Iceland

Off to my lovely Iceland tonight. A bit later than I expected but hey as long as it's not cancelled I am not too bothered. Just glad I'm not flying out of Heathrow.

To everyone I wish you all a happy christmas and much happiness in the new year.

Lots of love from both me and Andy

Jola jola

Jaeja nu fer ad lida ad thessum blessudu jolum. Eg er reyndar farin ad hlakka alveg svakalega til enda a leid til Islands. Ekki verid heima sidustu tvo jol thannig ad thad hlakkar i mer eins og Svolu Bjorgvins um arid.

Thid frabaeru vinir sem viljid senda okkur jolakort tha vaeri bara voda gaman ad fa thau til mommu og pabba a Tungotu 14, 820 Eyrarbakka. Hlakka alltaf svo mikid til ad lesa jolakort fra vinkonum minum enda yndislegar allar upp til hopa.

Fekk einmitt thrjar alveg frabaerar um sidustu helgi en thaer Thorey Arna, Sigga Maja og Sirry heidrudu mig med naerveru sinni. Eg thurfti reyndar adeins ad stinga af i brudkaup en thaer letu ser nu ekki leidast a medan og versludu eins og thaer aettu lifid ad leysa enda gott og odyrt midad vid Island ad versla i Manchester. Attum svo goda stund saman i Chester a sunnudeginum og svo i Manchester a manudeginum adur en thaer heldu heim a leid. Takk stelpur, thid erud algjor gull.

Roberto y Gabriela

Saw this awesome guitar duo from Mexico play at the Manchester Academy 2 last night and they absolutely blew me away. Can’t say that I’ve been a special fan of flamingo music in the past but this was that and so much more. The pair have developed this special style of playing the guitar, not just strumming but using the whole guitar. Their style is quite rocky and so powerful. So great to see something different. Check them out www.rodgab.com

Manchester

Eg hef buid i borginni nuna i rumlega thrju ar og eins og eg hef nefnt adur tha er thetta storborg sem stundum er erfitt ad atta sig a. Allskonar folk, mismunandi menningaheimar og bilid milli rikra og fataekra ekki bara fjarhagslegt heldur menningalegt. Lif folks i Moss Side gaeti ekki verid olikara lifi folksins sem byr i Alderly Edge.

En i gaer fekk eg skemmtilega innsyn inn i borgarsoguna thegar eg for a umraedufund sem bar heitid “What was so good about the Hacienda then?”. The Hacienda var mjog vinsaell skemmtistadur i borginni a 9. aratugnum, fra ca. 1982 – 1989. Thar komu fram hljomsveitir eins og Culture Club, New Order og Sex Pistols og oft spiludu thar hljomsveitir rett adur en thaer “meikudu” thad. Sidustu arin throadist klubburinn svo i nutima dansklubb medfara throun “reiva” og thar byrjudu Bretar first ad hlusta a House tonlist fra USA.

Otrulega skemmtileg umraeda og rifjudu margir upp gamla daga og madur fekk skemmtilega innsyn a senuna i Manchester fyrir 20-25 arum sidan, adur en Oasis, Stone Roses and Happy Mondays gerdu allt vitlaust.

Eg hef i raun sjalf ekki mikid stundad klubbana herna i Manchester en herna er otrulega mikil groska i klubbakvoldum, fraegust eru ef til vill Electric Chair med Mr. Scruff og Friends and Family. Forum reyndar a eitt mjog kul kvold sem kalladist Chips with Everything...ja Manchester hefur svo aldeilis upp a margt ad bjoda en madur tharf bara ad leita eftir thvi.

Ta ta

Not too much going on here in Manchester. Andy has started his new job and is over the moon about it. First day was spent walking with academics and artist down Oxford Road to explore the biodiversity of the urban environment. This was done to prepare an exhibition on nature in cities. Sounds very cool. So proud of my man.

In other news. Soldiers keep getting killed over in Iraq. What a complete mess and the dangerous thing is that people are getting use to this. We don’t really see any demonstrations any more. It’s like people have given up hope for this ever coming to an end. They are getting idle and to busy catching up with “Celebrity…get me out of here”.

