Chapter 7 - Update...

Firstly I want to say a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my good friend, Bec. Hope you have an awesome day beautiful girl! I´m thinking of you on your special day and I´ll definitely be there next year to celebrate with you!

And whilst on the topic of friends... I called another friend of mine the other day (who would probably prefer to remain anonymous). We were in the middle of a conversation when she suddenly blurted out “I´ve got a present for you!” I was very excited and thought “that´s soooo nice!” So whilst I was trying to think of my address... in anticipation of her asking for it so she could send the present, I suddenly heard this noise come bellowing down the phone right into my ear... and yes... wait for it... she farted into the phone and that was my present! How sweet! (Well come to think of it... the ´contents´ sounded a little ´moist´ so it may have been more of a shart!) ...Don´t worry Mere, I won´t tell anyone it was you – this will be our little secret :-)

So anyway, the weather today has been sunny and a hot 13 degrees! Yes I almost broke into a sweat! But the last few days have been pretty ordinary... drizzly rain and a ´mild breeze´ (otherwise known as gale force winds). As you know, my method of transport is by bike, so you can imagine how pleased I am getting from A to B with weather like that! Riding against the cyclonic winds is particularly fun and if you saw my face you would think I´m actually skydiving. By the time I come home, my thighs will be so strong that I will look like a Romanian weightlifter on steroids.

But on the positive side of things... some exciting news... I was very happy to discover that my gloves are actually multi-purpose... they also double up as a hanky! (the salesman didn´t tell me that when he sold them to me – stupid man – I would have bought two pairs if he did!). But the locals here use the good ol´ aussie bushman´s hanky (where you push one nostril closed and blow really hard so that the snot flies out the other nostril) – it´s really very charming. I tried it once (when no-one was looking of course) and yes... just as I expected... I didn´t quite master the skill and had ´snot strings´ hanging from my nose – which was also very charming and sexy! So that´s one I´ll have to keep working on – and once I succeed, that´ll be something to add to the resume!

So anyway... Birna has been in Greenland for the past few days on a work trip and she had a wonderful adventure. She said it literally feels like you´re at the end of the earth (which makes Iceland pretty much at the end of the earth too as it is only a two hour flight from Greenland).

Greenland is still very primitive... It´s home to less than 57,000 people and they are still ´hunters and gatherers.’ The locals are allowed to shoot polar bears (as well as seals, reindeers and other animals) as this is a large part of their survival – they eat/sell/live off the meat and the skin. So as well as going on dog sleds, having a lovely buffet on a frozen fjord in amongst the beautiful scenery, the highlight of the trip was when a local man had shot and killed a polar bear. This is a big event where the whole family comes to help out... and Birna was very privileged to see this... The family brought the polar bear into the living room of their house where they decapitated, skinned and gutted the bear and put its ´contents´ into various buckets... pretty amazing experience hey! Mmmm... Anyone hungry?