-Jan 3rd. I just re-read an email from a friend in the US sent before Christmas: `He (Jesus) certainly got the message: in the beginning a barn and in the end a cross.`

-People at work were sharing their joys (and horror stories) about the fireworks display New Year`s eve. Everyone commented upon the gunpowder, how it hung over Reykjavik all night and well into the next morning. Fortunately for me in Grafavogur there was little or none. People kept their windows closed tightly to avoid this smoke; actually smelled some off a co-worker today!

-The weather looks promising for this weekend, so I bought a ticket online for a flight (25 minutes) to Westman Island at the invitation of a family who lives there. On two occasions I took the ferry which pretty much consumes half a day: the hour long bus ride to it and then 3 ½ hrs on the boat itself. There`s a special holiday Saturday evening, completion of the Christmas season, when the 13 elves of Christmas descend from one of the mountains to chase the children. This assumes the form of a parade followed by a bonfire, so should be interesting. The only problem is, of course, the weather despite favorable predictions. The approach to Westman airport is dramatic, in between two mountains, one of which is a volcano, the famous one which covered half the island in 1974. Hopefully we will see some of the 12-15 million puffins that inhabit part of the island; didn`t last two trips due to the weather. Everyone who has visited Westman loves it. Stress is upon `visit` because it is an island, one of those places that takes half a day to see. `Then what` as a friend commented. It will be different for me since I go to see friends and discuss my near-future association with the Academy of Reykjavik to which I am affiliated already.