolbeinn. His birthday was last week, so there was a bit of a surprise birthday party tied up with the opening—really fun, and lovely.
Akureyri is a beautiful town, and especially in the lead-up to Christmas. Just look at this exquisiteness:
Although we made that trip in one piece, I do not recommend driving in Iceland in the winter unless you are extremely well prepared. By that I mean that your car should have studded tires (as in with embedded nails), which ours does not (I know I know 🙈)1 and you study road conditions very carefully before you set out. Thankfully the Icelandic Roads Administration has a map showing conditions on roads in the country at any given time. You can access that here.
I mention this for a reason. While we were driving across Holtavörðuheiði heath I got a text from my friend, who was also en route to Akureyri and who I knew was about an hour ahead of us. She asked if we had encountered an accident since she and her husband had met several ambulances with lights flashing and sirens wailing, headed in our direction. I quickly logged on to RÚV and discovered that there had, indeed, been an accident: a bus with 29 people had been blown off the road in the middle of the heath that we were at that moment crossing. The news report was very brief and said that, as yet, nothing was known about injuries.
This was mildly terrifying, not least because I did not know whether we would be first on the scene, and if so, what we would find. Injuries? Fatalities? I’m sure you can appreciate my apprehension.
Moreover, the road was icy (as heath roads often are), and there were gusts of wind, so I knew that if a tour bus that presumably had all safety measures in place had gone off the road, what did that say about our level of safety?
Thankfully, we were not blown off the road, and we were not first on the scene—ambulances and rescue vehicles were already there. This, meanwhile, is what we saw—and I post this photo only because no one was seriously hurt. 🙏
It was a timely reminder that driving in Iceland in the winter is risky and should not be undertaken lightly!
Question time!
Last week I invited paid subscribers to submit questions for me to answer. This excellent question came from Liv Ellen:
Hæ hæ 😃 I have been to Iceland a few times, and made some friends there, and have talked to a few over the years now. Out of every Icelander I have talked to, not a single one has supported Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn and the existing regime, everybody is outraged over everything that is going on with the politics, corruption and so on, but the same people keep getting elected over and over again. Why do you think that is? What is happening in Icelandic society in order to change things? I know there have been a few a bit desperate attempts to shake things up (Jón Gnarr in Reykjavik, The Pirate party a few years ago), but after a while everything seems to settle and things go back to the way they were before. Why are people drawn to vote for these people? Do you know?
Well, I don’t know, but I do have a theory. I decided to answer this question on my other Substack, where I do a deep-dive into topics that are closer to the bone, like trauma and healing. I thought my answer fit better with the themes I focus on over there. An excerpt:
When an individual suffers a trauma, that trauma continues to affect him or her until it a) its impact is made conscious and b) it is systematically worked through in therapy or some other form of emotional/psychosomatic work. Unresolved trauma is always detrimental to the wellbeing of an individual, and can even be fatal.
I have come to realize that, in this respect, nations are no different to individuals. Nations, made up of a collective group of individuals, can also suffer trauma—and do, all the time. And until the nation, as a collective, works through its trauma, it will continue to play out in ways that are detrimental, and even deadly. I could name many, many examples of this, but I’m sure you can think of a few. If not, you need only to look at the news, especially right now.
To read my full answer and theory about why Icelanders seem to oblivious to the exploitation we are routinely subjected to by our politicians, click here.
All right, that’s it from me, for now. Stay safe on the roads! 🥰
Did you know that you can buy hard cover versions of (most of) my books via my website? They make awesome Christmas gifts. 🎄✨ Paperback versions of my books are available via Amazon, ebook versions via most online ebook retailers, and audiobooks via Audible. You can also purchase ebooks and the audiobook version of Daughter directly from me via my website (this is best because it means I do not have to share the proceeds with a third party).
If you are interested in learning more about touring Iceland responsibly, in winter or summer, you may want to check out my Little Book of Tourists in Iceland: Tips, Tricks and What the Icelanders Really Think of You.
The thing is that studded tires are super bad for the environment and public health, as they tear up the asphalt and cause particle pollution that lodges in people’s lungs and is especially harmful to children. You do not need studded tires if you are only driving within the limits of the capital, and we rarely venture outside of Reykjavík in the winter. Consequently we’ve made a decision to use all-weather tires without studs, and just make sure we monitor road conditions very closely if we go outside of the Reykjavík area. But anyone renting a car to drive outside the capital in the winter should insist on having studded tires on their vehicle.
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Wow, thank you for your thorough answer Alda! I have never thought of it this way, but what you are saying makes a lot of sense. We were exploited here in Norway too, under the Danish rule (400 years of darkness). We were robbed of our resources, but most of all, I think, our language and identity. It was for instance not allowed to write in Norwegian, everything was in Danish, everything published was in Danish, for centuries. So we lost a lot of our Norse heritage. But we weren't exploited to the same degree as you describe, at least not as many of us. And we got out of it earlier than Iceland did. We were handed over to the swedes in 1814 as part of the war profit after the Napoleon war, and in that deal we were handed over and even though we were placed under the Swedish king instead of the Danish king, we were allowed to have our own constitution and some level of independence. We didn't get full independence until 1905. And I think you can still see effects of this even today. So I think you're right! It is sad, that it takes so long to recover from all of this. But very interesting, thanks again!
I love Akureyri! My last visit to Iceland was spent mostly there. It was at the end of February. Decided to take the "bus" (it was a van, which also had mail and parcels) to Husavik for the day.
Now, I've had many professional driving jobs - buses, taxis, trucks, etc., and I grew up with snowy roads in Michigan. After watching the driver speeding along in the middle of the road to Husavik, talking with a passenger and waving his arms around, windows open, heat on full...no, I plan to avoid winter driving in Iceland.
Maybe that is because I've never driven with studded tires. Possibly I just haven't eaten enough hakarl (or any, I couldn't get past the smell). Or I'm just a wimpy American. But I couldn't even tell where the road was half of the time.