þegar ég kom heim var allt í rugli...
I came home today from a trip to the country to find a giant pump truck parked in the entrance to the apartment garage, pumping water with the high-pitched whine of an accident scene. Apparently while I was away the big storm-water pumping station down the road had a computer malfunction and, well, the storm runoff flooded our parking garage with around 2,000 tons of water. They were towing the last of the cars onto a ramp truck as we got there, so I was damn fortunate to have my car out and running. But what still worried me was the hallway of storage rooms that lies another full story below the parking garage.
The power was out and the elevator out of order as I walked down the steps to find my neighbors sloshing around in their storage rooms and a crew of blue-shirted Polish immigrants manning a tangled jumble of industrial vacuums. I couldn't open the door of my storage room because everything had shifted around in there. Apparently that hallway had been filled with over 6 feet of water, but the storage room doors' water-tight design ensured that "only" about 2 feet flooded each of the rooms.
But that was enough water to cost me a few dear possessions. The Bose speakers signed by the Doctor himself: sopping like a sponge. The Boston Globe collection from the Sox' 2004 Yankee-series surprise and World Series sweep, soaked through to the Jordan's Furniture ads. The framed poster from Sigur Rós' 2002 útgáfutónleikar had a whole new watermark of stormy Icelandic authenticity. And a whole pile of family pictures and artwork í rugli...
But there was some good to come out of it. I got to throw away a lot of wet stuff. I had fun joshing with the Polish kid who was manning the wet-vac (and my friend visiting from the Czech Republic got to do a little Slavic verbal sparring of her own) and then we made the national news, first-up on the fréttir at 19:00 (as well as first up on the radio news). And we got a nice Morgunblaðið article too. Now, Dr. Spock, how about recording Skitapakk II in commemoration of the great Sólvallagötu flood of '07...?
The power was out and the elevator out of order as I walked down the steps to find my neighbors sloshing around in their storage rooms and a crew of blue-shirted Polish immigrants manning a tangled jumble of industrial vacuums. I couldn't open the door of my storage room because everything had shifted around in there. Apparently that hallway had been filled with over 6 feet of water, but the storage room doors' water-tight design ensured that "only" about 2 feet flooded each of the rooms.
But that was enough water to cost me a few dear possessions. The Bose speakers signed by the Doctor himself: sopping like a sponge. The Boston Globe collection from the Sox' 2004 Yankee-series surprise and World Series sweep, soaked through to the Jordan's Furniture ads. The framed poster from Sigur Rós' 2002 útgáfutónleikar had a whole new watermark of stormy Icelandic authenticity. And a whole pile of family pictures and artwork í rugli...
But there was some good to come out of it. I got to throw away a lot of wet stuff. I had fun joshing with the Polish kid who was manning the wet-vac (and my friend visiting from the Czech Republic got to do a little Slavic verbal sparring of her own) and then we made the national news, first-up on the fréttir at 19:00 (as well as first up on the radio news). And we got a nice Morgunblaðið article too. Now, Dr. Spock, how about recording Skitapakk II in commemoration of the great Sólvallagötu flood of '07...?
posted by JB at 11.3.07
13 Comments:
Hi, just hope you were well insured!
Le crap! I saw it on the news. I guess it hadn't been on the agenda with the "húsfélag" to make a indoor swimming pool, huh? I'm sorry for your loss, I've always thought that if my house would burn down or something stuff like photos would be the things I'd miss the most. Good thing though you were out, as you said, those cars looked messed up. Stupid lighting!
Sigvaldi: I didn't lose anything of tremendous value. But what I lost can't be replaced. So insurance (which I have) won't make a lot of difference either way.
Audi: You know, many times when I went down there, the thought crossed my mind that the whole place could easily flood, being so far underground and so close to the sea. But I always dismissed it as paranoia.
Wow, this really sucks!
Were people's cars ruined?
That sucks Jared.. Too bad about the memoriabilia.
I see you live very close to my supermarket. In fact you´re probably 5 minutes from my appartment. Small town!
The Boston Globe I spared no expense to send you, ruined?!?!? I guess that means the Sox will just have to win this year to generate a fresh set of headlines for you.
So you don't like being called 'útlendingur' but it's ok for you to label the workmen as 'Polish immigrants' and talk about Lithuanian nurses and their accents?
Mindy: Yes, at least two cars I know of were totaled.
Jade: Vesturbær er bestur!
Josh: Yeah, you have another couple copies for me, Fellaths? Thorry, Fellaths.
Nafnlaus (Anonymous): I'd rather be called an "American immigrant" than the generic "útlendingur" ("foreigner"). "Yeah, that guy's an American immigrant" just sounds better to me than "Yeah, that guy's a foreigner."
And yes, all of us non-native Icelandic speakers have accents. It comes with the territory.
I almost didn't post your comment, Anonymous, heeding my grandfather's advice about never wrestling with a pig. ("You'll get dirty, and the pig loves it!") I may yet yank it. But I thought other readers should see why it's tough to write a blog sometimes and why I had anonymous comments turned off for a year or more. And maybe why my heart hasn't been in the IR as much recently.
I agree with Nafnlaus/Anon
But if you yank Anon's comment then it's censorship isn't it. Shouldn't we be able to express ourselves in order to create a conversation. If conversations are never created, the dialogue would be pretty blend. Censorship reminds me of Eastern Europe. I don't think it's healthy. At least in Western Europe, Iceland and other Nordic countries people tend to love a good hearty dialogue, uncensored.
People in Iceland thrive on politics and open discussion, that is how the oldest parliament in the world came about.
Instead of showing insecurities and seeing this as an 'attack' rather take it for what it is, and EDUCATE your readers, like you did.
I do encourage you NOT to censor, rather do it more like the Icelanders do and have done for centuries.
Just educate the readers. Dialogue encourages growth, where as censorship stunts it.
Sorry I'm not a blogger/writer, hence I can't log in
Alltaf hef ég jafn gaman af blogginu þínu Jared! Hvort sem þú hefur það lokað fyrir nafnlausum athugasemdum eða ekki!! En eitt verð ég nú að segja það er óttalegur mikill skræfuskapur að skrifa ekki undir nafni!!! Hvort sem það er góð skrif eða ekki!! Þetta er þitt blogg og ræður alveg hvernig því er háttað! Alveg eins og heimilið þitt, þú ræður því hvort gestir fara úr skónum eða ekki þegar þeir koma inn á heimilið þitt!! En þú færð hrós fyrir það að reyna læra og tala íslensku, skiptir engu máli hvort þú skilgreinir þig sem USA immigrant eða útlending!
Man total bummer about your stuff! Especially since it's of sentimental value. But you still have your memories!
Ég stend við mitt: Bara íslanska!
Leiðinlegt að heyra með dótið þitt, ótrúlegt hvað maður getur verið tilfinningalega tengdur verðlausum hlutum. Þú verður bara að byrja uppá nýtt og jafnvel byggja á nýjum grunni, hvað með KR?
Það er flott hjá þér að svara gagnrýninni. Mér finnst oft mjög fyndið þegar comment fara svona útí öfgarnar t.d. þegar Einar skrifaði um "bíóvísitöluna" (google) á bloggið sitt, commentin voru helmingi fyndnari en sjálf lesningin. kv, Karen
So nothing is happening any more? Just when I start reading, the writing stops!
Skrifa ummæli
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