Icelanniversary: Iceland Sky Updates

A year ago I was in Iceland, on my last solo travel adventure; that’s last as in latest rather than final, although it could be the latter too, as it was for the greenYgrey in the last of the trilogy XaW Files: Beyond Humanity. It includes lots of wonderful wordplay, as I hope Icelanniversary is another example; it also reminds me of Inveraray, the Scottish town I visited afterwards last year.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

I’ve put XaW Files on a Kindle ebook free promo this week, to celebrate the mistYmuse pagan winter festival reaching its most important central time Y-day on January 21st, a month after the midwinter solstice, and a passing from MIST (Most Ideal Sunrise Times) darkest winter to MUSE (Midwinter Until Spring Equinox).

The party is already two days old on this site’s sister site fmpoetry.wordpress.com with MEW (Mist Evaporation Week) hotting up with every day.

Northern Lights or Ice Pillars: UFO Book Explanation

Funnily enough, I recently saw what could be an explanation for the long streaks I saw one day in Reykjavik, coinciding with a rainbow creating snow shower. I thought they might be northern lights, having seen similar on the Sky at Night television show shortly before then.

In Nigel Watson’s UFO Investigations Manual, p.80, he has a photo of something similar, and explains the ‘vertical streaks of light are caused by Ice Pillars.’

On p. 84 he writes about meteors and fireballs, and I saw a great one of the latter one night in Borganes while out northern lights hunting: like a big dollop of paint falling from the northern sky.

I saw another one last month during the Quadrantid meteor shower.

Magical Light Day on Borganes Fjord

While I was disappointed not to see the big Northern Lights sky show I did feel lucky to have had high pressure dominate the week I was in Iceland, after heavy snowfall had created very photogenic panoramic scenery. It provided some great POP (PinkyOrangePurple) twilight times, and I had one especially magical light show spending the entire (short) day on the Borganes fjord.

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There’s more POP and UFO to come this week, and if you’ve got access to Kindle books, XaW Files: Beyond Humanity, with its thrilling Iceland finale, is now freely available:

Thanksgiving UK: MIST and mistYmuse Eve Days

As the USA prepares to celebrate Thanksgiving, and break up the time between Halloween (Samhain) and Christmas (Midwinter), it’s time once again for greenYgreyliens and POPolutionaries to party like its spring/summer again in the U.K. and northern hemisphere: MIST and mistYmuse (combining MIST [Most Ideal Sunrise Times, November 21st – January 21st] and MUSE [Midwinter Until Spring Equinox, January 21st – March 21st] eves.

The more serious side is that it hopefully helps people who don’t like the winter, such as SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) sufferers survive the harsher weather and reduced sunlight of the next four months. I noticed Iceland has a similar strategy when I visited in January, as they keep their winter decorations up until spring!

The positive side to this time of year for me is that sunrises are later in the morning (8-9am, instead of the early hours in midsummer), and there isn’t too long until the sunset twilight time; only about seven or eight hours later.

New Pagan Festival

It’s one of the newest pagan festivals in the human world, but not the only one, and open to non-pagans too of course. The sky is for everybody.

Last year when I was in the USA my visit coincided with the summer Manhattanhenge, when New Yorkers celebrate the best day of the year for the sunset and sunrise lining up between the skyscrapers, as the stone henge builders of prehistoric times built their great structures to receive the light at special times of the year: solstices (December and June) and equinoxes (March and September) around the 21st of the month. I didn’t know about if before, and saw it in the media. It’s also on Wikipedia.

In the UK, Milton Keynes was built with that in mind, I found out after looking up Manhattenhenge on Wikipedia above.

POP if You Want To

As I believe the sky is for everybody, I also think it’s up to you what you see or want to see there. I’ve been pushing POP (PinkyOrangePurple) as the more normal colour combination to the traditional red (pre-POPularised by the red sky at night and red sky in the morning proverbs), but sometimes there is only one or two colours, and there is rare red. So if you see red you see red, and don’t feel under any obligation to POP all the time.

Last week I was lucky to see a pretty good POP sunset. Here’s some photos:

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I wrote about twilight times a lot in XaW Files, when I first noticed the POP (PinkyOrangePurple) dominant colours, sometimes writing at this time of the year. I think it would make a great Winter Solstice Christmas present.

