Post-Confirmation Errand Runs & YACW (Yet Another Covid-19 Wave)

2021-03-23Us Standard

[Photos taken 23-31 March 2021, posted online 23 July 2021. All eyes on the news as Icelandic Covid-19 cases skyrocket. The capital weather remains gloomy with occasional spurts of sunshine, as the north and east of Iceland bake under a heat-dome. The ministers of Iceland will meet in the east of Iceland today (they’re all traveling and hanging out under the heat-dome) to decide which of the domestic restrictions proposed by our chief epidemiologist to enact.]

Two days post-confirmation-parties I signed myself up for a covid-19 test as my throat was feeling a bit raw, probably post-Talking. So. Much. on Sunday. Happily I tested negative. We also went and deposited Bjarki’s confirmation money-haul into the bank (had to make two attempts, as the banks went into lockdown-mode, and you had to make an appointment!), and researched and purchased a gaming-worthy laptop for Bjarki as our confirmation present to him. We have not seen his face since then 😉

Covid-19 infections began spiking, this time in schools, so mindful of poor outcomes last fall when the infection made its way into a geriatric ward and a lot of old people died, authorities clamped down hard. First through 10th grade kids were essentially sent on Easter vacation two days early, but the junior colleges and workplaces jumped straight to remote teaching/working.

As sanity in general was running rather low, Finnur and I both took three vacation days, which over Easter means a total of 10 vacation days. Yes, official religions are still good for something. 🙂 (50-ish images total)

Tuesday 23 March 2021

The main covid-test site in the capital area: that open doorway on the left. It leads to a check-in desk where you show your official testing barcode (which you get after you sign up for a test online), get a test-tube with a sticker on it. then you walk along the building on the far left to a room where people in protective gear wait to stick a pin up your nose and another down your throat, and then you exit out the back. It’s very efficient!
The town seemed to be starting its spring-activities, as these machines turned up to renew the playground ground material in front of our house.

Wednesday 24 March 2021

The milk-packaging-company seems to be having trouble making the milk-cartons milk-proof. Ugh.
Meanwhile, the eruption continued at a steady pace, and is still ongoing (in July), but now showing signs of slowing. Lots of amazing images appeared on social media, so many that when we asked Anna if she wanted to go and visit the volcano, she was all “No way! That volcano has taken over my feeds, and I’ve had quite enough of it thank you very much!”
Google Photos kept jerking my memory-chain, and isn’t time weird?!
That evening, after a sudden rise in domestic covid-19 infections, authorities decided to clamp down harshly, as a gradual clamping in the fall had proved ineffective and deadly. They basically sent kids in 1-10th grade on Easter Break two days early, Anna’s junior college went immediately remote for those two days, religious/confirmation ceremonies were limited to 30 people (now counting everyone over 5 years old), other gatherings could be max 10 people, swimming pools and gyms were closed, all sports practices where participants were closer than 2 m were cancelled, the theater, movies, bars, gaming halls were all closed, and driving and flying lessons were also suspended.

Thursday 25 March 2021

Bjarki in the car outside the bank, with his impressive confirmation cash-haul. (A friend of ours once called confirmations a ‘transfer of funds between generations’). We arrived there only to find the bank doors were closed and we had to make an appointment online. The next available one was the following day.
Now that my nervous system wasn’t busy freaking out over Bjarki’s confirmation, I had the presence of mind to go out for a jog. To say I felt lethargic (still micro-dosing a cancer-drug for my psoriasis at this point) was a gross understatement.
A weird thing happened on the way to spring: Winter finally came around to say hi.

Friday 26 March 2021

We made it inside the bank!
There were long negotiations on how to sensibly split the money-haul among the various account types, long-term savings vs short-term savings vs debet-account, but I think we came to a mutually agreeable conclusion.
Finnur is really good at comparing specs of items, so he researched the laptop stock in the capital area within the allotted budget, optimized the selection for gaming, and off we went to pick it up.
Still trying to shake off the lethargy, I dragged a friend out for a walk in the cold but beautiful weather post-work.
My friend told me that the restaurant by the sea in that wooden-y building was conceived of by a woman who then went on to get the permissions and paperwork in order. When professional investors got involved they quickly ditched the lady in question and went to more established restauranteurs to run the place. It’s hard to be a trail-blazer!

