Reykjavík Grapevine - sep. 2020, Side 6

On September 6th, two Icelandic
women—Nadía Sif Líndal and Lára
Clausen—paid a visit to English foot-
ballers Mason Greenwood and Phil
Foden at Hótel Saga. This in itself
should not be newsworthy, but one
wrinkle in this story has set the inter-
national press ablaze: the footballers
in question were in quarantine at the
time. As such, they have each been fined
250,000 ISK and will not get to compete
for a match in Denmark.
The two women involved, who
initially did not want to talk to the press,
have since felt compelled to defend
themselves on social media—despite
the fact that while the footballers were
well aware they were in quarantine,
Nadía Sif and Lára were not.
The name-calling begins
Since the story broke, the two women
have had to endure all kinds of
vicious name-calling on social media.
Commenters have accused them of
being groupies, of trying to sell their
story and other assorted ugliness.
The matter got so ugly that two other
Icelandic women, Social Democrat MP
Helga Vala Helgadóttir and consultant
!órey Vilhjálmsdóttir, issued state-
ments defending Nadía Sif and Lára,
calling upon people to stop the wild
accusations and show some sympathy.
Compelled to answer for
themselves
Lára has written extensively about the
experience on Instagram, admitting
that she had posted videos of their visit
on social media. However, she said that
not only was she unaware that the two
men were in quarantine—a sentiment
that Nadía Sif has also expressed—but
that she didn’t even know these two
men were famous in any way, as she
does not follow football.
In the midst of all this, Foden issued
an apology on Twitter. He apologised
to virtually everyone—his team, team
manager Gareth Southgate, his fans,
his club and his family—but not to the
two women in question, nor Iceland at
all.
The Guardian pointed out that
Southgate has gone too easy on Foden
and Greenwood, pointing out that
“Foden and Greenwood are 20 and 18,
respectively, but their youth does not
excuse them. They know the rules.
They are not difficult to understand or
follow.”
Earlier this month, the Prime Min-
ister’s o"ce decided that, despite
popular support and scientific
health data supporting the move,
Iceland would not be moving from
GMT to GMT -1. Iceland does indeed
have a peculiar placement on the
time zone map, which naturally
raised the question: what are we do-
ing in GMT? We asked historian Stefán
Pálsson for answers:
“Around 1900, municipalities around
Iceland were allowed to determine
for themselves what time it was. In
theory this meant that the time in
Reykjavík could be completely dif-
ferent from the time in Sey"is'ör"ur.
This didn’t make much difference,
as there was little need for a pre-
cise, standardised clock at the time.
Landsíminn, the national telegraph
company, was founded in 1906 and
for the first time, standardised time
was needed. The following year, a law
was passed putting Iceland in GMT -1.
Later, summer time was introduced,
with Icelanders setting their clocks
one hour forward in the spring and
one hour back in the autumn. Chang-
ing the clocks was unpopular, and
in 1968 it was decided to do away
with summer time and have one set
time—but should Iceland be placed
in GMT -1, as the position of the coun-
try on the planet would dictate, or in
GMT 0? Specialists at the University of
Iceland came to the conclusion that
GMT 0 would be a better choice, as
then Iceland would be in sync with
Europe. The winter mornings would
certainly be darker, but on the plus
side, the later part of the day would
be brighter. Parliament decided to
follow this recommendation.”
ASK A
Historian
Q: Why Is Iceland On
Greenwich Mean
Time?

If you’re new to the
island, chances
are, you’ve come
across a number
of milk o$erings in
the dairy section of
your favourite gro-
cery store. Among
the most deceptive
of these o$er-
ings is AB Mjólk.
There are logged
accounts of poor
fools unwittingly
pouring this thick,
sour liquid in their
co$ee (RIP) and
cereal (honestly,
that might not be
so bad). Don’t get
us wrong, we love
AB Mjólk, but it’s
more like yoghurt
than milk.
AB Mjólk derives
its name from the
two types of bac-
teria that are most
active in the thick
liquid, Lactobacillus
acidophilus (A) and
Bifidobacterium
bifidum (B). These
probiotics are said
to survive the jour-
ney through the
stomach and aid in
digestion. So if like
most Icelanders,
your diet consists
mainly of pizza,
burgers and hot
dogs, this is the
stu$ for you.
The traditional
way to consume
this healthy, tasty
dairy product is to
pour the contents
into a bowl and eat
it with a spoon. If
you can’t wait to
get those healthy
bacteria down
your gullet, you
can also simply
drink it straight
from the carton. If
you go this route,
we recommend
opening the carton
right outside
the place you
purchased it and
chugging it down
at once. You know,
like a person.
It comes in a
variety of flavours,
including straw-
berry, vanilla, pear,
and blueberry. Pear
is objectively the
best, but if you’re
adventurous and
want to try the oth-
er flavours, that’s
your prerogative.
SPD
AB
M
jó
lk
Double Standard In Scandal
Women blamed for youn! UK footballers' mistakes
Words:
Andie Sophia
Fontaine

Photo:
Wikimedia
Commons
First 6 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 07— 2020
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The two rookies that broke quarantine rules, Mason Greenwood and Phil Foden
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