I got a call from a Welsh journalist this morning asking if I'd talk to him about the terrible state of the Icelandic economy. Uh, I'm not great at speaking Welsh at the best of times, never mind when the subject is finance and I'm dying with tonsilitis. And I know I make myself out to be an expert* on Iceland, seems I lived there for about five minutes, but I'm really not. So I said no, sorry, and took some more codeine and went back to sleep again.
I dreamt of Reykjavik then, back to a couple of years ago when we ate snails in restaurants on Thursdays; drank cocktails all night on Fridays; and spent our Saturdays cruising around downtown in jeeps: because that's how we rolled. There's an old Icelandic saying, 'thetta reddast', which loosely translates as: Hey, let's not stress out about things, because everything always works out okay in the end.
Thetta reddast, right? I say to my friend Birna tonight, scanning through the news on CNN. Everything's gonna work out okay in the end?
No Annie, she says, worryingly. The time for 'thetta reddast' has come to an end.
*For a genuine expert on Iceland, check out Alda's place, where she is reliably blogging events in English as they unfold.
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I'm following it all with a sense of horror. It is incredible how it is all unravelling so quickly. I feel really sorry for the people who have yen and CHF mortgages as they will be paying more and more unless the krona stabilizes.
ReplyDeleteI guess that many Icelanders will end up emigrating, at least they have that option.
Iceland was really exposed to externalities but it is an unfortunate victim of the global crisis because it's not like their business just bought foreign property. They bought many great businesses and now they are going to have to sell them for a knock-down price.
I expect the population will decrease again, yes.
ReplyDeleteIcelanders! You can all go and live with my mum and dad in Wales. I will follow you there shortly.
Please can they bring lots of Brennivin!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shout-out, Annie.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't agree with Birna. Þetta reddast víst. My fishmonger told me so yesterday and I believe everything he says.
Yes.... it´s not good enough anymore to just say þetta reddast and buy, buy, buy and spend spend, spend. But, us saying "þetta reddast" is one thing but our goverment saying it is another. A lot of people are angry here right now..
ReplyDelete"... bought many great businesses".
ReplyDeleteAye, but with borrowed money in contrast with Warren Buffet who uses hard cash to buy many great businesses.
I agree with Alda, it will "reddast" in the end. At a cost, of course but a lot of us think we were overdue for a bit of putdown.
ReplyDeleteI offer the good looking ones can come stay with me but that'd be 99% of the population
ReplyDeleteNow is the time for everyone to embrace denial. It has never failed me yet!
ReplyDeleteOh I saw a couple of Reykjavik women on TV yesterday saying exactly that - "Everything's gonna work out okay in the end". Iceland's worked through its problems in the past and they'll do it again, was the gist. But this problem'll need a hell of a working-through methinks.
ReplyDeleteOf course there's a lot of anger here now, but it will reddast. We'll work ourselves through this, even though it'll take one hell of a working-through, because when push comes to shove, what's the alternative? We can't very well just all lay down and die, can we? So we'll work through it and hopefully those people responsible will learn some valuable lessons in the process.
ReplyDeleteI've had "Its the End of the World as We Know It (and I feel fine) stuck in my head for the last week. The nice thing about voluntary poverty is that when the bottom falls out, you only wind up dropping an inch or two.
ReplyDeleteI think it will work out, maybe for the better (maybe Iceland will work on diversifying its economy, building up some sustainable industries, re-working the stupid quota system, etc) maybe for the worse (getting everything back to how it was and then letting it blow up all over again).
Frankly, I think its a blessing in disquise. I think people needed a wake up call, even if it takes TV commercials featureing quasi-celebs trying to get Icelanders to except such life lessons as "Save up enough money to buy something instead of taking out a loan" or "Biking to work makes more sense than driving a Jeep to the gym".
Þetta réttast, en bara ef fólk hætta að vera fífl...
I'm embarrassed to say that when a colleague said across the office to me "Iceland's going to go bankrupt" I said "That's what they get for putting Kerry Katona in their ads................."
ReplyDelete"I'm embarrassed to say that when a colleague said across the office to me "Iceland's going to go bankrupt" I said "That's what they get for putting Kerry Katona in their ads................."
ReplyDeleteWhenever people respond to my "I'm from Iceland" with "The supermarket? Ha ha ha!" I tell them that I was abandoned by my parents and had to beg in the produce section.
Anywhoozle: to agree with my stalkee;
"The nice thing about voluntary poverty is that when the bottom falls out, you only wind up dropping an inch or two."
Only mine ain't so much voluntary.
I don't really get the whole crisis - I have no savings...I can't even get a debit card.
Screw Iceland, I'm moving to Serbia!
Well, I have come to find that if worst come to worst I am perfectly happy with living in someones garage, eating nothing but instant noodles and campbell soup. In that regard I can firmly say Þetta reeeeddast!
ReplyDeleteBecause when it all comes down to it, I'll still be breathing..
I do hope we won't get occupied by Russia though...
Looks like front line public services in Wales will be hit hard by the Icelandic banking fiasco - several Welsh councils have deposited their reserves in Icelandic banks. This is deadly, not funny, stuff. Poor people and the most vulnerable are going to be hit HARD.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in Iceland a few years back, I ate puffins every night. I've not been the same since.
ReplyDeleteBore Da Annie,
ReplyDeleteIt's tough, but I think more than anywhere Iceland can come out of this "crisis" stronger than before. The Icelandic people I have met and worked with are very well educated and more than that they have a strong determination, a viking spirit or something.
What do you miss about Iceland ? I love that flat bread stuff and the liquorice chocolate heaven things I call golf balls.