Saturday 27 March 2021

Thinking that spring was just around the corner (I was very wrong, it stayed super cold all through May) I went out and tidied up the shrubbery. That particular shrub and its brethren in the yard had a super hard time surviving this cold spring, and I think I’ll have to almost entirely cut them down next year as they’re now mostly dead 🙁
The paltry growth from last summer reminded me that I totally forgot to distribute any nutrients that time around.
Documenting the type of mouse Bjarki got with his laptop. This one was more expensive than I’d originally planned to buy, but it was just so much nicer to use than the basic one, so I relented. The guy that was helping us then unexpectedly gave us a discount (on account of us being ‘nice’!) meaning the mouse was the price of a basic mouse after all. That kindness totally made my day 🙂
Bjarki’s flowers lasted a surprisingly long time.
So pretty!
Bluuuuuuue!
Still can’t believe we forgot to put the candle out at the party…!

Sunday 28 March 2021

I managed to rope Bjarki into a more “formal” confirmation photo session. My brother Pétur then kindly went over the photos with his mad photoshop-magic skillz.
Full-size. One day I will arrange the photos in a book…
Showing off his mooooves! Did I mention this is taken in his bedroom?
Fooling around with flower placements.

Monday 29 March 2021

Typical… snow around Easter time! The town is putting in a special bike-path next to the walking path to make bike-commuting easier and safer.
It was a gorgeous day for a jog. I skipped the hat in a vain attempt to let the sun shine on my hair.
That day found Finnur and Emma at house #2, Bjarki had a sleepover at a friend’s place, so it was just me and Anna in the regular house. I was in no mood to cook, so we hopped down to TGIF’s for dinner. First we had to fill out a contact form, as the new rules required all visitors to be logged for possible contact tracing.
Oh yeah baby!

Tuesday 30 March 2021

The reason I stayed in town was that I had a ton of errands to run. First on the list, getting the blue car inspected for road-worthy-ness. It passed with flying colors and got a sticker good for two years! As a bonus, I got to chat with my aunt who works at this inspection site. 🙂
Next up: A task I had been putting off for one year and four months: ordering black-out-blinds for two bedrooms in our house. The thought of having to measure the windows, and choose colors and textures was simply too daunting, but when push came to shove, it took about 30 minutes total…!
Physical refueling and a mental pat on the back for finally getting stuff done. This was at Te and kaffi in Borgartún. According to regulations, they could have 20 guests inside as long as there were table servers, and every guest gave their contact information. If they’d operated as usual (no table service) they could only have 10 people inside. So complicated!!
Next up: Library run. There I also had to leave my contact info, and turn this counter over as there could only be 10 people in the space at any given time. This was hands down my favorite counter encountered!
Laden with books, I went to leave, then remembered I still had a valid “culture card” and walked up one flight to stairs to the photography museum.
Getting cultured! These were really interesting and crisp photos by Sigurhans Vignir from about 60-80 years ago. Life was very different then.
This was around the time of the second world war. The far left image is of British troops arriving in Reykjavik harbor on 10 May 1940, and the middle one from the Victory in Europe day on 8 May 1945. Technically speaking, these photos are gorgeous.
It was a gorgeous day in downtown Reykjavik!
Next up: Ikea. I decided I really didn’t like the small coffee table in House #2, so I grabbed this one as a friendlier replacement.
I also used the opportunity to test out chairs for friends in the US, who weren’t up to visiting an actual Ikea store. I deemed all of them rather flimsy and uncomfortable. Sorry!
Anna and I then locked up the house and went to pick Bjarki up before driving to House #2.
This wannabe-adult got permission to do an “all-nighter” at his friend’s place. This was the result.
Getting closer.
After dinner, Emma and I decided to take the trash out.
Sun setting around 8:15 pm.
Trying to discourage her from venturing any closer to the water. That ice looked a bit finicky.
Checking out the river on the way back was too tempting though. Thankfully she managed to not fall in!

Wednesday 31 March 2021

Post lunch-time dip.
Spring-time Ikea assembly in progress. These would be our new night-stands.
Guess the owner!
Oldest sibling decided to play cards with the younger ones as they got ordered out of their screens. Evil parents. And thus endeth March 2021!