Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.04.2011, Qupperneq 4

Say your piece, voice
your opinion, send
your letters to:
letters@grapevine.is
4
Letters
Sour grapes
and stuff MOST AWESOME LETTERFREE GRAPEVINE TEE HEE HEE!
We’ve got a new prize for all your MOST AWESOME LETTERS. And it’s a scorcher! For this
issue, whoever sends THE MOST AWESOME LETTER will receive a cool new Reykjavík
Grapevine T-shirt, featuring the majestic G that adorns our cover. So you should make sure to
keep writing us fun and/or interesting letters.
This new Grapevine tee surely is the shiznit (whatever that means)! It was designed by
our very own art director man, Hörður Kristbjörnsson, and it’s good for posing in front of a
mirror, impressing folks with your impeccable taste or picking up men or women of all ages
(no minors). DON’T PANIC if your letter wasn’t picked AWESOME LETTER. You can still get a
tee for a low, low price over our website, www.grapevine.is
Now, if you're in the market for free goodies next month, write us some sort of letter.
Give us your worst: letters@grapevine.is
MOST AWESOME LETTER:
Hi-
I was just on vacation in Iceland but had zero
time to shop.
Where can I find women's leggings like the
one's I saw in Iceland?
Some were shiny, some were a mix of shiny
and matte horizontal think stripes, some had
zippers. These leggings are thicker than tights
and thinner than jeans.
I saw them worn with cotton tops with that
fell to mid thigh and a jacket...kind of like an ad
I saw for 66 degrees north...leggings a kind of
longish cotton dress/top and a short jacket.
Affordable price please and perhaps a con-
tact website.
Is there a column in your paper that features
photos of seasonal fashion and where to buy?
Do you ever do an annual feature article
about shopping like top 50 shops and catego-
ries like funky, sporty, yoga, fitness, fashion,
shoes, fashion boots, snow boots,natural, Ice-
landic, urban, sun, snow, jeans, kids,teens,
20's, 30's, 40's, 50's etc
Thanks,
Sha Sha
Dear Sha Sha,
thank you for your letter. It is likely misplaced.
You do realise you are asking fashion advise
from what is probably the single worst dressed
editorial staff on the entire northern hemi-
sphere. People here wear Snuggies and Crocs
for fancy events—if they feel like dressing up!
Usually it’s the good ol’ burlap sack.
We are flattered that you’d ask and all, but
we really don’t feel we can help you. Have a
shirt for your troubles!
Perhaps some of our readers can pitch in?
Readers, if you’ve any idea how dear ol’ Sha Sha
can get some stylish leggings, do write us at let-
ters@grapevine.is. There might be a prize in it
for you!
Rejkhanes Hotel
Dear Editor

We were inspired by an item by you which was
included in a feature in The Guardian travel
section last November, which advised its read-
ers where to go to see the aurora borealis. We
suspect we are considerably older than your
usual reader demographic, but undaunted, we
arranged a holiday in the hope of seeing the sky
dancing above the hot water pool at this hotel,
as described by you. We weren’t entirely suc-
cessful in this regard, the weather was against
us, but we knew the odds and the glimmer we
did see was a taster.
However, the charm and kindness of Jon
and Maria Haider, proprietors at the hotel were
remarkable. We have visited Iceland before, in
the summer, but this time the dramatic winter
landscape which we could see during a long
drive with our hosts, was just wonderful. That,
combined with the generosity of the Icelandic
people, makes your homeland a fascinating
and rewarding destination.

