15459, 15456

I was perhaps not necessarily looking forward to unpacking several boxes of books, but it was nevertheless a relief to get a call this morning, telling me that the shipment I sent from California in August would be arriving at my home here in Iceland today.

Friends had warned me this was a risky, time consuming, potentially catastrophic endeavor, but I took no heed. So my stuff was first shipped to Singapore, so what? So it was "consolidated" there with other stuff coming here to Iceland, no big deal. Perhaps a bit circuitous, a bit complicated, but I figured it would all work out in the end.

Well, well, what should arrive today at my lovely, icy front step, but 7 boxes, all nicely labeled with the name and address of someone in . . . BRAZIL! 7 was not a lucky number for this stranger in Brazil, whose fate is now inexplicably tied in with my own.

An email to the shipping company reveals that there were two shipments from Oakland, California, one destined for Brazil, the other one destined for Iceland, one labeled 15456, the other one labeled 15459. Either in Oakland, or Singapore, or Iceland, somewhere in the wide world, 15459 became 15456, and vice versa.

Since I am also in the process of organizing my office, I am thinking that for good luck sake, I should hang all my files in reverse alphabetical order now. Maybe putting the Z file up front will reverse the shipping mojo.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dett í, ofan á, úr, út

I´m not sure if someone had dett í (gotten drunk), or if það bara dett ofan á (it just sort of happened), or if some dett úr (forgot), but at any rate, my household goods dett út (have disappeared). Let's review the chronology here. Early August packers from the shipping company arrive at the apartment in Moraga. They load my 4 large plastic containers and 8 cardboard boxes, plus one baby crib, into their truck. I watch my things depart. In September, I ask the friendly girl (Magie is her name) if she happens to know when I might expect my stuff. Late September she tells me. I am most impressed. Extremely so. Mid October rolls around, and I have not gotten a call. And it occurs to me that I am going to be traveling through November. Hmm. So I call again. Well, yes, she tells me, looks like your shipment should arrive on the 31st of October. Now here I admit that maybe I was a little lacks. I had a lot to do before my trip, and so when they did not call me, I did not follow ...
Read more

Cultural tourism in Iceland

I just finished writing a chapter of my dissertation, which resulted in a much larger discussion of cultural tourism in Iceland than I had intended. But the fact is, this is an issue I have been extremely interested and concerned about for at least 15 years, if not 20. I have never, ever liked the way Iceland is marketed to tourists in the U.S. Everything from the unspoiled nature to the crazy city life in Reykavik. It has always left the part of Iceland I loved--the simple joy of being in a relaxing and lovely place with my family--completely out of the picture. In 2001, I went to Hvollsvöllur to examine the Saga Centre as part of a study commissioned by the National Park's service to look into cultural landscapes as heritage tourism. I thought that endeavor might represent a change in how Iceland was presented to tourists. But in the last 10 years, and especially while working at Vikingaheimar, and at meetings with the Saga Trails Association, I came to see just how completel...
Read more

On Icelandic doctors

My friends and family here in Iceland were very enthusiastic about me going to the krabbameinsfélag for an exam. I was really impressed how easy it was to get an appointment--booked online even! And when I got there this afternoon, the efficiency continued: they have a well oiled operation in place there, all very organized with computers asking questions and keyed lockers to keep one's personal belongings in. Then when it came time to see the doctor, well, that lasted all of 2 minutes. And I paid 3420 kroner. So I was overall a little disappointed. When I mentioned to the front desk clerks that I was wondering if it was possible to actually get an appointment where I could speak to a doctor, I was given a variety of phone numbers. None of the ones I called had appointments within the next 6 weeks. In the United States, when I want a doctor's appointment, I can usually get it within a week of calling, though sometimes I have had to wait 10 days or so. The highest co-pay I hav...
Read more