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@rvkgrapevine

MOST AWESOME LETTER:
Hi-
I was just on vacation in Iceland but had zero time to shop.
Where can I find women’s leggings like the one’s I saw in Iceland?
Some were shiny, some were a mix of shiny and matte horizontal think stripes, some had zippers. These leggings are thicker than tights and thinner than jeans.
I saw them worn with cotton tops with that fell to mid thigh and a jacket…kind of like an ad I saw for 66 degrees north…leggings a kind of longish cotton dress/top and a short jacket.
Affordable price please and perhaps a contact website.
Is there a column in your paper that features photos of seasonal fashion and where to buy?
Do you ever do an annual feature article about shopping like top 50 shops and categories like funky, sporty, yoga, fitness, fashion, shoes, fashion boots, snow boots,natural, Icelandic, urban, sun, snow, jeans, kids,teens, 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s etc
 Thanks,
Sha Sha
Dear Sha Sha,
thank you for your letter. It is likely misplaced. You do realise you are asking fashion advise from what is probably the single worst dressed editorial staff on the entire northern hemisphere. People here wear Snuggies and Crocs for fancy events—if they feel like dressing up! Usually it’s the good ol’ burlap sack.
We are flattered that you’d ask and all, but we really don’t feel we can help you. Have a shirt for your troubles!
Perhaps some of our readers can pitch in?
Readers, if you’ve any idea how dear ol’ Sha Sha can get some stylish leggings, do write us at letters@ grapevine.is. There might be a prize in it for you!
Rejkhanes Hotel
Dear Editor
We were inspired by an item by you which was included in a feature in The Guardian travel section last November, which advised its readers where to go to see the aurora borealis. We suspect we are considerably older than your usual reader demographic, but undaunted, we arranged a holiday in the hope of seeing the sky dancing above the hot water pool at this hotel, as described by you. We weren’t entirely successful in this regard, the weather was against us, but we knew the odds and the glimmer we did see was a taster.
However, the charm and kindness of Jon and Maria Haider, proprietors at the hotel were remarkable. We have visited Iceland before, in the summer, but this time the dramatic winter landscape which we could see during a long drive with our hosts, was just wonderful. That, combined with the generosity of the Icelandic people, makes your homeland a fascinating and rewarding destination.
Sincerely, May and Brian Showell
Dear May and Brian,
thank you for your kind words and kind letter. It is too bad you didn’t get too see the crazy lazer show during your trip to the hotel at Reykjanes, but it’s great to hear you had a rewarding trip nonetheless. Reykjanes in the Westfjords surely is a hidden pearl of sorts, but maybe it should just stay that way.
It’s also nice to hear from some non-angry Brits for a change (not that we hear from angry Brits all the time. We mostly hear from this angry Frenchman called Malcolm). From what we hear in our ‘Icesave debate’ monstrosity lifesucking deathhole, y’all are totally pissed off and you want to enslave our children in coalmines and drain all our blood and stuff. Maybe you are interested in doing that—maybe you were just doing some field research on your trip—who knows? But you’re polite and nice about it, which is what counts. So thanks!
This is in reply to Tony about the Icelandic postal system.
I feel your pain. I am a foreigner living here and indeed the postal system sucks! I ordered something off of Ebay over a year ago and still have not received it. ‘Course, that was when the volcano decided to throw her weight around last Spring. I checked numerous times with the postal system and no-one could tell me anything. Postage to the USA seems to go up on a daily basis (or so it feels that way). Package shipping cost is a nightmare! I cannot mail even the smallest package to the US for under 20 USD!
I think that their import tax fees are outrageous! I usually end up paying almost 40% of the cost of the item for import tax. I received a Kindle (Ebook reader) in January and had it shipped here to me, expecting about a 40% import tax. Surprise!! The Kindle cost me 21.000 ISK. Import tax was 18.874 ISK. Almost a 90% import tax on this! Who the hell decides how much to tax something? Does it depend on the weather, wind speed, premenstral cramping or mood of the import police that day or what? How much of it goes into their own pocket?
Recently my mother sent me a gift (in February 2011). The Icelandic import tax system decided to tax me on this, even though it was a gift. What is that all about? It cost me 1050 ISK to pick up my package. I thought gifts were not taxed…I would have argued this with the “import tax police” but I don’t think it would have done.
Nothing is going to ship here to me anymore. I will not give them any more of my money.
weebo2114
Dear weebo2114 (?),
thank you for your letter. It is nice that someone feels like commiserating with our good friend Tony. Otherwise, yeah, we still agree. That whole system is ridiculous. In fact, we spent the past couple weeks trying to devise fresh new ways of getting back at the postal authorities and toll clerks and what have you. We came up with some good ones. Stuff involving rats and cream cheese, cigarettes and rubber hose, a slice from Pizza King and the soundtrack album to ‘Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey’.
Then we remembered that we need to suck all your money to help pay for all the flatscreen TVs and Range Rovers we collectively purchased while we were entrenched in our fancy economic bubble and we thought twice. The good people of the post office are merely trying to prevent us from having to sell our children off to be coal miners in medieval England (ironically enough, that’s where the ‘babes’ from ‘Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey’ came from!). So we put our plans aside and instead built a huge totem to honour the good people of the post office and our tolling authorities and all the rest of them.
Please, weebo2114, don’t stop ordering stuff from abroad. We need your money to maintain our habit.
Dear Grapevine,
Thanks for always being there and telling us “outlander” what is happening in the big wide world of Icelandic news – but whats this – you seem to have ignored the most important news for most foreign Residents and expat’s living here – The fucking Bus.
they have Just taken away a hour of service every night that mean’s that if you are one of the poor pol’s or thais that are left here – you can no longer take the night shift or evening shift. its get a car or get a diffrent Job. Sure everyone knows the bus are bad here, my 7 min drive to work takes at least 20 mins (plus 5 to get to the stop + 5 to be there early in case the driver feels like driving early home) = 30 mins. But come on Grapevine I think dramatic cutback of the bus service is bigger news than Art You Can Smell. This cutback does not just afect imigrant but all of the poor and even regular Icelander who will now find that you cant take the last bus to Town on friday night and arrive at the perfect time to party downtown – my bus used to drop me downtown at 12.30.
I dont mean to knock you Guys but please run a artical about this.
Garry Taylor
Dear Garry,
thank you for your nice letter, and for being a reader. Even if we might disagree with you on the importance of ‘art you can smell’ (did you fucking smell that shit?), we really appreciate your patronage of our pages and your thoughts.
How much? Well. Turn to page six. We made an article for you about the fucking bus! Go read it. And write us more letters. This whole magazine is made out of our fantastic combination of readers and writers (often interchangeable, too). Thanks again!