Akureyri, Iceland: One More Thor the Road

After another apology to the Akureyri Thor ladies team yesterday I hoped it would be the end of the matter, but something told me last night I had missed something: maybe it was Thor himself, or even Freya. Norse mythology is my favourite by the way, and that’s how I think ‘religion’ should be treated in the twenty-first century (in Christian time!): with openness and humour.

Great Save by Stephanie Bukovec and Saving Tackle by Someone’s Dottir

As a former goalie myself I thought I had to mention the great save by Thor Akureyri goalie Stephanie Bukovec, who’s Croatian, near the end of the highlights. There was also a tough saving tackle to prevent a goal from the rebound by one of the five Thor dottir defenders (could be the cast of a fairy tale, like Snow White and the Seven Dwarves: Bukovec and the Five Dottirs!), who I can tell from my XaW Files: Beyond Humanity research hail from Iceland, and either Hanne, Asgrim, Hlyn, Einar or Kristin: Hannesdottir, Asgrimsdottir, Hlynsdottir, Einarsdottir or Kristinsdottir. By their place in the centre of defence I reckon it’s most likely to be Hlynsdottir, followed by Asgrimsdottir or Einarsdottir!?:

I didn’t know any of the Thor players before researching it this morning, so all the rest of this blog post has developed from that real thought that I’d forgotten to mention the great point-blank save by the Thor goalie, that I’d have really been proud of when I was playing in goal… and proud of the outfield skill, shots and header shown in the game too.

Here’s the Wolfe TV highlights again for you to check out the save and tackle yourself, and good luck to Thor for the future, and especially those long trips back to Akureyri! Good luck to Wolfsburg for the weekend too of course.

Wolfsburg Make it a Long Way to Akureyri

Another week, another apology to Akureyri. After a triple apology last week, following Wolfsburg Women’s 1-0 win there, with the winner scored by my player of the century, Pernille Harder; and suggesting they adopt the It’s a Long Way to Tipperary song, after neither the greenYgrey or me reached there, I saw that Wolfsburg finished off the job with a 2-0 win in Wolfsburg, with Harder getting the first. Wolfsburg were of course stars of my last fantasy fiction travel quest trilogy, XaW Files: Beyond Humanity.

Respectful Admiration and Parody Comedy, greenYgrey style

To show this is mostly parody comedy, I didn’t even know it was a two-leg tie, or I would have suggested the second leg as a great time to introduce their version of the famous war song.

However, in true greenYgrey style, just because I’m writing it as parody comedy doesn’t mean I don’t take women’s football seriously, or am insincere in my respect and admiration for Pernille Harder and the rest of the Wolfsburg team, or their Akureyri Thor opponents.

There was a mixture of skilful football and hard tackling in the game. Harder took her headed goal coolly well, and curling shots and intricate back-flicks were my highlights from the highlights on YouTube:

I would have loved to have been there, but haven’t received an invite!

 

Akureyri Lady Triple Apology

Akureyri is the second biggest population city in Iceland, but the greenYgrey and fellow travellers didn’t make it to the north in XaW Files: Beyond Humanity. Then I didn’t make it when I went to Iceland in January. I thought about it, but the winter bus service was more expensive than comprehensive, and it was quite a long way to Akureyri from Reykjavik.

Thor v Wolfsburg

Then it was a bittersweet (greenYgrey bitterYsweet) moment last week when I saw Wolfsburg women had beaten Akureyri’s Thor ladies 1-0, with none other than Pernille Harder scoring the winner!

At least you’ve now made it to a special Akureyri 3, and by way of consolation, I would like to suggest a song for you when returning from your next football trip: adapting It’s a Long Way to Tipperary to Akureyri. I don’t think it will outdo the thunder clap, but maybe it could be an accompaniment.

Mark Knopfler Back on The Road

Talking of special threes, I’ve got another two relevant stories to make this a triptych trilogy thingy! Similar to my 31st anniversary blending of Jack Kerouac’s On The Road with The Talking Heads’ Road to Nowhere, Mark Knopfler’s new album is called Down The Road Wherever, with travel a metaphor for his music, as explained in this Louder Sound article. Moreover, it also has a great greenYgrey road to the horizon image:

The photo could be Iceland, but is probably towards the wild west of the USA.

