Iceland

Celebrating a 50th birthday in December isn't easy in England. In Australia it must be easy, but England in winter is no place for hot air balloon rides or garden parties. So I decided to go deeper into the dark with a week in Iceland!

From the moment I was nearly blown from the airline terminal onto the bus this was going to be a wild week. But whether I was bathing in an outdoor geothermally-heated jacuzzi in the dark at 10:30 in the morning, listening to children singing Icelandic Lutheran carols in Hallgrimmskirkja or watching wild horses grazing on a volcanic bog this was an amazing life experience.

Not only was it a fantastic experience of a great country; it also meant that as I stood outside Waterstone's Bookshop in Wycombe with folk from church singing carols this morning what would previously have felt quite cold, dark and wet felt relatively tropical!

I especially like the picture below, which was snapped at 12:38pm at Grindavik on the south coast. If that sun doesn't get up soon it will be going down again before it starts!