April 10^th. Yesterday at work was easy as far as my department goes, foreign post, though the others were swamped with things to do. I stayed 40 minutes beyond quitting time (6pm), but most folks probably remained until well after 7. After all, the post was closed since Thursday. I saw first hand that Icelandic doing-things-at-the-last-minute, really in high gear, since people wanted to get out as quickly as they could. At the same time they weren’t cutting corners. Indeed, Icelanders function best when under pressure.

Reykjavik itself has a harbor for ocean-going ships as well as a smaller inner harbor for fishing boats. These range in size from ocean-going to coastal craft. However, the major fishing centers are scattered around the country, Westman Island being the considered among the most important.

The tourist season will be getting into high gear next month compared with the drop-off since last October. After all, who’d visit Iceland during the winter? I like this rhythm since it reveals two faces of Iceland: awareness of our centrality between Europe and America and our physical isolation.

While living in Iceland I’ve never gotten the sense of living in Europe even though we are part of Europe. I’ve spoken of this before, the American character of life here, so much so that superficially the major difference consists in signs in a language other than English. Refining this a bit more, I appreciate my New England heritage as opposed to a broader American one. New England has the closest ties with Europe by reason of its geographical position and culture. After all it is an England which is “new.” Yet part of that heritage is somewhat inimical towards Europe in that the American Revolution broke ties with England, and the Revolution is central to the New England mentality. Thus you have New England a part of the US yet different from it. Also, New England has an affiliation with Iceland you pick up at once. By reason of its separateness and westerly position relative to Europe, Iceland has an inbuilt independence from the continent and culture.. Like New England, they fought to be independent from foreign influence and are famous for their self-reliance. Virtually every Icelander I’ve met who has traveled to America expressed their special affection for New England. They felt an immediate kinship with it as opposed to “American” places like New York, Miami, San Francisco and so forth.