Laufskálarétt the dance and all the rest

This first picture is "borrowed" from feykir.is The guy riding the horse is Bjarni M. A bloke that I shared office space with and who works for the soil conservation service here in Iceland. Well, this last weekend was Laufskálarétt, the biggest horse roundup in Iceland (in my mind there are more folk than horses) nevertheless, it is a big weekend as lots and lots of people flock north to attend the round up and the entertainment that surrounds this weekend. As you can see the weather was BAD...

We here in the town, know better, so for us it was roasted back of lamb (rack but still attached to the other rack... hence a back) ´twas rather good, even if I say so myself. Our biggest hangup though was finding the appropriate back up music to our game of Trivial Pursuit - this is what one does before heading off to the biggest dance in the country. Our game of triv was Icelands version from 1986... Given that I was the only adult around at this time (ie of a mature age in 1986), I was the "winner"

You can tell from the smug look on my face....

These sweeties were well... the losers... no not really Bryndís the younger was almost there with me and Maggi, just didn't quite have it though.... But they don´t look too unhappy about it do they?

Anywho, after our major triv session we took a taxi to the equestrian centre, proceeded to dance and allow the effects of the red wine we had previously drunk do its thing. There are various accounts and memories of what occurred - but Laufskálarétt is like Vegas - you know the drill. Needless to say a fairly fun night was had by all. A complete Sunday was needed for me to feel like a part of the human race again, but as is every year - I never regret it.. It is a bizarre night but always a good night.

In other news. I was just looking up to see the tv and saw the advert for Kraftur a docco by a guy that I work with about another guy that I once worked with and his horse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOFwXOsImOE is the link to the trailer for the film. The docu maker got me to go over the english subtitles and I cried whilst reading them... needless to say I did not go to the premier - too hard for a sook like me. So I am waiting for the dvd.

hope the link works - if not you need to join the facebook link to Kraftur.

Just to give you a brief outline of the story. Tóti - is a great rider here in Iceland - a teacher at Hólar and a really all round nice guy. He met a horse - Kraftur frá Bringu, that he trained and got to such a high level that all that was left was to take him to the Internationals for the Icelandic horse, but taking a horse outside of Iceland means that he can never come back. No horses are imported to Iceland - both to keep the breed "clean" and also to prevent any diseases from coming here . So for him to take his horse to the championship meant that he had to leave him behind. The only talk in the trailer is him saying "and the question is - was it really worth it?" Needless to say - they won - they really won, came away with all the major trophies - but even so - was it worth it - to leave the horse, the friend behind. Like I say - I get teary thinking about it. Ah, such is life. We all need to sometimes give things up - no matter how hard it seems - maybe it is all for the best.

Another pretty day today - but really bloody cold. 'twas kinda fun though walking through the snow to get to bed early on Sunday morning - wish I had had my camera with....