Reykjavík Grapevine - 29.06.2018, Blaðsíða 4

What Are Iceland-
ers Talking About?
The latest rages on social media
Words: Paul Fontaine Photo: Stefán Pálsson
We are often lectured about how
tourism is good for the Icelandic
economy. The lectures are neces-
sary, because, unless you own a
tour company, it’s often hard to
tell how we’re benefitting. Tour-
ists are fine, but some tour compa-
nies seem to be putting their own
interests above that of the greater
community.
One great example of this is
Reykjavík’s ongoing civil war
between tour bus companies and
everyone else. The city instituting
a downtown no-go zone for larger
buses is on the honour system,
with little enforcement, but the
latest front is in the residential east
Reykjavík neighbourhood of Hlíðar.
As can be seen in the above
photo, tour bus companies have
taken to using one street of this
neighbourhood, Skógarhlíð, as
their own personal parking lot.
They park on sidewalks. They
offload huge groups of noisy tour-
ists at all hours, when people are
trying to sleep. They narrow the
passage for cars and cyclists by
parking a long row of buses along
the side of the street. They are,
in other words, a nuisance. City
authorities are reportedly “look-
ing into it”. They’d do well to hurry
before someone starts slashing
tires.
Party soft!
Secret Solstice came and went,
and their days may be numbered.
The music festival has had some
fumbles in the past, but things may
be coming to a head now. Police
said they made more than 90
drug arrests at the festival and
had to intervene in nine physi-
cal assaults. Icelanders under
20-years old also managed to get
into areas where alcohol was being
sold, although it is uncertain how
many cases of underage drinking
came up.
What is clear is that residents in
Laugardalur, where the festival is
held, have issued a joint statement
to the City of Reykjavík demand-
ing that the city terminate its
contract with Secret Solstice.
They contend that young people
practically overran the neighbour-
hood, were openly selling drugs
and making a lot of noise, to the
point where parents felt compelled
to keep their children indoors. So
maybe next year, the festival will
be held in a spot that isn’t virtually
surrounded by residential housing.
Has the blue wave
crested?
Still high on Iceland’s remarkable
1-1 tie with Argentina at the World
Cup, many looked forward to the
match with Nigeria full of confi-
dence, while others were more
cautiously optimistic. As it turned
out, the first half of the match had
no goals, with the Icelandic team
seeming listless and distracted,
and then Nigeria scored two
goals in the second half by the
75-minute mark.
More galling to fans was the
missed penalty shot from Gylfi Þór
Sigurðsson, dashing any hopes of
a late-game comeback. Fans were
upset, but hey, have you never ever
made a mistake at your job? We
didn’t think so.
4The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 11 — 2018First
“This is tour bus turf now, punk!”
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