Lögberg-Heimskringla - 31.10.1986, Blaðsíða 2

2-ALDARAFMÆLISÁR, FÖSTUDAGUR 31. OCKTOBÉR 1986
Presidential Briefing:
Iceland is a Nice Land
by Colin McEnroe
HARTFORD, CONN. - The
following report was prepared for
President Ronald Reagan by a crack
team of White House staffers:
ICELAND — Land of contrasts. For
centuries this volcanic jewel has
bobbed quietly on the ice-cold waters
of the North Atlantic, rocking to the
lively music of the Kvyiiiing, a
stringed Icelandic folk instrument
fashioned from a marlin's bone, a live
lemming, sod, and peat.
But the upcoming summit with the
U.S.S.R. has swung the world's gaze
toward this wintry paradise.
What sort of place is Iceland? What
is its economy? Who are its people?
Can you ask them to stop playing
those horrible things? Where is
Iceland? Near Greenland? Is it part of
Greenland? Where is Greenland?
We try to answer some of these
freezing questions in this White
House special report.
Say hellow to Iceland with a hear-
ty toast of "Fjykold Alijka!" (Here's
cod in your hose!) and a clink of ear-
then mugs containing nyuk, Iceland's
so-called "lava wine," a mildly com-
bustible beverage fermented from a
moss-like mountain vegetable and in-
exorably linked to such longstanding
folk customs as slurred speech,
blurred vision, and extensive loss of
memory.
An unstable, volcanic, wind-swept
island unmarred by trees and latticed
with glaciers, Iceland was inex-
Letter to the Editor
October 6, Dear Sir:
In view of the fact that President
Reagan will meet with his Russian
counterpart in Iceland for meetings
this week, I came across an in-
teresting article in the Washington
Post dealing with this very thing.
The title was: "Iceianders take ad-
vantage of room shortage." The arti-
cle went on describing that due to a
sudden large influx of people accom-
pany the leaders as well as a large
retinue of journalists, all the available
hotel rooms have been taken. Even
at that, there will be many who have
nowhere to go, and consequently,
some enterprising residents are rent-
ing out rooms and apartments at ex-
orbitent prices. Quoting the article:
"Homeowners with spare rooms or
unoccupied apartments are asking
desperate journalists for as much as
$15,000 for a three-bedroom apart-
ment for a week." Now how aboui
Bréf frá
Brandi
10. Okt. 86
Hilsen Jónas:
Nú eru fuglar flognir heim,
ferðin varð til einskis þeim.
Argjúuðu long and late,
að lokum var það döll steilmeit.
bless,
Brandur
a handy, quick profit such as this? I
dare say that in New York City one
could rent quite a flat at that price.
The Icelandic Prime Minister Mr.
Hermannsson said with a chuckle:
"Icelanders are learning quickly." He
also stated that "we have a free-
pricing system. There is no way that
we could step in except by law. It is
supply and demand." To ease things
up a bit the government tourist
bureau moved quickly to þrovide
lodging in private homes for $50.00
a person per night, howbeit up from
$35.00 at the height of the tourist
season last summer.
My concern is this: What happened
to the hereto well known Icelandic
hospitality? Is everything worth a
price these days? I recall as a child in
Iceland that people were all too hap-
py to accommodate strangers to the
best of their ability, and most of the
time with no thought of monetary
reward.
Has Iceland and the Icelanders
finally come of age and become full-
fledged members of the almost
universal "free enterprise” system?
How about bringing back some good
old-fashioned neighborliness into our
dollar oriented consciousness, and
discover that rewards come in other
ways as well.
Sincerely yours,
Herb Beck
r r i ni
BARDAL
FCJNERAL HOME
AND CREMATORIUM

, innipeg's original Bardal Funeral Home has
been seruing the city's needs since 1894.
CALL 774-7474
24 Hours a Day
843 Sherbrook Street
plicably ignored by settlers for cen-
turies — until the 8th century, when
a tiny settlement of Irish monks
crash-landed their skiff on its shores.
They were the Brothers of Mild
Hardship, an order that had forsworn
such earthly comforts as coffee cake,
moist towelettes, picking up the tab,
and — the reason they were adrift in
the skiff — soap.
They called their new home Keish-
norogh. Keishnorogh? a Gaelic term
meaning "What did we say? What
did we say?” reflecting their belief
that they were being punished for
something.
They were joined less than a cen-
tury later by a band of aimlessly
wandering Vikings for whom life in
Norway of the late 800s had become
much too citified and
over-sophisticated.
The settlers built homes of sod and
peat brick and embarked on a thriv-
ing island industry of trying to
escape.
But the Iceland that Reagan and
Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev
will encounter bears no resemblance
to that primitive time. It is a merry
land that throbs to the ever-present
gurgle of its many underground hot
springs, a warm, bubbling reminder
that the whole shebang could blow
sky high at any second.
Few non-tuberous vegetables are
grown on the island, but Icelandic
cuisine is remarkably inventive, en-
compassing such delicacies as snaerl:
rice, potatoes, and macaroni blend-
ed with milk curd and garnished with
ground pumice.
But the real treat of Iceland is its
people, who greet you with a twinkle
in their eye and a jocular "Tyavijnyk
rji?" ("When are you leaving?"). A
key to the bliss of this land is the
language itself, which has no words
for "drugs," "terrorism," "mugg-
ing," or "comfort."
Exciting day trips abound. A visitor
may choose from such excursions as
a pony ride through Grygh to par-
ticipate in the native custom of
throwing a potato into hot springs,
hiking up the slippery slopes of Mt.
Fjykrj to participate in the native
custom of throwing a potato off a
cliff, or simply browsing through the
shops of Bsjgh and Kvjjkmt in search
of inexpensive vowels.
Study Questions to Review with
the President:
• Name three native crafts involv-
ing sod and peat.
• Who picked Iceland?
• Who is Gorbachev?
• How many monks fit into a skiff?
• What were three moves in which
Warner Baxter starred? (Just so
there's one he's sure to know.)
• Can they please stop playing
those things?D
Hartford Courant
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