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The Father Of Icelandic Christmas: Brian Pilkington Brings The Yule Lads To Life
When you ask a child in Iceland what the Yule Lads look like, you might expect them to show you an old, Icelandic book–something as old and ancient as the tale of the Yule Lads themselves. But while the troublemaking brothers are…
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Ice Flow, Nowhere To Go: Exploring The Ice Caves Of the Vatnajökull Glacier
“Are you underwater!?” my mum’s Whatsapp pings through on the last wisp of 3G available in the Sapphire Ice Cave. I’m not–but she’s right, I could be. Carved into dimples by the wind, the intensely blue ceiling looks more like the ripples…
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Iceland’s Energy Consumption Highest Per Capita in Europe
Iceland’s household energy consumption was the highest per capita in Europe in 2017, Fréttablaðið reported this morning. This is shown in figures that have only just been release by Statistics Iceland. 2017 is the most recent year in which data from all…
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Covid-19 Roundup: 12 New Cases, New Cluster Infection
12 new cases of coronavirus were diagnosed domestically yesterday. 11 of them were already quarantined at the time of diagnosis, and 8 of the 12 were related to a cluster infection in an asylum seeker shelter, which is reported on in further…
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Spooky Light Flickers Disturb Vesturbær
Lights in the Old West Side of Vesturbær started flickering wildly early yesterday evening, and some speculated that this might be supernatural activity, Vísir reported. Many discussed the incident on the Facebook page Vesturbærinn. One Vesturbær resident, Þórhallur Bjarni Björnsson, caught the…
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Richest 1% Richer Than Before
The Icelanders belonging to the richest 1% of the population own a total of 865 billion ISK–close to the annual budget of the entire Icelandic state. This 1% is made up of 242 families. This was reported on by Fréttablaðið, after being…
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Covid-19 Roundup: 4 New Cases, 3 In Quarantine
4 new cases of coronavirus were diagnosed domestically yesterday. 3 of them were already quarantined at the time of diagnosis. This is the lowest daily figure so far this week. 32 are currently in hospital with coronavirus and 3 of them are…
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Iceland Ranks Third In Expat Quality Of Life Index
Iceland has ranked third in a new quality of life index for expats run by Blacktower Financial Group. The index was calculated using six key metrics: world happiness ranking, average monthly salary, cost of living, property price to income ratio, quality of…
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Covid-19 Roundup: 8 New Cases
8 new cases of coronavirus were diagnosed domestically yesterday. Of those, 7 were in quarantine at the time of diagnosis. 8 cases were also diagnosed on Monday and 7 on Sunday, so the daily figures are neither rising nor falling for now.…
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Strong Aurora Forecast Tonight
The aurora forecast for tonight is at 5 or ‘High’ on the 9 point scale. Between 3 and 4 AM tomorrow morning it will even reach as high as 7. Being able to see this aurora activity always depends on cloud cover,…
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Facebook Competition Shows Rifle-Wielding Santa Claus
Byssusmiðja Agnars, the gun shop on Hverafold in 112 Reykjavík, has attracted attention on Facebook after running a Christmas raffle-style competition in which the winner will take home a Mossberg ATR 308 rifle. The competition, explained in a Facebook post, just requires…
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Small Relaxation Of Coronavirus Measures: Pools To Open
The Minister of Health, Svandís Svavarsdóttir, has announced changes to coronavirus prevention measures in Iceland. These will come into effect on December 10th, and have been revealed on the official website of the Prime Minister’s Office, Stjórnarráðið Íslands. The changes will apply…
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Covid-19 Roundup: 8 New Cases, 1 Death
8 new cases of coronavirus were diagnosed domestically yesterday. Half of these were already quarantined at the time of diagnosis. This is only a small increase from Sunday, when 7 were diagnosed; and as considerably more samples tend to be taken on…
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92% Of Icelanders Want Coronavirus Vaccination
According to a recent survey by Maskína, 92% of Icelanders plan on taking the coronavirus vaccination when it is offered to them. The answers were split into four categories: ‘Yes, definitely,’ ‘Yes, probably’, ‘No, probably not’ and ‘No, definitely not’. 61% answered…
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Abandoned Iceland #20: Hjörleifshöfði
Jess gives Iona a history lesson as they climb to the top of Hjörleifshöfði. They then visit the Yoda Cave near where Star Wars was filmed, and a fight to the death ensues. Thanks to GoCar Rental for providing a car for…
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Covid-19 Roundup: 7 New Cases, New Covid-19 Alarm System
7 new cases of coronavirus were diagnosed domestically yesterday. This follows 4 diagnoses on Saturday and 14 on Friday. With weekend figures, it is always important to remember that fewer samples are taken than during the week: 943 tests were done on…
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Icelander Faces Police Investigation For Refusing Screening And Quarantine
On Saturday, Vísir reported on the case of plastic surgeon Elísabet Guðmundsdóttir, who arrived in Iceland on Friday night and refused both screening and quarantine. She was then present at the protest on Austurvöllur at 1pm on Saturday–an anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine protest…
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Covid-19 Roundup: 12 Diagnosed, All In Quarantine
12 cases of coronavirus were diagnosed domestically yesterday. All of them were quarantined at the time of diagnosis. The incidence of domestic infections is still increasing, from 45.5 yesterday to 45.8. However, this is a smaller jump than the day before, which…
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Weather To Get Colder, As Low As -20°C
Temperatures today will get as low as -14°C whilst tomorrow could see temperatures as low as -20°C, RÚV reported this morning. The coldest areas will be inland, whilst coastal and southern areas remain slightly warmer. The yellow weather warning in the Central…
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Too Many Disabled People On Benefits, Says Brynjar Níelsson
Independence Party MP Brynjar Níelsson has expressed concern at the high number of disabled people on unemployment benefits. He emphasised that despite empathising greatly with those disabled people who are completely unable to work, he feels that those who can work need…
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Covid-19 Roundup: 14 New Cases
14 new cases of coronavirus were diagnosed domestically yesterday. 13 of them were already quarantined at the time of diagnosis. The incidence of domestic infections has increased since yesterday from 42.8 to 45.5. 38 are currently in hospital with coronavirus, 2 of…
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Akureyri Police Help People To Work In Historic Cold Spell
Following cold weather, snowfall and torrential rain last night, the police in Akureyri were called in to help people get to work. RÚV showed a video of snowfall being violently blown across a mostly snow-covered road, highlighting conditions that the north is…
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Whole Country In Yellow And Orange Alerts; Historic Cold Snap Coming
The southeast of Iceland has been given an orange alert for severe gales or storms, whilst the whole of the rest of the country has been given a yellow alert. This information is available on the website of the Icelandic Meteorological Office.…
