Promises to be a nice day, not as windy as had been the last two. Normally I would have today off (and tomorrow) but opted to work this afternoon. Once every six weeks or so my schedule calls for four days free, but it’s followed by working through the coming weekend until the next Friday. For me, one weekend is sufficient since I have no particular plans in mind.

Yesterday afternoon I set off for Grindavik via Krysuvik, the long way around, to visit some friends. However, when I reached the base of the mountain pass at Krysuvik, the wind and rain picked up something fierce. I pulled over and waited a minute, deciding whether or not to continue. Something said no, so I turned around; wind was far to strong and didn’t want to take any chances. From that point until Grindavik there’s no cell phone service, cut off from the mountain range directly over the Mid-Atlantic tectonic plate. The atmosphere was spooky enough to make this ridge open up and swallow me without a trace. In circumstances like this the surrounding landscape of frozen-wave larva covered in moss looks threatening. Here and there was an occasional cairn set up centuries ago and maintained until not that long ago. These cairns were markers for people on horseback and foot not to get lost in the frozen waves, very easy to do.

Icelanders are quite sensitive to the cold, more so than you'd expect. Even when the weather is warm as it is now (13C at 11am) you see teenagers with hats on, something with which an American kid would never be caught dead. I attribute this sensitivity to the abundant, cheap geothermal heat...most homes have it on full blast.

Please note: tomorrow (Tuesday) is a holiday, May 1st. I may not be able to post an entry for that day since I'm experiencing trouble entering posts from my home computer. That means I may have to wait until Wednesday to post at work.