Sincerely,
May and Brian Showell
Dear May and Brian,
thank you for your kind words and kind letter. It
is too bad you didn’t get too see the crazy lazer
show during your trip to the hotel at Reykjanes,
but it’s great to hear you had a rewarding trip
nonetheless. Reykjanes in the Westfjords sure-
ly is a hidden pearl of sorts, but maybe it should
just stay that way.
It’s also nice to hear from some non-angry
Brits for a change (not that we hear from an-
gry Brits all the time. We mostly hear from
this angry Frenchman called Malcolm). From
what we hear in our ‘Icesave debate’ monstros-
ity lifesucking deathhole, y’all are totally pissed
off and you want to enslave our children in
coalmines and drain all our blood and stuff.
Maybe you are interested in doing that—maybe
you were just doing some field research on your
trip—who knows? But you’re polite and nice
about it, which is what counts. So thanks!
This is in reply to Tony about the Icelandic
postal system.
I feel your pain. I am a foreigner living
here and indeed the postal system sucks! I
ordered something off of Ebay over a year ago
and still have not received it. 'Course, that was
when the volcano decided to throw her weight
around last Spring. I checked numerous times
with the postal system and no-one could tell
me anything. Postage to the USA seems to go
up on a daily basis (or so it feels that way). Pack-
age shipping cost is a nightmare! I cannot mail
even the smallest package to the US for under
20 USD!
I think that their import tax fees are outra-
geous! I usually end up paying almost 40% of
the cost of the item for import tax. I received
a Kindle (Ebook reader) in January and had it
shipped here to me, expecting about a 40% im-
port tax. Surprise!! The Kindle cost me 21.000
ISK. Import tax was 18.874 ISK. Almost a 90%
import tax on this! Who the hell decides how
much to tax something? Does it depend on the
weather, wind speed, premenstral cramping
or mood of the import police that day or what?
How much of it goes into their own pocket?
Recently my mother sent me a gift (in Feb-
ruary 2011). The Icelandic import tax system
decided to tax me on this, even though it was a
gift. What is that all about? It cost me 1050 ISK
to pick up my package. I thought gifts were not
taxed...I would have argued this with the "im-
port tax police" but I don't think it would have
done.
Nothing is going to ship here to me any-
more. I will not give them any more of my
money.

weebo2114
Dear weebo2114 (?),
thank you for your letter. It is nice that someone
feels like commiserating with our good friend
Tony. Otherwise, yeah, we still agree. That
whole system is ridiculous. In fact, we spent
the past couple weeks trying to devise fresh
new ways of getting back at the postal authori-
ties and toll clerks and what have you. We came
up with some good ones. Stuff involving rats
and cream cheese, cigarettes and rubber hose,
a slice from Pizza King and the soundtrack al-
bum to ‘Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey’.
Then we remembered that we need to suck
all your money to help pay for all the flatscreen
TVs and Range Rovers we collectively pur-
chased while we were entrenched in our fancy
economic bubble and we thought twice. The
good people of the post office are merely trying
to prevent us from having to sell our children
off to be coal miners in medieval England (iron-
ically enough, that’s where the ‘babes’ from
‘Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey’ came from!). So
we put our plans aside and instead built a huge
totem to honour the good people of the post of-
fice and our tolling authorities and all the rest
of them.
Please, weebo2114, don’t stop ordering
stuff from abroad. We need your money to
maintain our habit.
Dear Grapevine,
Thanks for always being there and telling us
"outlander" what is happening in the big wide
world of Icelandic news - but whats this - you
seem to have ignored the most important news
for most foreign Residents and expat's living
here - The fucking Bus.
they have Just taken away a hour of service ev-
ery night that mean's that if you are one of the
poor pol's or thais that are left here - you can
no longer take the night shift or evening shift.
its get a car or get a diffrent Job. Sure everyone
knows the bus are bad here, my 7 min drive
to work takes at least 20 mins (plus 5 to get to
the stop + 5 to be there early in case the driver
feels like driving early home) = 30 mins. But
come on Grapevine I think dramatic cutback
of the bus service is bigger news than Art You
Can Smell. This cutback does not just afect
imigrant but all of the poor and even regular
Icelander who will now find that you cant take
the last bus to Town on friday night and arrive
at the perfect time to party downtown - my bus
used to drop me downtown at 12.30.
I
dont mean to knock you Guys but please run a
artical about this.
Garry Taylor
Dear Garry,
thank you for your nice letter, and for being a
reader. Even if we might disagree with you on
the importance of ‘art you can smell’ (did you
fucking smell that shit?), we really appreciate
your patronage of our pages and your thoughts.
How much? Well. Turn to page six. We made
an article for you about the fucking bus! Go
read it. And write us more letters. This whole
magazine is made out of our fantastic combina-
tion of readers and writers (often interchange-
able, too). Thanks again!
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