not much to say...

..except that entries may be a bit sparse this week as I am busy packing..I learnt a lot off the professionals but they seemed to do it a tad quicker than yours truly :-(. We get the keys tomorrow but move on Saturday, which is bank-holiday weekend (the only icelandic bank holiday to always be on a Monday) so we are hoping that some kind friend will still be in RVK to help us out, otherwise T and I will probably still be moving furniture by the time our lease is up in 11 months!!
Yesterday was spent packing and the boys had a lovely day with their grandparents. T is in one of his 'I-must-change-my-lifestyle-or-I-will-be-pearshaped-forever' moments and is on a health kick..which meant that he did his usual obsessional bit, came swimming with me and was almost crippled by bedtime. He is interested in joining the police or paramedics (just as he was in UK) so he is hoping to prove to himself that he can keep the fitness, in order that he could apply. I would love him to achieve his ambition as it is far more him than sitting infront of a PC so watch this space and T's own blogsite for updates.
Tomorrow I actually have a busy day as I am doing my counselling bit and then I am meeting the administator of the mother tongue society as I am going to be teaching english to 9-12 year olds (which should be fun) and then I'm off to meet the nurse who looks after the foreign nurses at the hospital to see how much the icelandic system can insult my professional background..oops! sorry, to find out the terms and conditions of this new job on the dementia ward (which doesn't seem anywhere near as much fun). The battle to be recognised and respected is ongoing....
Oh! and I forgot to say that Jackie arrives with her clan tonight so we are hoping to meet up. Don't forget folks..we may be moving to a tiny house but our big hearts are still full of love for anyone who wants to visit ;-).
Take care all..love J and boys xx
PS keep an eye on the photo album as pics of J's birthday on their way x

''..some things y'do..and some things y'don't..''

..get used to that is...
A particularly relective (and rainy) hour spent in the swimming pool today, thinking about all the adjustments one encounters in an alien environment...open-air pools (complete with inclement weather and seagulls on the wing) are really cool-literally..having to shower naked before one swims (and I mean a proper shower, with soap, large diagrams of naked bodies pointing out the bits to attend to and lots of other ladies of all ages, shapes and sizes doing the same around you) is really refreshing and makes one wonders what unpleasant bacteria float around in British pools ;-)...getting job offers because somebody you know speaks to somebody they know is not much less than a phenomena (especially after the treachery of NHS interview panels)...little babies growing into little people and being able to walk (..finally!-well done Elijah Benedikt) and little babies growing into even bigger people ( and not only being able to walk and talk but to slam doors and tell their dads that their clothes are not cool..mums are though, apparently)...but being unable to understand the conversation that the 2 little girls swimming at the side of you are having..now that...you never get used to ...it doesn't stop you feeling as if your IQ has deteriorated overnight, it doesn't help with your self-esteem and it doen't stop you from feeling like a legal alien..I tell you, Sting was right when he wrote that song (although the bit about having toast done on one side..now that-that is just weird man.. but hey! at least I can understand the lyrics ;-)..
Love to one and all..don't forget to think about us when you next go swimming!!
Lots of love from J and boys xxxx

''...now then children..anybody know what they were doing 9 years ago today..?''

...(voice from the insular island somewhere in the Atlantic ocean)...'' please miss! I know! I know!Ask me!Ask me!''...
...yep -9 years ago, I was celebrating the safe arrival of my very precious Jolyon Isaac Burton and 9 years on, there are 4 of us celebrating a happy day for our very special practising teenager.
Happy Birthday Jolly-one...I'm glad you've had a great day. Sorry you have felt lonely at times and missed your friends..I am praying that you will meet some special friends once we have moved to our new home.
Wishing you a peaceful, fun-filled, happy life..
All my love from Mum (and from Dad and EBB too) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
PS We love you. :-)

''..sorry..what was the address again..?''

...well, not the one I wrote about yesterday, thats for sure..for as usual, things took an unexpected twist in the Freysson-Burton scheme of events...
Picture the scene..Joanna on the phone to Debs on Friday for ages, debating the rentable assets of a 3 bed house with garden in Gardbaer (too isolated..swapping Gardur for..well..Gardur with trees) vs a 1-2 bed house in downtown 101...and a conclusion was reached by all parties involved in this decision and we awaited a phone call from the owner of the little green and white house in one of our favourite spots in Reykjavik (not far from where you knocked on somebodys house to check whether it was made of wood, Erika)..anyway..we waited and we waited and we emld and by saturday morning were all disappointed again and went off to see the basement flat in Kopavogur (new on the rental scene). And we decided to take it and ..whhaddya know..Sunday night, the same lady owner of lovely little house in 101 rang and said ''yeah, sounds great..you seem really nice people and the sort of people I would like in my house..and no problem with my taking out the furniture etc etc'' and once again it was dilemma time in the F-B household.
Anyway..our hearts have ruled our heads (and our bank balance) and we have decided to go for 101. It is a good opportunity to test-drive the area we would chose to live in if we stay in Iceland. So I am keeping all digits crossed and hope that the children T saw as he walked around the area were not just passing through on their way to see their many friends near a basement flat in Kopavogur.
So now we just have to pack (the boxes would be very useful Toti..if they were in our house and not decodes' warehouse) and try to find E a nursery place..which is even more difficult than finding a place to live, as the Icelandic govt has clearly not had many cosy chats with T.Blair and G.Brown Esqs and have yet to provide sufficient day care places for their countrys' children??? (take the hint Mr PM..your oppo in the Uk may not always get things right...Afghanistan, Iraq, John Prescott etc etc..but at least one has a choice and one can usually get ones child into nursery without waiting 6 years or until said infant is 26 years old-whichever is reached the sooner??).
So fans of twolands, we move soon to little house in trendy 101 (where I can walk to work in about 2 minutes..after I've driven 6 miles to take my child to nursery..if only it was that easy...Oh! I'm sorry, it won't be you say? no thats because I will have to drive 15 minutes out of town to our existing childminder as all the waiting lists for all the nurseries in RVK reach into the next millenium..got the hint? Yes, it is such a sore point today :-/ ).
..sorry I got distracted there for a moment..farewell to fans of twolands ..love to one and all from all of us...from J,T,J and E xxxxxx

...''a move to a basement flat in a suburb? surely not Joanna ..?!''

