I thought I’d had enough of the usual Christmas decadence. I thought I’d had my fill in my life, year after year, and I also thought I possessed the required sense of abstraction to be able to make up with my imagination for what I had not seen yet. But you know, as far as imagination goes, there is always a great difference between what you think you can imagine and the actual unpredictable possibilities you are sooner or later bound to encounter in real life.
In evening we went to Eiðistorg shopping center to buy some dog food. We have been to Eiðistorg many times before, so my sense of sight turns on the autopilot mode when I approach the shopping site. There isn’t anything particularly interesting to see there that requires special attention. Also, I am usually very disoriented when I go shopping.
Today there was something different at Eiðistorg, but at first my brain blocked out the disturbing elements like they didn’t actually exist in order to protect my already bad mood. After a few moments though I couldn’t avoid acknowledging the source of disturbance: two huge Coca Cola trucks were parked in front of the shopping center, all covered in crazy decorations that seriously threatened my sense of reality for a few seconds. The thought I had not woken up this morning crossed my mind for a moment.
Unfortunately I had indeed woken up and the huge trucks were there in all their physically ugly red idiocy. The conspicuous illumination doubled its blinding effect by reflecting its flashiness into the wet asphalt paving of the parking space. Bored young men in Santa Claus costumes, invited the few curious bystanders to get into the trucks for god knows what. The music reverberating from the trucks’ speakers was so hideous I cannot even describe (wanna hear? click at your own risk!). It was a very squalid scene of the fascinating kind you could expected from a dystopian film.
According to accredited sources, Iceland in the no. 1 worldwide consumer of Coca Cola pro capite. Congratulations to the US companies for owning the country — they own many others as well, anyway — but it’s kind of sad to assist to this kind of phenomena, especially when they concern places that take great pride in their individuality.
On a random note, I must add today in Iceland was Independence Day: on December 1, 1918 Iceland became independent from Denmark. It’s not a public holiday anymore, but somebody still think it’s worth remembering and celebrating.
Dude, how come your independence day is no longer a public holiday? something wrong with you guys, probably because of too much coke
In Iceland they have another celebration on June 17 that marks the birth of the Republic of Iceland. The Republic’s Day is considered and celebrated by most Icelanders as Independence Day and it’s a public holiday.