Reykjavík Grapevine - 28.05.2004, Qupperneq 13

13the reykjavík grapevine
LONDON
by Valur Gunnarsson
“Don´t go to him,” says a man standing outside a sightseeing
bus in London as I turn to the bus beside it, run by a competing
company. “Come on, I´ll knock five pound off,” he adds. “Five pound
off,” says the man in the next bus. “You must be getting desperate.
Well, you get what you pay for,” he adds and looks at me condescend-
ingly. Not wanting him to think me easily fooled, I climb onboard
the more expensive bus.
The Greater London Metropo-
lis spreads out below as far as the
eye can see as the plane descends
from the clouds. During the Blitz
just over half a century ago, it was
still the largest city in the world
before the mantle passed outside
of Europe, perhaps never to return.
For someone born in a country
where “the city” refers to a town of
100.000 souls, London seems im-
possibly big. On the ground, it still
seems impossibly big. There´s no
Laugavegur that serves as the main
street, no Hallgrímskirkja towering
over everything to get your bearing.
There´s Big Ben, Nelson’s column,
and the latest addition, the London
Eye ferris wheel. But these, unlike
said church, aren´t visible from
wherever you stand. Along with big
cities comes big traffic, and it can be
frustrating to sit in a car, even if it
is the upper floor of a double decker
bus, to get where you want to go.
The City of London, the old part of
the city situated right in the heart
of the London, has finally decided
to do something about this, adding
a special tax on those who wish to
enter by car. The tube, fortunately,
is easy to use, even if you´re from
a country which doesn´t even have
trains, much less ones that go un-
derground.
For many
young Icelanders,
London, the
HQ of
the
swing-
ing six-
ties, punk rock and later
Cool Britannia, is still the Promised
Land. Berlin has its appeal for paint-
ers and poets, Copenhagen is home
away from home, the neighbour-
ing cities of Oslo and Gothenburg
are nice and safe if a little dull. But
the twenty something seeking the
one thing that can unquestioningly
prove his worth to friends and family
- international recognition - London
is the place to be. Most eventually
come home, wiser for the experience
but have to find other ways to gain
esteem in the eyes of friends, family
and the still-elusive girl/boy next
door. Some stay on. Some even do
manage to conquer the world.
Lines of communication
between London and Reykjavík have
been shortened considerably in the
past decade. After Björk, all of Cool
Britannia seemed to have their holi-
days here, Damon Albarn even buy-
ing a house here and one of the Spice
girls, at the peak of their power,
taking an Icelandic boy home.
Thanks to low cost airline
Iceland Express, Icelanders are now
able to go to London without having
to emigrate. Weekend trips have
suddenly become a viable option.
London, of course, is still impossibly
big. But these days, you can always
go again.