you've been wondering what we've been up to. This is Dad 's new GPS floor mop device. So that you don't get lost cleaning your big house. You can mop with precision also in the dark. We will get rich and famous. Looks stylish too.

Iceland got a lot of international publicity for being one of the first rescue teams in Haiti after the earthquake. It was funny how some 15 minutes after the first telegram of the big earthquake was posted on the online news site there was another piece about the rescue workers preparing for takeoff. They figured they'd get all their papers and permits ready once they were in the air.
The Swedes that got a lot of bad publicity for being extremely slow sending help after the big Tsunami a few years ago were still discussing the best way to help Haiti on TV when the Icelanders had been digging out people from the ruins for 24 hours. I think it's not so much the fact that Icelanders are living in an earthquake area but the mentality that things will work out. In Sweden you need to do things the right way even if peoples lives are at stake. And that still seems to be the case.
The rescue workers are now back again after working 48 hour shifts and sleeping 3 hours for one week. In an interview one of them said they never got permission to land in Haiti. The coast looked clear and the Icelandic pilot just landed the plane anyway and the team used a ladder to get out. And the government is now sorting out who is going to pay for the rescue operation. Everybody's happy.

Here we are at the airport before Christmas. Dad bought his favourite Norwegian ice cream. Guess who ended up with the grown up one? Happiness.

Here I'm competing with the future Swedish karate elite in Sing Star.

Guess who touched the lens?

Maybe we should get one of these wall mounted tubs? It would save a lot of space in the bathroom.

I went to sleep on Sunday and woke up at 7 PM on Monday night. I think then you are not feeling quiet well.

On Sunday Dad went on a jeep trip on the Langjökull glacier. I played with my Snow racer on civilized grounds in our local park in stead. That turned out to be a fortunate turn of events for me for me (not joining the trip) since one of the cars lost it's wheel on the glacier and they were occupied with some complicated on top of the glacier car mechanics and didn't come home until way after midnight the next day.

demonstrations at Bessastaðir
(presidents residence) picture from mbl.is

Our president just refused to sign the Parliament's Icesave bill in it's current form. It's the agreement with the terms for how we're paying back the British and Dutch savers from when the banks went bankrupt 2007 and were taken over by the government. One fourth of the voting population had signed a petition urging him to do this so that a national referendum could be held. The bill was passed by the Parliament a few days ago with just 33 votes against 30.

It's difficult to say what will happen to Iceland now. The small population is definitely not very keen on paying back these huge amounts at a high interest rate to the Dutch and British savers and feel the former banks' debts are the result of a small group of very irresponsible people that was never charged with their actions. If we were to sign up to these debts but find ourselves unable to pay will we loose for example access to our nature resources to the Brits or the Dutch?
People are not as interested in joining the EU as just after the bank collapse either. Many feel that it was a bad decision of the government to take over the banks in the first place. We lost all your money but hey we manged to save all your debts as the bank staff explained the situation to a customer on the New Year's Eve comedy show. Many people feel loosing all their money letting the banks collapse would have been a much better option than the huge cutbacks that follows paying the icesave debts.

Looks inviting doesn't it? Pictures are taken here.

Our Christmas tree had dropped all it's needles and the house was a mess. I fell asleep before 7PM on the floor mop. The birthday party might have played its part too.

• I leaned how to sing smooth criminal in Icelandic after watching the TV show making fun of last year's news.
  

• Dad forgot his tripod - therefore the lack of pictures of the fireworks.

• To Mom's great relief I was scared to death by the fireworks and had to spend New Year's Eve inside. I sat paralyzed for almost 2 hours which is quiet an achievement for a two year old. Iceland at midnight is like being at war. At 00:15 our former moonlit clear night view was swept into clouds of smoke. You wear protective glasses and stylish clothes you don't mind getting big burn holes in. So this year Mom got off without bruises and having to buy a new outfit.

• I went to sleep at 2AM
  

Here are some more pictures from our trip. As you can see once back in the civilized world I finally found snow and used this wheelchair ramp of the pizzeria at Selfoss when no one saw me.