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@rvkgrapevine

Most Awesome Letter of the Issue
Dear Grapevine
I would like to respond to a complaint letter in your 12th edition regarding our Icelandic Puffin Eggs – Milk chocolate treats with a soft chewy liquorice centre. I am so sorry that Gina, from Wales had a bad experience with our packaging. Unfortunately we were the victim of product tampering in one of the main tourist shops in Reykjavik. We are a fairly new company established in March of this year and we were naive enough to believe that the clear stickers closing the boxes would be enough to secure the boxes of candies as product tampering is almost unheard of in Iceland. As soon as we discovered that someone had peeled off the securing sticker on all the boxes of Icelandic Puffin Eggs in that one store, we immediately recalled all the boxes and replaced them with boxes shrink wrapped in cellophane. From now on all our candy boxes will be sealed this way to prevent tampering. Unfortunately it seems that Gina’s boyfriend was unlucky enough to buy one of the tampered boxes before it was discovered that they had been tampered with. I think perhaps someone was looking for the box with the biggest eggs in it as our Icelandic Puffin Eggs come in various sizes. I must point out that only the box was tampered with and not the candy itself which was in a sealed bag.
On hearing of Gina’s complaint I immediately visited the offices of Grapevine to obtain Gina’s contact info so that I could apologise and recompense her boyfriend the full price of the box of candies and offer some free samples of our other products as she did not seem to like the Icelandic traditional liquorice and chocolate combination of the Icelandic Puffin Eggs. We offered samples of our Icelandic Northern Lights  – all natural, hand made, peppermint flavoured candies in the colours of the Northern Lights, Reykjavik Rainbows – all natural, hand made, strawberry flavoured candies in the colours of the rainbow and our Icelandic Lava Sparks – traditional Icelandic toffee covered in a red crispy shell. Both Grapevine and myself have written to her but as yet we have not heard back from her, so if she gets the chance to read this, please get in contact with me at: islandtreasures@gmx.com and your free candies and a full refund will soon be on its way to you.
LoVe
Pauline McCarthy
Manager
ísland Treasures ehf.
Akranes, Iceland
Dear Pauline,
First of all, thank you for all the tasty candy you brought us when you came by the office to correct this error. It lasted us for weeks! We like candy.
Second, thanks again for being a truly upstanding business person by explaining the error, taking action to correct it and trying to compensate the client. That is incredibly classy and gives us faith that you’re trying to run a solid operation.
So kudos to you! And here are two meals at Hamborgarafabrikkan, to show our gratitude and appreciation! Kudos again!
Dear Grapevine,
Just so you know, your latest print issue is among the essentials that are helping me overcome the pain of the Iceland withdrawal syndrome, now that I’m back here in Brussels.
I’m not sure who else to complain to about my massive problem, thus it goes to you: after spending three weeks in Iceland this summer, two of them volunteering in the Westfjords, I feel like I should quit my job, escape the EU bubble and move to your magical island, starting a new life. Surely not the most rational thing to do in these times, is it? But it’s all the fault of lovely, charming, funny Icelanders; of the inspiring curves, colours and emotions of Ísafjarðardjúp and one particular place along its shores; of the enchanting Reykjavík; and of the pure pleasure of incredibly tasty coffee. Not to mention the music. What a(n over)dose of it all!
The attraction seems irresistible. Help! Please convince me I’m wrong before I hand in my resignation letter and book a one-way ticket to Keflavík.
Sincerely,
Klavdija Černilogar
Dear Klavdija,
Oh man, this is a tough one. The fact is, the Grapevine cannot in good faith encourage or discourage you from doing this. There are so many pros and cons either way! A lot of our writers have been like you at some point – taken by Iceland’s magical spell and desperately clambering to move here permanently, one way or another. You have the advantage of having European citizenship, which should not make the process too difficult, bureaucratically speaking at least. But that’s small potatoes. We suggest you go to our website and read ‘The Grapevine Helps You Immigrate To Iceland!’ by Catharine Fulton. This super comprehensive and straight-talking article should prepare you to make the most informed decision before you click ‘purchase’ on that plane ticket!
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
Being a long-time collector of modern (real) postcards in color I would like to ask if you could be as kind as to help my passion with a postcard or twoshowing views of-less-known landscapes of Iceland or local wildlife at your discretion.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration.
Please accept my best wishes for high professional achievements, stable health and much happiness.
Sincerely yours,
Christo Dimitrov (Mr.), P. O. Box 824, Sofia 1000, Bulgaria.
P.S.: A General Note: If at your office or home there are postcards, used or not, intended to be thrown away during next tidying-up or moving, please put them into an envelope and send the latter to the address indicated above by the slowest mail possible. Huge thanks. Chr. D.
Dear Christo,
We looked around the office and couldn’t find any landmarks-of-Iceland postcards to send your way. The only postcards we have are on our walls from friends and staffers; medieval German art, a ferris wheel at a music festival, a funny sparkly Santa Claus and a whole boiled lobster, to name a few. However we have printed this here with the hopes that our readers will send some of theirs your way. Happy collecting!