While this carnage is still going on the most remarkable thing has happened. A group of prisoners have now won a claim against the authorities on the grounds of human rights for letting them go “cold turkey” but they were all heroin addicts. To sum up they sued and won because they were denied access to heroin after being jailed and this breached their constitutional rights. Each got £3500 paid by who else than me and other tax payers of this wonderful country.

What a mess

New photos

Check out some new photos from the last couple of months...

in reverse order

...so clever

We had the best party on Saturday night. Lots of people showed up and we had fireworks because it was bonfire night and a dj, well because we’re just that cool. It was also Andy’s birthday party and you people who know Andy know that he likes to celebrate his birthday and preferably for a month or so. Anyway he got lots of prezzies and cards so he was well happy. Can’t wait for the next one…

Andy

It’s my lovely boyfriend’s birthday today. Happy birthday sweetie:-)

Andy you are the kindest, smartest, funniest, the loveliest person I’ve ever met and I can’t believe my luck that you’re mine.

I love you to the end of the world

Ad donskum sid akvad eg ad hjola i vinnunna i morgun. Akaflega hressandi. Um 10 km hvor leid og ef thetta kemur mer ekki i form tha barasta veit eg ekki hvad skal gera. Eg var ad sjalfsogdu med hjalm og gaetti ytrasta oryggis thegar eg sveigadi milli bilana. Nei nei nokkud oruggt thar sem mest megnis af leidinni er hjolreidavaen. Manchester er lika gjorsamlega flot og ekki mikill vindur. Veit tho ekki hvad gerist thegar byrjar ad rigna!!

Af odru:
-For ekki til London um helgina eins og planad var, thar sem Christian hennar Emmu thurfti i skyndi ad fara inn a sjukrahus en er sem betur fer a batavegi.
-For hins vegar a tonleika a sunnudagskvoldid med hljomsveitinni Guillemots. Agaetis band sem var tilnefnd til Mercury verdlaunanna nyverid.

Er asnalegt ad gefa kaerastanum sinum matvinnsluvel i afmaelisgjof??

Happy Days

Yes it's all happiness these days, Andy's just got a new job and a very exciting one as well. Creative Exhibition Officer is the title of it and is at the ultra cool Urban Culture Museum of Manchester called Urbis.

Best thing is its not in Leeds.

Off to London soon, haven't been in ages. Going to check out some hotels with Emma as well as hook up with some friends.

Can't wait.

New photos from Copenhagen

Finally

Enjoy

So laim

Well, how laim is this blog...gonna be all creative, funny, witty and intelligent on this blog but nothing...for days!! Am I loosing my mind...or just been busy

Since last time I have

*Gone to Germany for work, setting up some new Sales Management Tools for our German factory whilst being rather bored listening to old fork sales veterans talking about the importance of themselves for three days.

*Coming home to Manchester, working for half a day and then jetting off to Copehagen to see my lovely sister, her mister and their little bump which will be arriving in January but was already chatting with us in its own special language. Having a fantastic time in the beautiful city, cycling everywhere, eating sushi, going to see Singapore Sling in Christania (boring) and seeing lots of Icelandic people, visiting the erotic museum, the spiral tower, little mermaid, the palace, eating smorrebrod in Nyhave with live music and chardonnay and lots of other places. Favorite moment was though chilling in Christania on a sunny day, floating on a little pear, drinking bear and listing to people singing beautiful harmonies. All in all one of the best holidays I've ever had. Takk Kristin, Gudjon og Duddi.

*Visiting a French Fire Sculpture garden. See pictures...no way to describe this.

*Going to a gala night at the Radison SAS in Manchester with Emma and Christian. Five course meal, dinner and dance and all alchol for FREE...just doesn't get better than that.

*Autumn in Manchester has arrived.

Lifid er russibani

Enn og aftur i bodi Emmu systur Andy var okkur bodid i helgarferd. Ad thessu sinni var forinni heitid til Alton Towers sem er staersti russibanagardur i Englandi. Oh thad er svo otrulega gaman ad fara i russibana. Pissa i sig af hraedslu en lata sig svo hafa thad. Setti inn nokkrar myndir fra helginni.

