Reykjavík Grapevine - 17.06.2011, Blaðsíða 36

36
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 6 — 2011
Dating | Valur Gunnarsson
The Viking Tavern In Reykjavík
restaurant & bar
VÍKINGAKRÁIN - HAFNARSTRÆTI - TEL+ 354 861 7712 WWW.VIKINGAKRAIN.IS
Let’s talk Iceland
The history of Iceland
in one funny hour
shown every day at 8pm
Viking market
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design for sale outside
open when the weather allows
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Skólavörðustígur 21A
The Icelandic dating
scene might at first seem
like one gigantic free-
for-all. But as any soci-
ologist worth his salt will tell you,
even the most anarchic system fol-
lows its own set of rules, however
obscure they may seem.
While it is true that Icelanders have
more sex partners than most people,
or so surveys would have us believe, it
still remains a fact that not everything
is equally permissible. One may well
go home with a different person ev-
ery weekend, without the stigma that
might accompany this in more conser-
vative countries. This holds largely true
for both genders, even if there might
be some remnants of the old idea that
what is OK for a man is somewhat less
so for a woman.
Relationships here usually do start
on a night out, whether the people in-
volved know each other beforehand or
not. Alcohol is usually involved. Chat-
ting to someone while sober is usually
seen as an act of desperation, while
being exactly the right amount of drunk
usually does the trick. Exactly what the
right amount is, however, might be the
subject of some debate.
IT ALL BEGAN SO WELL...
So, assuming you have managed to
stay acceptably drunk until closing
time, neither too much or too little,
and you have followed your Icelander
home. This is where it gets tricky. While
changing partners may be no big deal,
Icelanders are actually more willing
to jump into a relationship than most.
There is little of the month long ordeal
of wining and dining and other dating
games until things start to get defined,
as one might find in continental cul-
tures.
If you go home with the same per-
son two or three times in a row, it is
usually assumed that you are having a
relationship. At this point, seeing other
people is frowned upon and might eas-
ily get you into trouble. Dating various
people until you make up your mind is
a sign of bad character, while sleep-
ing around with different people every
weekend is fine as long as you avoid
repetition and the unspoken promises
that this would entail.
COUNTRY-WESTERN WISDOM
This might seem confusing to some,
but everything has its reasons. Iceland-
ers get married late, if at all. People are
therefore not usually going out with
the ultimate goal of marriage in mind,
which would call for a more thorough
selection process. Icelandic relation-
ships are, on the whole, easy to get out
of. While breaking up is always hard,
as country-western singers have long
know, there isn‘t much stopping, say,
a mother of three leaving her man if
she gets bored with him. Single moth-
erhood carries its own burdens, to be
sure, but there is very little of the ac-
companying stigma that one may find
in more southern climes, and the fam-
ily will usually pitch in when help is
needed
Icelandic relationships are on the
whole easy to get out of, if so desired,
and people rarely stay together purely
for economic or social reasons. Per-
haps because of this, and also because
of the rumours prone to spread in a
small town, adultery is relatively rare.
If it takes place, it happens while on a
drunken night out, almost as if by ac-
cident. While not accepted, this still
carries less stigma than a long-term
extramarital relationship would. An
affair stretching over years—or even a
second family, as certain French politi-
cians are famous for—would be almost
unthinkable here. Not to say that it
can’t happen, anything can, but mostly,
we have our own way of doing things. If
you want someone else that much, you
can just leave.
So, in the immortal words of Count
Dracula (who should always be quoted
in a relationship column): “Our ways
are not your ways”. Have fun with the
locals, love them if you can, but be
respectful of the culture, however
strange it might seem at first.
A bidding war is looming re-
garding the sale of Iceland,
the supermarket chain, a
UK frozen food specialist
that is 67% owned by Landsbanki and
10% by Glitnir. The chain now owns
close to 800 stores and has recently re-
ported record sales: Profits have risen
by 20% year on year in March, and sales
have increased by £156 million. Ice-
land’s total annual sales now exceeds
£3bn. UK Retail giants ASDA, Mor-
risons, and even US-based Walmart,
appear to be interested in acquiring the
chain. Malcolm Walker, founder and
present CEO, owns 23% of the compa-
ny, and recently told Bloomberg that he
would outmatch any bid.
Landsbanki’s stake in the super-
market chain is currently being val-
ued up to £2 bn (€2.26 bn), which, if
sold would most likely be put toward
settling the €3.9 Icesave debt towards
Britain and the Netherlands. Last year,
Malcolm offered Landsbanki £1bn for
the chain. Good news for Icelandic tax-
payers: It is expected that Landsbanki
may stand a good chance getting more
than double that.
Malcolm, who recently informed the
Daily Mail that he has now secured nec-
essary funding to match any bid, is now
in discussions with UBS and Merrill
Lynch who have been hired by Lands-
banki to negotiate the deal. If all things
go according to plan, this sale will put a
huge dent in the Icesave debts and may
well arrive before Iceland has to face
the EEA court. Last week, European
trading watchdogs gave Iceland three
months to pay the British and Dutch
governments’ Icesave compensation
scheme—or else.
Big in the news these last days is the
high-tech revision of Iceland’s constitu-
tion. The international media appear to
be quite baff led about the fact that Ice-
land’s constitutional committee—who
are currently overhauling the country’s
constitution— has invited all citizens
to participate in putting forward sug-
gestions online. Spokesperson Berghil-
dur Bernharðsdóttir told the Associated
Press that most of the discussions ac-
tually take place on Facebook. Prime
Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir said
that in her mind a clear review of the
constitution would only [ever] be car-
ried out with the “direct participation
of the Icelandic people”.
The Washington Post recently ran
with the tongue-in-cheek headline
‘Iceland Crowdsources its Constitu-
tion’, intimating that ratified policies
will all come about through online so-
cial media. “The constitution makers
are present on Twitter, they’re posting
interviews on YouTube, and their pic-
tures are even posted on Flickr”. In the
Guardian, Þorvaldur Gylfason, a mem-
ber of the constitutional council, was
quoted as saying, “This is the first time
a constitution is being drafted basically
on the internet”.
And Katrín Oddsdóttir, another
council member, told CNN, “[After the
economic crisis], we were forced to do
something about our democracy. The
social contract is the basis of our soci-
ety…Everything is open for discussion.
What’s happening is that we are creat-
ing ownership…Thousands of people
are writing the constitution together,
online”.
Foreign Policy Magazine could not
resist these snide comments: “This
model may have worked in the Viking
days—I’m guessing administrative
tasks were pretty minimal back then,
but this new scheme seems to combine
all the world features of local govern-
ment community forums and online
comment boards. It will be interesting
to see how much of the public input will
actually be incorporated into the final
draft”.
Honestly, though, what’s to be snide
about? The fact that this tiny nation are
all nosing up to their laptops and voic-
ing their opinions and actually being
listened to by the powers-that-be can
surely only be a good thing. And, un-
like many other nations, the fact that
everything is open for all to see does
smell of a real democracy in the mak-
ing. Now if only that little problem of
our finances can be sorted out we can
start getting on with our lives again.
Fingers crossed for Malcolm Walk-
er.
News | Iceland in the International Eye: June
Will Malcolm Walker and Twitter Sort Everything Out?
The Amazingly Accurate Relationship Checkup
VALUR GUNNARSSON
JóI KJARTANS
MARC VINCENz