The Ground Of Intense Cold Under The Pole Star

Here’s what you can see at Keflavík International Airport.

Here is a set of songs that I’ve been singing in the shower this fall. The playlist is definitely rock oriented. It was the period I guess. Starting with:

Metronomy - Heartbreaker: Important points to note always add the sound of a creaking door to your singles. Laugh all you want, but it’s this stroke of genius that makes ‘Heartbreaker’ a great track. An original, suavely crafted pop song that I can listen over and over again.

Harlem - South of France: Harlem is a new band out of Austin, Texas that has been generating some hype. It sounds very garage rock and yet fun to listen to.

Snake Flower 2 - I Woke Up In A Dream: Snake Flower 2’s debut album, Renegade Daydream, is a dream scape of novelty garage punk. I woke up in a dream is like getting punched in the face on an early morning.

Yussuf Jerusalem - We Ain’t Coming Back: Totally amazing first album. We ain’t coming back is a mix of a sad doomy bedroom folk and a beautiful weird pop.

The Terror Pigeon Revolt - Fast Forward Regret: Just reading their name will make you understand are crazy is this band. Fast Forward Regret is just showing well what weird pop is. I really like the synth sample though. It fits perfectly with the lead singer’s voice.

I think I pretty much took all the necessary precautions to avoid being (again) a victim of the tough time Iceland is living. I painfully got rid of all the Icelandic króna I had here and there. I will probably write about how I did that and what approach I took to avoid the central bank restrictions. However, I am still waiting for my car’s spare part. So last week I called my car dealership and asked them to send me an estimation quote of the total cost we agreed on. Just a simple measure to avoid having them telling me in two weeks that the it will cost double because of some exchange rate issue. The quote I received wasn’t very clear and above all the “at the current exchange rate” got me scared. They were basically implying that the spare part’s price shipped from the eurozone will be charged using the day of reception’s exchange rate. I wrote them back that given Iceland’s current situation, giving a price of a component in 2 or 3 weeks is unacceptable. I suppose that they’re paying it before shipping anyway. Once again, I have been astonished how bad this company was handling its business. Here is the transcript of the answer I got via email.

I understand what you are saying, but unfortunately, ****** can not be responsible for the exchange rate of the krona.
We will not pay this part to ***** until after the part arrives to us, therefore, we are in the same situation as you, we do not know the final price for the part until after it arrives to us. So then the price might be higher, or maybe lower. Nobody knows.

I hope this explains the situation

Can you see yourself telling a customer: “I cannot tell you how much you will pay for this component. Could be 1000€, could be 2000€, we’ll see once it arrives, it will be the surprise !!”
No wonders Icelandic companies are going bankrupt all over the place. Who would want to order anything not knowing how much it costs?

I once read, a very well written comment from an article on how Icelanders could take advantage of this situation: Iceland is a great holiday destination and it’s hard to see how it will harm anyone to stay at home a bit more in Iceland. The long dark winter nights will also be perfect for googling those newly competitive export business ideas. I truly hope this person is going to get it right.