Wednesday 15th July
Today it’s B&B chores, but after 17 in the B&B last night and a change over in house no. 1, there’s a laundry marathon and I fxxk up so there’s not enough linen for the B&B -it’s only ready after Emilea has gone home so we need to finish making up the rooms. We also go to Patreksfjordur for some provisions. I slept really badly last night so after Ted2 I just want to sleep.
Thursday 16th July
Today it’s B&B chores and painting signs
and a 2nd coat on the stairs – well a start anyway. And we want to do a geocache trail in Bildudalur in Maggi’s name – so we start preparing that too. So we walk around the village deciding where to put a cache and which to use.
We’ve been trying to remember all the ingenious caches we’ve ever found so that we can use them all in one trail. It’s turned into a lovely day – the sun is shining and it’s glorious!
Friday 17th July
More painting and B&B chores. Tonight at 8pm Maggi’s coffin will be open for close family to say ‘goodbye’. We watch family members walking past the B&B.
Saturday 18th July
Today is Maggi’s funeral at 2pm and then his wake at 4pm. We get the B&B done by lunchtime so Emilea can go to the funeral. We drive to Selárdalur to decide on the positions and types of cache for our geocache trail.
By 1pm we’re back in the village, which is absolutely packed with cars. The flags are at half mast and the Vegamot is shut. Everyone we see is walking towards the church. The church is too small to accommodate all those that have come to pay their respects so the overflow are in the Sea Monster museum, where a screen relaying the service has been set up, and the old school house where there’s an audio feed. The funeral lasts nearly 2 hours and then there’s the procession to the cemetery. Apparently 300 came to pay their respects – an indication, I think, not just of the strength of the community spirit here but also how highly regarded Maggi was.
Sunday 19th July
Not much to report today. We get the beds stripped and made up and the washing on pretty quickly so that Emilea can have her usual weekend half day. Then it’s back to the house for a nap and Kindle time. We’re finding this schedule very tiring even though it’s not hard work. I don’t know how Ása does it – usually she’d be here everyday through June/July and August greeting guests, dealing with problems, telling them all about the highlights of the Westfjords. In the evening a lovely Dutch couple arrive and we have a lovely chat with them and they tell us to pop in if we’re ever passing.
Monday 20th July
Ása is back – she’s off to Isafjordur to do a big shop. We’re planning an easy day with no meet and greet this evening because Ása is going to do it. But then disaster. We run out of hot water. The clients seem pretty pissed off but this has never happened before and we can’t get hold of Ása for advice. In the end we simply aplogise to the clients and Ása calls out an electrician and it turns out that the fuse has tripped but it takes 4-6 hours to reheat the water tank from empty.
Tuesday 21st July
Ása is doing breakfast today so we don’t bother getting up. Bliss! When we do get up we potter around and make a start on making some of our geocaches.
We’ve shown Ása our plan and she’s happy with it so we can shop for the stuff we need. Ása asks us to cover the arrivals in the evening.
Wednesday 22nd July
OMG the guest that hadn’t arrived by 11pm last night, rang us at 3 am. Daz tried to explain we’d left his key in an envelope in the foyer but it took a while before he understood by which time we’re both wide awake and struggled to get back to sleep. We do manage to get to breakfast at 9am only to find Ása desperate to leave. She’s finding it tough; when she chats to all the guests, she has always talked about Maggi and now she is still talking about him but then remembers he has gone. So very sad. She goes home and we do the usual chores around the B&B and some more painting. Ása told us Monday evening that Bjössi and Silya have gone away for a few days. We ask Ása if she’d like to do the same. If she were to go now we can keep things running until we leave on Sunday. (On Sunday my mum flies into Reykjavik and we’ve got a week with her in southern Iceland, it’s been booked awhile so there’s no postponing it!). Ása says yes and that’s it, she’s gone. We’re not entirely sure where but we know she’ll be with friends and better for it, I think!!! So we’re back on B&B duty full time!
Thursday / Friday / Saturday
Not much to report really. We do the B&B chores and cut the grass on the 3 cottages.
On Saturday afternoon Daz takes himself off to the nearest ‘hotpot’ – the Icelandic term for geothermal pools. The pool is 31degrees and the natural hotpot about 40 degrees. Beautiful! Then Saturday evening we pack for our week away, with my mum, in southern Iceland.
