7 days to go...

So I'm getting a bit carried away with filming now. What started out with me just trying to find the charger for Joe's camera so we could take it to Iceland has ended up with me carrying it in my bag into work every day. But it's good I did.

Last night I walked the 6 miles back from work cos I wanted to see it in the snow. When I got to Inverleith park I cut through it and about halfway through I saw a strange glowing light in the distance...



I couldn't tell what it was until I got right up to it. Someone had built a wee plinth in the snow and topped it with a pile of snowballs and then lit the whole thing from inside with a couple of tea-light candles. It looked really pretty in the dark. I don't how long it had been there and I wonder how long it lasted but I'm glad my curiosity led me to check it out.

I love that someone took the time to make it and left it there for people to discover. I want to make one too. So yeah, it was lucky I had the camera with me.

8 days to go...

...and it's still snowing in Edinburgh. I love snow, it's great. Every time I look out the window and see it's started snowing again it makes me smile.

After demonstrating my ignorance I thought I'd try and learn a bit more about Iceland so I've been searching and reading up about the place.

3 Things I didn't know about Iceland

1. They have no army, air force or navy - military spending is 0% of GDP. Peace.
2. The phone book in Iceland lists people by their first name.
3. It's the most sparsely populated country in Europe

When Iceland became a republic in 1944, they passed a law that described the flag like this: "The civil national flag of Icelanders is blue as the sky with a snow-white cross, and a fiery-red cross inside the white cross." which is nice and poetic and appropriate: sky, snow and fire.

Sky, snow and fire

If we'd done the same in Scotland we'd have ended up with a totally different flag than we've got: "The national flag of Scotlanders is as grey as the sky with a muddy brown smear and a few rainy-grey splashes".

I'm kidding. I love the Scottish weather really. Actually no, I don't. I hate our climate - it's cold, damp and windy and usually I moan about not even getting a proper winter. This year though eh?

9 days to go...

...will we get there? We're starting to worry if it's going to happen. The weather here is mental. It's the most snow I've seen in Edinburgh in a long time. At this time of year it's really unusual.

This morning I had to walk to the Dr. to pick up stuff - taking the car seemed like a bad idea and I didn't fancy the bike. Took some footage on Joe's wee camera which I've dug out to take with us to Iceland.



There was even loads of snow on Ferry Road (it's a busy main road, with a lot of traffic). On the way it snowed pretty heavy but for a moment it brightened up and the sun broke through over Calton Hill...

Iceland

What I know about Iceland:

• It's greener than Greenland
• there's thermal springs and volcanoes and stuff
• their banking industry went tits up recently
• It's home to the lovely Björk and popular beat-combo Sigur Rós
• Alcohol's really expensive, like a tenner for a beer or something

So, you can see I don't really know anything about Iceland. I've always thought it'd be a great place to go but I never thought it'd ever happen. Living in Scotland and being skint, it's hard to think about spending money to go somewhere that's even colder and windier than it is here. When it comes to holiday destinations I think most Scots are drawn like moths to the heat and light of the Mediterranean.

Getting to travel to Iceland is a great opportunity and we're going to try and make the most of it. In the couple of weeks between now and when we go, we're going to try and learn a bit about Iceland and Icelandic people and culture and then when we're there we're going to try and take in as much of it as we can.

And then of course on top of that we get a "private concert" with Ólöf Arnalds! More about that later...

Here's a nice slide-show of photographs of Iceland (thanks to YouTube user Extolement).

So, Ólöf Arnalds...

So yeah, I'd never heard of Ólöf Arnalds before. I guess she's not that well known in the UK (yet). So the first thing I did after reading the email saying we'd won was Google her and listen to some of her tracks on Spotify.



I bet her voice gets described as 'ethereal' a lot by lazy journalists. It's lovely; clear, high and pure.

She has two solo albums, Við Og Við (2007) and Innundir skinni (2010) and has worked with loads of other Icelandic musicians. We're supposed to get two signed copies of Innundir skinni as part of our prize!

Iceland, ho!

How cool is this? Me and Niki have won a trip to Iceland for a private concert with Icelandic folk-singer/songwriter Ólöf Arnalds.

You know, Ólöf Arnalds? The Icelandic folk-singer...

I saw the competition in an email from Zavvi.com (they sell films, music games and stuff online) and remember thinking at the time "Wow, cool prize - but who is that?". It seemed obscure enough to make it worth a go.

So, a couple of weeks ago I'm checking my Gmail and there's a message:

Congratulations! You are the very lucky winner of our “Win a private concert with Ólöf Arnalds in Iceland” competition! The Prize includes:

• 2 x flights to Reykjavik, courtesy of IcelandAir.
• 2 nights at the Reykjavik Plaza hotel,
• A private performance from Ólöf Arnalds
• 2 x signed copies of Ólöf's new album "Innundir Skinni"

Awesome!