Annars er allt gott hedan. Farin ad hlakka oendanlega mikid ad sja hana Kristinu systur mina i DK og tala vid litla bumbubuann hennar. Verdum i fimm daga og otrulegt en satt tha er thetta i fyrsta skipid sem eg fer til Koben. Med hverju maeli thid...

**Nyjar myndir** og af odru

Eg trui thvi varla ad thad se komid haust, thetta sumar hefur lidid otrulega hratt. Nuna bara rignir og rignir en grasid reyndar loksins ordid graent eftir thurrka og hita i sumar:-)

Vid hofum tekid okkur ymislegt fyrir hendur undanfarid og medal annars kiktum vid til Yorkshire en thar eiga their sinn eigin hoggmyndagard Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Nokkrar myndir fra theirri ferd her til haegri. Ein syninganna var eftir listamanninn James Turrell og hef eg sjaldan verid eins heillud. Hann segir m.a. um syninguna sina,

"My desire is to set up a situation to which I can take you and let you see. I am interested in light because of my interest in our spiritual nature and the things that empower us. My art deals with light itself, not as the bearer of revelation, but as revelation itself".

Ljosid er sem se ekki bara til ad lysa heldur til ad sja.

Annad sem heilladi okkur i manudinum var Manchester Guy Pride og ma lika sja myndir thadan a myndasidunni. Mikil litadyrd og thvilkur mannfjoldi i baenum, skemmtun okkur rosalega vel og gledin var alls radandi nema hja nokkrum spillikrakum sem vildu bara vera leidinleg og motmaela thessu glada folki. En thad er fatt ahugaverdara og eiginlega fyndnara en ad sja gamlan gudhraeddan mann rifast vid gamlan kall i kjol en allt er nu til.

Marianna og Co. komu svo sidustu helgina i agust. Frabaert ad hafa thau oll og thau voru alveg otrulega duglegir ferdalangar og nadu ad heimsaekja fjorar storar borgir i Englandi a fjorum dogum og London tvisvar. Geri adrir betur. Gerdi mer grein fyrir ad fa Marionnu hversu mikid eg sakna allra vinkvenna minna a Islandi, eg a bara mest megnis lusa straka vini herna i Manchester og var thvi yfir mig anaegd ad heyra ad eg a von a threm vinkonum i desember. Sigga Maja, Thorey Arna og Sirry get ekki bedid eftir ad fa ykkur til min.

Af alislensku sludri

Eg les stundum her & nu mer til skemmtunar og daegrastyttingar. Eg myndi halda ad thetta blad myndi nu helst gripa ungt folk og kellur ut i bae. Thvi finnst mer alveg oendanlega fyndid ad fyrsta heilsiduauglysing i thessu agaeta riti er fyrir Skotbomulyftara fra Manitou.

Sa sem selur auglysingar fyrir thennan snepil hlytur ad vera algjor snillingur.

Crosby beach 2006

 

Rigning

Va hvad sumarid hefur lidid hratt. Finn fyrir haustinu nu thegar enda rignir bara og rignir i Manchester. Thrumur og eldingar i hadeginu i gaer. Faum eflaust sumar aftur i October. Vedurgudirnir eru ordnir half ringladir a thessum umhverfisbreytingum og vita hvorki hvort their seu ad koma eda fara.

Oll thessi strid eru eflaust ad trufla tha eitthvad, skrytid til ad hugsa ad folk soli sig a badstrondum alls ekki svo langt fra Libanon. Sumar og strid fer bara ekki saman, ekki thad ad strid fara saman vid eitthvad annad. Thad thyrfti bara snjobil til a kaela theta lid adeins nidur.

Svo eru hrydjuverkaarasir yfirvofandi i Bretlandi. Hef tho ekki tekid eftir breytingum i hegdun folks i kringum mig. Thad sem er ad gerast a Heathrow gaeti alveg eins verid i einhverju odru landi. I minni gotu lifa allir i satt og samlyndi, gydingar og muslimir. Tvo synagogue og stor Moska i gotunni og solin skin yfirleitt a okkur oll. Nema thegar rignir.