I also heard Still Corners’ The Trip for the first time today, and really liked it, reminding me of Mazzy Starr. It also has a nice POP (PinkyOrangePurple) celestial object in the cover picture… and a greenYgrey car in the foreground!

Risking making this blog post a quartet, I went back on the road last week, for a couple of hours each way at least, for a nice journey to my gYg of the year, as described in sister site fmpoetry.

Iceland Travel History Article Published

An article I wrote about my January trip to Iceland has been published on travelthruhistory. In the article I remember my original Beat inspiration, going against the grain by stressing the journey experience, and I think being innovative by including what I’d have liked to have done or seen but missed; partly as consolation to the good people who think I do and have done too much, and have it too easy. Stating I thought I was mostly lucky counters those who think and hope the opposite for me. Here’s some more photos from my time in Reykjavik:

Laugarnes Park (first afternoon/evening)

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Tjornin (the Pond) (next morning)

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Viking Statues (and Hallsgrimskirkja church) (afternoon)

new non-human friend reminded me of a special old one

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Loki the Pearl (Loki café and Perlan)

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http://www.travelthruhistory.com/html/exotic120.html

Spring Equinox International Day of Happiness and mistYmuse End Eve

The northern hemisphere spring equinox is today, at about 1600/1700 in the U.K., so it’s quite easy to celebrate the International Day of Happiness. However, it must be harder for people in the southern hemisphere, with today marking the beginning of autumn, and the end of the warmer months.

Happiness is Relative

There are a lot of people who find it difficult to be happy in the northern hemisphere too, and that’s where things like society and culture make a difference. Iceland is one of the ‘happiest’ countries despite being one of the coldest.

That’s mostly why I set up the mistYmuse (Midwinter Ideal Sunrise Times and Midwinter Until Spring Equinox) to bring some happiness to the most difficult months, covering November to March.

I could have been saying it was timed right this year (although not the day, as it falls on the 20th this year, rather than 21st, as it sometimes does), with a mini-freeze just ending in time for today, but I just saw another one is forecast for the Easter weekend in a couple of weeks. At least there’s more light than darkness now, with more chance of warming sun when it’s shining through the cloud.

Happy Guilt

U.K. comedy great Ken Dodd passed away recently, and one of his regular topics and subject of a song was happiness. I was thinking then that I would probably be happier if I focused on entertainment, instead of feeling obliged to write about the negatives of the world, mostly due to having been to university and studying politics and international communications, and wanting to ‘make a difference’; knowing I can only try and slow the planet’s decline down, due to human overpopulation and consumption; which brings me into direct conflict with the general theme of global human happiness… in the short term anyway… as future generations will be happier if they have a cleaner planet with lots of other species!

Stephen Hawking, who of course inspired the greenYgrey parody comedy science correspondent, Stephen Wolfing, also passed away recently. He seemed happy, having fought against the most debilitating illness, showing there are different ways to find happiness, and sometimes adversity provides the opportunity for personal greatness… as in Buddhist enlightenment or Nietzsche’s superness, which can provide happiness whatever the situation.

Comedy Philosophy

Anyway, I have become too greenYgrey, and will leave you with some Ken Dodd happiness to enjoy the special day, in whatever way, wherever you are. In the obituaries I was also reminded of Dodd’s 1960s (my birth decade) Knotty Ash Diddy Men, which could have been an early influence on my greenYgrey fantasy fiction, although I didn’t remember them at the time!:

Wikipedia: The Diddy Men have a song, once released as a single, titled “The Song of the Diddy Men”, sung in a high pitched, chipmunk style voice. It includes the chorus: “We are the Diddy Men, Doddy’s dotty Diddy Men, We are the Diddy Men who come from Knotty Ash”. Another song “Doddy’s Diddy Party” featured the refrain – “tonight’s the night the Diddy Men paint the town, we’ll lose our blues, and let our Diddy hair down”. There were several other songs including Diddycombe Fair – a spoof of the well-known West Country song Widecombe Fair.

Reykjavik Arrival Sunrise Photos

I saw the hotel I’d booked, the Capital Inn, from the Straeto local bus I took from the airport, after buying four tickets for the four zones of travel (same system throughout Iceland, with Straeto running city and national bus routes) from the airport arrivals shop/café.

