first snow

It's snowing in Brno. Looks like powdered sugar on the dirty streets and cars. I woke up this morning and hung out my window with my camera. Snowflakes swirled down between the two identical dorms. Everything was beautiful.

Round two of the fruit fly massacre.

1015 hrs

Status: critical, but improved greatly after last night's attack.
Fruit fly traps were moderately effective. The bodies have been disposed of and fresh traps laid. A third trap was established in Zone 1 of fruit fly territory. The trap in Zone 2 has been relocated to higher ground to draw their forces away from computer desk base camp. Little to no assistance from comrade. Status: dormant.

I don't know how much longer I can keep up the fighting spirit. I lost control last night and went on a killing spree at 0230 hrs, armed only with a plastic-covered guide to Iceland. I changed weaponry half way through - deflated milk carton also effective. If the enemy is not eradicated by Wednesday I will evacuate. Location: Vienna. My comrade will have to fight this battle alone. I wish her well. The enemy is entrenched in our territory and multiplying by the day. We're going to need everything we've got to win the war.

Over and out.

Happy Package Day

Last night I got back from London. Today I picked up two packages: one from Natalie, one from family. Both excellent. I now have zines, clothes, tube vegemite, drawings and letters. What could be better?

An architect in Helsinki

I am in Helsinki, Finland, couch surfing with an anarchist architect called Antti.

There is a big black hole in my blog between Reykjavik and Helsinki. That hole can be called either 'Brno, Czech Republic' or 'no internet connection.' Settling down for a while has been a challenge. When I left the Czech Republic a few days ago I felt heavy, worried, depressed. The moment I landed in Helsinki I was lifted, and have been feeling light ever since. Travelling is the best antidote for a heavy heart.

I am falling in love with the Czech Republic, if a little slowly and strangely. I'm addicted to the writing of Milan Kundera and I feel that his books will be an important part of the love affair. But enough of Ceska, now to Suomi.

This is my itinerary for today:
- Watch my host perform in a political street play about homelessness in Helsinki
- Trundle off to the park near his house in Kallio for a Food Not Bombs lunch
- Go and see the ex-mayor of Bogota talking about issues of urban change
- See an Estonian film for free (my host's girlfriend works in a cinema) as part of the Love and Anarchy film festival
- Drinking and dancing to Risto, a nerdy underground Finnish musician

The last time I was this busy was in New York. I like this city. Time to get ready!

I got rolled in Reykjavik

Last night I played a show to a handful of devoted fans. It was in a little cafe called Cafe Babalú which I have been hanging out at quite a lot. It's cosy, the German woman who runs the place is tiny and gorgeous and absolutely mad, and for one reason or another it attracts a lot of expats and travellers. I have made some great friends whiling away the hours in this place.

Of all the drunken nights I've spent in Iceland, last night was by far the best. Gerwyn came back from Akureyri. Me, Gerwyn and Derek (the half-French Californian) make quite a team. Derek is going off to be a ski instructor in Austria and Gerwyn is going to live in London, though not with his boyfriend as originally planned. I'm hoping we reunite in Austria for a weekend of alpine drinking.

After we were kicked out of the last bar at closing time (2am - Sunday night really is a return to the working week for Icelanders) we went back to my hostel to retrieve the last of my spirits and Derek went to his place for leftover pizza. This geezer from London called Terence came with us. He was inadequately dressed and I felt bad for him, so I lent him my beautiful lamb's wool mittens which I bought at the Blue Lagoon for 1500 Krona (around $21). He stood inside our hostel for a while - I went to pee, Gerwyn to make a sandwich, and when we came back, he was gone. With my mittens.

As we walked to the church to meet Derek I ranted about what kind of foul bastard steals someone's gloves, and Gerwyn said I had been rolled. Damn that guy! As we sat drinking in an alcove at the statue of Leifur Eriksson a man rode past on his bike and asked if we'd seen his friend. Derek seemed to know him and so he stopped to talk. I told this Icelandic man about Terence and said 'If you meet a guy from London called Terence and he has white mittens, please get him for me.' The man paused, got back on his bicycle and said, 'If I see him, I kick him' and rode off into the night.

Today I'm going to ride an Icelandic horse. I saw some from the bus yesterday when I went to the Gullfoss waterfall and the Geysir. Sadly, my camera ran out of juice shortly after I reached the waterfall. Damn not having an Iceland adapter! I will upload photos soon.

Dreaming of soup

I'm so hungry I dreamed about food last night. All kinds of soup for 175 Krona, which is ridiculous because that's AUD$2.40. It's more likely to cost 1750 Krona, or AUD$24. Everything is so expensive here, especially booze. So I've discovered the way to get drunk is not eat. I feel 16 years old all over again.

Last night I sat on a rock at the harbour with my new friend Gerwyn from Brisbane, the first Australian I've made friends with overseas, and we drank Jägermeister from the bottle. I put it out on the rock so it could chill properly. For real, it's about 7 degrees here at night and probably 9 or 10 in the day.

At a cute bar last night I met a guy called Derek who was given a job after just a few days in Iceland. Derek came here after doing some crazy snow trekking in the north of Sweden. He had his bag and visa stolen while sleeping in a park. The Icelanders say that's strange, because Iceland has a low crime rate, and so they think that perhaps it was stolen by another tourist or the Polish.

Soon I will investigate the washing machines, venture out to the supermarket to buy things that look like food and will most likely be labelled in Icelandic, and later I think a dip in the geothermal pools is necessary. Gerwyn told me about going to the pools and having to wash thoroughly in the communal shower before swimming. He forgot his towel and went back for it when he was confronted by a large Icelandic man who yelled at him and then lent him a towel. Gerwyn said he'd like to get yelled at in the nude more often ('it was very Auschwitz') and he was glad that even in Iceland there are still cranky bastards.

I am not a viking

OOOwwwwooowwwooowwwoowwOOwww. That is the noise of someone who carried possibly 60 kilos of luggage through the streets of Reykjavik at 9am which is actually 5am for her after being on a plane 5 hrs and not sleeping a wink. Oh yes. The ridiculous thing is that a taxi pulled up right after I started asking a guy for directions, and then I DIDN'T take the taxi because the man said it wasn't far to my hostel and I didn't want to look like a pussy. HA! That shows me for trying to prove my viking strength. As I laboured under the weight of my accumulated belongings I thought: 'What does not give you a back injury only makes you stronger.' I've hit a crisis point with my luggage. I simply have too much stuff. Books, mainly. I'm a travelling library. If I have one tip for travellers it is this: when you leave home, do not take any books. One if you must read on the plane. Before too long you'll be a book magnet.

I'm staying in a guesthouse which looks like it was a hospital in recent history - parts of the room have sections curtained off. It's a drab destination after the bus ride from the airport which took me past lava fields, moss-covered rocky terrain, mountains in the distance and rainbows over the ocean. I listened to Sigur Rós and felt euphoric. Iceland has been my biggest fantasy for so many years. And now, here I am.

Unfortunately, the problem with introducing fantasy to reality is that reality contains things which suck. Such as Iceland being expensive as all hell. But I can hardly complain about that - I knew what I was in for. And besides, my next stop is the Czech Republic, where I can recoup my losses and live like a queen.