Annars hlakka eg bara mest til ad fa hana Marionnu mina I heimsokn:-)

Liverpool

Off to Liverpool for the weekend. Got a free be at the Radisson SAS hotel thanks to Emma www.roomfinderuk.com. I think we're just going to relax and check out a few interesting arty things like this http://www.seftoncoast.org.uk/index_news.html#beach as well as have a nice dinner and maybe check out some a gigs. Should be easy, being a musical town and all!!

Really looking forward to it.

p.s. stay tuned for Andy's weekly inputs...first just below

1. Context...

Any visitors guide, travel column or holiday show will recommend a little research prior to embarking on your journey. In order to get the most out of your time away it's generally good advice to spend a little time at home reading up on what your destination has to offer, that way you spend less of your vacation time seeking out what's available and trying to locate it. However, sometimes, for some cities, the leaflets available in travel agent's offices and articles published on tourist information internet sites offer a somewhat biased view. While not being categorically false much of what you may read will be half truths, white lies or blinkered reflections of reality.

Take for example the beautifully vague:

"Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester
Winner in an international competition"

I'm prepared to admit that, from this view, the centre of Manchester might just about get away with appearing to be a cutting edge cosmopolitan metropolis. Unfortunately the illusion is lost on realising that the photograph was taken from the top of the not so contemporary Piccadilly Plaza:

As tourist fluff goes most of Manchester's tourist copy reads like my CV of 10 years ago, convinced, as I was, that my gold membership to Blockbuster put me in a unique and authoritative position to dominate the film industry within 6 months. With genuine sentiment I had written a resume that proclaimed "I am an dynamic, hardworking team-player with a mature professional attitude and the drive necessary to succeed" - so far so good - but not being completely naive I realised that perhaps it was necessary to offer something more than neologisms of corporate speak in order to get my first job. I continued with the more intimate "I am very smartly dressed, clean shaven and my personal hygiene is second to none", thinking that perhaps my ability to wash would attract the image conscious media crowd. Left here, this would probably have been enough to have someone take pity on my adolescent stupidity, but I felt that I could offer more. With the blind ambition of youth I tried to stretch my meagre skills that little bit further than was strictly true; "I intimately understand the requirements of a modern cinema audience and am able to provide all of the necessary skills required in the film industry". It was blatantly obvious to anyone who had set foot on a film set that I lacked any skills of any use whatsoever, other than perhaps my dedication to cleanliness. In many ways I think this stage of adolescent confusion, without direction and without a reflexive self-awareness, is where Manchester finds itself today – other than perhaps the cleanliness.

The changes violently set in to motion by the IRA, at around the same time I was providing TV producers with excesses of scrap paper, gave an opportunity for rebirth. The resulting redevelopment becoming, without a doubt, the driving force behind the renaissance Manchester currently finds itself in, those grim northern landscape depicted by L S Lowry that perpetuated through to the lyrics of The Smiths disappearing into memory.

The criminal fraternity once occupying the Victorian buildings of Whalley Range have been ousted by property developers; the previously derelict and dangerous Castlefield basin is now home to hi-tech and media entrepreneurs; the town centre has risen from the ashes as a refreshed and invigorated commercial hub - all of which is, indeed, an applaudable achievement. So why the need to start producing material shouting vague praises about projects that most people deem as an expensive failure? Much the same as a teenager trying to enter the world of work, contemporary Manchester has emerged back onto the map as an international city and found itself new, broad horizons to explore. In order to compete at this level it has become necessary to maximise those qualities which may attract potential investors. Unfortunately, in their eagerness to 'show the world what we've got', the focus of the politicians charged with publicising the city have failed to judge it on its own merits. Instead they have tried to take a shortcut, becoming embroiled in the politically loaded, yet fatuous race to be crowned 'Britain’s Second City'. So, we end up with promotional materials which aim to compete with the offerings of long established world cities supporting populations of over 10,000,000, but instead we end up looking small and cementing our position at the bottom of the tree…

“Across Greater Manchester, you'll find a wonderful variety of things to see, do and experience. Whether shopping, eating out, outdoor activities or anything in-between.”

