News In Brief: Costco, Trains And Elves (Again)

It’s been a week since Costco has opened its doors to the Icelandic public and news about its interesting products and appealingly low prices are already shaking the country. Some expect it to inject the competition the local market needs, while others are already conjuring grim images of a hoarding society. Reality, however, has so far proven to be a little less sinister than that. Perhaps hoping to avoid the first-day traffic, Icelanders have ironically been gathering en masse in front of Costco during the past week, lining up at the gas dial with the eagerness of children on Christmas day. Will the curiosity kill the cat or will we just be fine? Only time will tell.

If all goes well though, Costco might soon find a new source of revenue in the train line that’s set to be built between Keflavík Airport and Reykjavík in the near future. A deal has in fact already been struck between municipalities to make the trip to Reykjavík city centre a little bit more sustainable. The train will run every fifteen minutes and will be able to to take around 2,400 passengers on a twenty-minute ride to the city centre. The ticket, naturally, is predicted to cost double the price of a bus trip. We shall just hope than when the train line is being built Icelandic elves won’t get any weird idea and mess with the construction workers.

…At least, that’ s the conclusion you might come to if you watch Stephen Colbert a little too much. On a recent episode of ‘The Late Show’ Colbert revealed to America and the world that Icelanders do in fact believe in elves and that their entire life revolves around making constant efforts not to piss them off. It might be the first time someone says this with relief, but luckily Ricky Gervais was there to help, chiming in with a dry, “They don’t really.” What a champ.

Despite Gervais’ s efforts, everybody’s favourite champ is still Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, aka The Mountain. Hafþór, however, is not too happy with himself. At his latest strength competition, in fact, The Mountain has again fallen short of the title of World’s Strongest Man. To say Hafþór was disappointed would be a euphemism. After all, this was the seventh time he nearly won the prize, with the difference between him and Mr. Eddie Hall amounting to one single point.

Hafþór called it a pathetic outcome and has been wondering about the meaning of life during his daily chest lifts ever since. Buckle up Hafþór, rumour has it the government will stamp you and your biceps on the 20,000kr bill when you win the title.

Have we cheered you up?