Springtime

Ahhh, springtime. Admiring tulips while kissed by the sun. Listening to chirping birds. Wondering about what the cat is up to. Knowing it can’t be anything good. Looking forward to Eurovision. Especially now that Iceland has yet again made it to the final competition this coming Saturday.

For four out of five years now, Iceland has been the tenth nation of ten to be announced to make it out of our semi-final round. It is said to be read out in no special order. No one here believes that. There is some conspiracy – we have just to discover what propels it and why.

 

The Icelandic song this year is called “No prejudice” and the band “Pollapönk”. The title of the song refers to the message contained within the lyrics – i.e. do not tease, bully or belittle others. You will not be able to catch this by listening to the song as it is impossible to make out the lyrics. But anyhow, the original version it was in Icelandic and those proficient in the language could make out the words. Needless to say Icelanders were quite pleased with the essence of the song as no one wants to champion bullying. But despite this, during last night’s semi-final competition, it became obvious that the message did not stick. The Twitterfest that ensued contained scathing comments regarding other competitors, their performance, costume and physical appearance. But as one twitter-user pointed out today: What is Eurovision without sarcasm?

We have probably been made fun of in other countries during our performance. The UK media pegged our singers as “hipster teletubbies with ZZ Top backup singers”. Not all that far off. Here is the song so you can judge for yourself:

 

It should be noted that the ZZ Top backup singer in purple is a member of the Icelandic parliament.

 

In the spring of 2009 that followed our spectacular bank crash - our contestant Johanna Guðrún who landed second in the main event was noted during the televised event as having had to walk from Iceland since we could not afford a plane ticket for her. Hence the tattered condition of her dress.

 

 

All young men in Iceland today wear a beard. If they Vikings were to rise from their graves no one would notice. Apparently beards are now cool. All the Icelandic male models on billboards and in the magazines have beards. My son even has one. I asked him about it and he said he wore it because of his iPhone, not because it is fashionable. Apparently, clean-shaven his cheekbones would function as fingers on the screen and cut his calls or set off apps. Women apparently do not have this same problem as their faces are smaller. I don’t know. I suspect he thinks beards are cool. But then again. Almost all young people here have iPhones so it would explain the popularity of the beard. I am thinking of contacting the University of Iceland tomorrow to see if they are doing research into the correlation of beards and iPhones. If the answer is no I will suggest they do.

But that is all for now. I must go and check on my garden. It has a tendency to do its own thing if left unattended. Two years ago a cousin of mine came for a visit and complimented us on the garden, adding that more people should take this “fuck the system” approach to their yards. Since that was absolutely not what we were shooting for we immediately hired a summer gardener. He will be starting again next week. Till then I am on my own.

Me against the weeds. Complicated by my less than superior knowledge as to what is a weed and what is a desirable plant. Maybe my family and I should just embrace the “fuck the system” garden style.

Yrsa - Wednesday