I think that’s a good example of why you should continue looking around, observing and analysing everything like an intelligent wild animal instead of a brainwashed docile prey, and not be cowered or shamed into looking away, down or into social media all the time.

Techno Society

I saw that the powerful were trying to make citizens look through the world through their media appliances instead of using their natural senses in a David Icke presentation, but had thought it myself. I don’t know if it is intentional or conspiracy; just the way technology and society are going, but it does seem to be happening.

I’m using it now, so I am not totally rebelling against it, and rely on it a lot, and think it’s often better to find your information than have a conversation, but I do try to get away from it, and balance it with nature. As I did in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Morning Beauty

Travelling on a night flight in mid-January I didn’t book a hotel for the first night. There was a storm off Scotland we flew into, and quite heavy snow in Kevlavik airport, Iceland’s international airport just south of Reykjavik. However, we landed on time. There was no sign of the Straeto bus, so I ended up staying the night in the airport.

Finding the bus over by where the courtesy buses for car hire and hotels are, and are signposted, at about 09.30 in the morning had a nice bonus, as it was just getting light, and the trip to Reykjavik was a like a winter wonderland, full of thick snow.

Moreover, when I saw the Capital Inn and got off the bus, I spotted the telltale twilight colours of pinky, and took a few photos of the sun rising on the eastern horizon, despite being quite disorientated from a lack of proper sleep and the early morning cold, as well as arriving in a new city and only luckily finding my hotel. I walked up onto another road and had to walk back down through thick snow to get back on the right road; well, I don’t know if I had to, but that’s what I did anyway!

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Dream Wife Iceland Music Video Fire Light Evidence

I’ve previously blogged about how a golden circle appearing in an Icelandic selfie of mind reminded me of Bjork’s Utopia and The Gate videos, and I just found new evidence of that Icelandic belief in Dream Wife’s great greenYgrey Fire music video:

I was first alerted to Dream Wife in a Classic Rock review of their debut album.

My photo:

I’ve blogged a bit more about Bjork, pronounced Be-yerk, and wrote a little poem about how to pronounce her name based on how I’ve always heard it, before learning it was wrong, on the fmpoetry website.

Selling Snow to Norway, Iceland Fjord POP

Selling snow to Norway isn’t as easy as I thought. It’s like selling greenYgrey to Blighty! It might be easier now Team GB is in most places under the snow King Harald and Queen Sonja sent back, saying ‘If you’d read the article properly, you’d have seen that we want more Winter Sport competition, so we want you to have more snow, and practise your slippery surface movements!’

Return to Reykjavik: Iceland Football’s Debt to Me (83 meter rhyme parody)

Yes, that opening paragraph scored 98% on the all new for 2018 parodymeter. So with no offers for outsourcing Norway Winter Olympics victory celebrations it’s back to Reykjavik, and my detour after getting a little lost walking back from the Mjodd bus station.

After Iceland football success went through the stratosphere during and after the writing of XaW Files: Beyond Humanity I was interested to walk past a football stadium. I just found out it’s a multi-purpose venue, including hosting Breidablik men’s football team, who finished sixth in the Icelandic league last season.

Finding Huldufolk and Fjord POP

With time and relative safety it was a joy to walk in Reykjavik, and that’s how I’d like Blighty to be. It’s the same for being online, just rambling while wandering wondering. whY, just now while searching the Kopavogsvuller stadium I found out the area is a hotbed for huldufolk elves, which has relevance for XaW Files, which ended in Iceland of course.

Funnily enough I reached the west coast at a fjord inlet. I thought it was the one below my hotel at first, until working out it wasn’t by the planes taking off from the local airport; I’d walked along that fjord inlet to the airport the second day in Reykjavik.

I was glad I’d gotten a bit lost when the sunset made the horizon PinkyOrangePurple (POP):

Moreover, I got into a little hot water… in a good way, finding some of Iceland’s famous hot water from geothermal activity:

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As I headed north, feeling chuffed with myself for finding the way, with the help of a city map information board I should add, I was thrilled to find myself in a Christmassy scene at the top of Kopavogur, near the art museum, and with a church beyond the fairy lights.

Iceland keeps their winter celebration decorations up until the end of Thorrablot in mid-February… nearly as long a winter celebration (survival) as my mistYmuse, which lasts until the spring equinoxY time March 21st.