-Feb 14th. St. Valentine`s Day doesn`t exist here, not even a whisper. Yesterday I was listening to a western Massachusetts radio station talking about an impending snowstorm. The announcer and meteorologist took delight in it (glee would be a better term), relishing every word about the event. They relished being in a position to warn people, treating them as children. Quite a contrast to Iceland. Here they blandly but clearly relate weather conditions. It`s obvious that announcers are adults speaking to adults, not children. When a storm hits, you don`t have idiot reporters strategically located around the city digressing on the quality of snow, etc.

-Birthdays in Iceland are considered big events. We have them every so often at work, and people go out of their way to offer their congratulations. It`s even more special when a person reaches a milestone birthday such as 60 as one worker did on Monday. At first I thought it artificial but soon discovered it to be an important part of daily life.

-I`ve mentioned how important English football or soccer is to many Icelanders. Though I`ve been coming to Iceland for many years, this discovery has taken me by surprise. For example, someone at work was in the process of bidding online for what he called a rare team shirt from 1995…Liverpool, I believe. He was checking EBay every five minutes against someone in (well) Liverpool. Don`t know the results. Then there are screen savers on computers: most are football `clubs` as they call them in England, most of which I`ve never heard of. Sometiimes I wonder if I`m living in Manchester or Reykjavik.

-Yesterday`s weather was so pleasant that many people were out and about soaking in the strengthening sunshine, jogging, biking and sitting on park benches. The temperature was about average, 4C. You have to remember that although the sun is relatively weak, it has a stronger affect due to the air`s clarity.