Piccadilly Gardens, L S Lowry, 1954

Being and enjoying

I had a lovely weekend. Didn’t realize thought that it was the Icelandic Verslunarmannahelgi. Well not until Monday when I was back to work. Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend in Iceland. Strange to be so far away and not knowing what’s going on and I sometimes feel detached from the society that I used to be apart of.

Can I really both be apart of it and live away from it, is it possible?

Well what I miss about living in Iceland is that feeling of being a part of a society, a community where I always know what is going on, both in personal and public life. If somebody internationally famous is visiting the country, everyone knows about it and it’s like a family having a foreign friend come over for a cup of coffee. And if an Icelandic person is doing well on an international stage everybody is routing for them, and they are ours, representing all of us to the whole world. Magni in Rockstar: Supernova is first and foremost Icelandic when singing to the world and everyone gets a family like feeling watching him. I do, watching him by myself on the Internet.

I don’t really get the same feeling of familiarity living in Manchester. It is a big city and with so many different societies and cultures. You kind of have to look for it, search a community out if you want to be a part of it, it doesn’t happen like in Iceland, it’s not just there. I don’t really know if a superstar is coming to town. I don’t realize if somebody from Manchester is doing well on the world stage. I don’t know and I don’t really care.

But it all got its pros and cons I guess.

I love living in Manchester because I can have a chat with the Cypriot shop keeper about our different cultures whilst buying a big bunch of fresh coriander for 50 pens. And I love going to my local pub and having a nice pint whilst playing the Tuesday night pub quiz and winning a gallon of beer only because I was part of an international team (Andy The English, Paul The Welsh and me The Icelandic). It gives you an advantage. I also love Saturday mornings, waking up with my Andy, going to the local deli and getting fresh Polish bread and lovely Cheshire cheddar and eating it outside in the lovely British morning sun.

Just thinking

photo photo

Nyjar myndir, nyjar myndir!!

Endilega kikid

Party med Panama

Eg by med kaerastanum minum Andy i storu husi i Didsbury hverfinu i Manchester. Med okkur bua lika Neil aeskuvinur hans og Paul sem flutti inn til okkar fyrir nokkrum manudum. Okkur kemur ollum alveg ljomandi vel saman og gerum okkur oft gladan dag.

A laugardaginn aetlum vid til daemis ad halda grillveislu. Paul reyndar stakk upp a thvi og er ad fa slatta af vinum sinum fra Skotlandi og Wales i heimsokn og verdur thvi margt um manninn i husinu okkar um helgina en eins og their sem hafa komid i heimsokn vita er meira en nog plass og ef tharf verdur skellt upp flatsaeng i kjallaranum. Thad verdur eflaust fjor og eg lofa myndum eftir helgi.

Ja eg for nu adallega ad segja fra thessu thar sem eg frettir i gaerkvoldi ad Paul er buin ad kynnast stulku eins og gengur nu og gerist og aetlar hun ad ferdast fra London til ad maeta i partyid. Hun er reyndar ekkert venjuleg stelpa, hun er sendiherra Panama i Bretlandi!!

Andy er a hottunum eftir Panama hatti

Heitt

Myndir myndir myndir...endilega kikid a vefalbumid mitt

Baeti svo fleirum inn fljotlega

By the way still a heatwave in Manchester

Bara lata ykkur vita

Ja og einnig setja inn myndir...coming soon

Svo langt, svo alltof langt...

Her aetla eg ad setja nidur raetur a ny og skrifa.

Skrifa um daginn og veginn, allt og ekkert...finna mig aftur sem "virtual person" og sja hvort eg breytist eitthvad...verdi einhver onnur eda bara sama gamla Gusta.

Sja hvort eg geti verid baeti utlendingur og heimalingur i Manchester.

Verid velkomin aftur!