Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.01.2018, Blaðsíða 4

The Top Stories
Dec 7th—––––—— Jan 5TH
Words: Paul Fontaine Photo: Varvara Lozenko
Traditional Icelandic luck-elf, yesterday
NEWS IN BRIEF Our top story this
issue: 2017 is over! Good riddance,
am I right?
In related news, the annual “how
lucky do you feel?” poll was con-
ducted last month, with most
Icelanders reporting they do feel
fortunate. According to the sta-
tistics, Icelandic women consider
themselves luckier than men do,
and older people believe they have
more good fortune than young-
er people do. At the same time,
most Icelanders do not consider
themselves to be superstitious,
which will likely do nothing to dis-
suade the persistent meme that
they all believe in elves and ghosts.
For this very important occasion we
managed to coax one of the internet's
oldest and most respected memes,
Scumbag Steve's hat, out of retirement.
One public figure who featured
prominently last month was the
Bishop of Iceland, Agnes Sig-
urðardóttir. It came to light that
she asked for, and received, a
pay rise from 1.2 million ISK to
1.55 million ISK per month, as well
as a one-time retroactive pay-
ment of about 3.2 million ISK.
Part of her justification for this
is the monthly rent she pays for
her 487 sq. metre house on Berg-
staðastræti: 90,000 ISK. For com-
parison purposes, the average rent
for a 75 sq. metre apartment in the
same area of Reykjavík is 187,000
ISK. It’s hard out here for a Bishop.
In memoriam
A tour bus accident in South
Iceland left one person dead, and
nine others seriously injured. The
bus, which was carrying 46 tour-
ists, reportedly collided with a
passenger vehicle and slid off an
icy road. Amongst those injured
were two people who were thrown
from the bus and pinned under-
neath it, raising questions about
the use of seat belts. While the
bus was equipped with them, no
one was wearing them. Further,
budget constraints meant that
authorities are not able to de-ice
the stretch of Route 1 east of Vík
as often as is perhaps needed.
Halldór Laxnes is very disappointed
in you
Jailing bankers, belief in elves, and
writing the most books per capita
are persistent Icelandic memes.
While there is some truth to the
first two, the third one can be cat-
egorically dispelled, because Brit-
ain has surpassed Iceland for the
most titles published per capita.
More interestingly, this was the
case despite the fact that there
was a greater decline in published
titles in the UK than in Iceland,
down 21.48% to Iceland’s 5.35%
drop. Not to worry, though, as Ice-
land is still one of the top publish-
ing markets in the world in terms
of publishing revenue, surpass-
ing even Switzerland, Sweden and
Australia. In your face, Aussies!
The goat, when it was lit
In perhaps the best news of all, the
IKEA Christmas Goat survived
the holiday season without being
set on fire by arsonists or being
torn down by characteristic high
winds. This is, in fact, the first
time in many years that the gi-
ant straw goat has emerged from
the holiday season completely
unscathed. A portent for the year
to come? Only time will tell.
4The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 01 — 2018
Happy New Year from the Reykjavík Grapevine
First
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