Hi y'all!
Just to let you know we will soon be on the move (again) as we hand over our lovely house in this very picturesque fishing village on 7th August. We are renting a tiiiiny flat in the RVK suburbs...all the elements I originally said 'no' to.. in a basement, in Kopavogur (sorry Suafnir, I know you love it there), with only 2 bedrooms and no garden (well, there is according to the landlady but she clearly is not a gardener!). However, it is available on 1st August, cycling distance to school and to work, there is a small play-area on our doorstep (literally), the sea at the bottom of the road, lots of places to walk to (including to one of our favourites spots, Perlan), lots of children, cats no problem and..the clinching factor really (apart from the lowest rental we'd seen)..T went to secondary school with the landlady, who lives upstairs:-).
So very clearly a very temporary move but I'm sure we will be fine (if a little cosy..although not as cosy as the current tenants who are moving out because baby number 5 is on its way ;-). We have struggled to find anywhere to rent because 80% of places won't accept pets. We did see a couple of very nice houses with all the space, garden etc but the areas were devoid of children and further out in the suburbs, which would have meant buying a second car etc etc.
And, if nothing else it will prompt us to make some decisions in 6 months as we won't be cosy in a big house with a nice garden etc. Also, I guess with winter not that far away (hey! school starts the winter term soon..in August!), it will be dark anyway and we will relish that cosiness!
We all remain positive...I'm trying to gather more info about this job I've been offerred..like an Assistant Practitioner role and clearly a stop-gap to get me out working again and get some more money coming in..many foreign nurses then go onto extra training at Uni to achieve their Bsc but not me..already got one (and the rest) and an insatiable appetite to challenge the system, which I am still trying to do. Now taking legal advice re my nurse reg and have been told the nursing board should be looking at where I fit in rather than where I don't. Suddenly all my years of saying what I think and upsetting all those managers in various nhs trusts doesn't seem such a major issue, when one can go straight to the top and do the same to a countrys' government!!!;-)
Anyway, off to enjoy our 5th day of sunshine and rest my muscles after swimming and mowing the grass (think...Lords cricket ground for a picture of the size of our lawn)...and hey! at least I won't have to mow the lawn for 6 months (hadn't thought of that one..promise someone will remind me of it when I'm bemoaning the fact we are falling over ourselves in our bijou liitle pad?!).
Hope all good in the hot and sweaty parts of the world...keep in touch y'all..
Love from 3 Anglo-Saxons and a Viking in the land of fire, ice and a bit of sunshine! xxxx

HI!...remember me....?!

...yes, ´tis I...Joanna journal-keeper..who has..err...been ridiculously busy to do such fun things...but now I am back-in Iceland-house hunting..again!!
Its been a strange ol´time..first we put our house on the market, expecting it to take ages to sell. therefore leaving us with llooaaddsss of time to make new plans...and then we sold our house in 2 weeks to a couple who wanted to move in before August..and suddenly we felt under even more pressure to make new plans and we were feeling all unhappy and emotional and..well, you know the rest ;-).
So here we are making those news plans, still in iceland and looking at renting a property in RVK so we can get more of a feel for this place and (hopefully) Joanna can get a job. I am persevering with that one and we have a few (expensive) houses to consider. J has regained his sparkle and its still shining now we are back in the land of the midnight sun (well, technically the land of the midnight sun is Finland but it is still light here at midnight, so we could always share the title, I guess). And E has gone back to his childminders today and had to get up at 7am!! well.actually we all did and as I told T, us Burtons are on our summer hols and we don´t do anything before 9.30 these days..the only time T will be allowed a lie-in and we had to drive to RVK ;-).
Today, I am being interviewed (again!) for an article in the intercultural centres newsletter. The next issue is focussing on education and the skills that immigrants bring to Iceland..and then don´t get to use (!)..which reminds me..I have now decided to challenge the ministry of health/board of nursing re my registration, with the assistance of a lawyer. Never one to give in quite so easily..if I´m going to stay here I may aswell make the most of all my spare time!! And I am going to meet a nurse manager in the dementia care unit at a RVK hospital today too. I have also advertised my skills in mbl as a personal care nurse or ´counsellor´.
So all keeping busy...no rest for the honorary Vikings...hope all good in the land of scorching temperatures (it was great coming home to Iceland and having to put on a jacket again!!)
Love to all family and friends far and near... from Joanna,Toti,Jolyon and Elijah xxxx :-)

Tóti starts a personal blog

Have a look at Consistently Inconsistent

The winds of change ...

Hello all,
In true Freysson-Burton (or is that Burton-Freysson, Joanna?) style we've changed our mind again. We feel that four months is not long enough to be able to really see what Iceland has to offer us and have decided to stay a bit longer. We are, however, going to be moving to Reykjavik but this time renting a place, which means we're a bit more flexible in the future. Hey, why do things the easy way when there are more exciting ways of doing things. Joanna and the boys are back in Iceland after the weekend and then we will start some serious house hunting, cos weez gots to be outs of ze casa by the 7th August ... plenty time then :-They are forming a new political party here in Iceland which has the working title 'The New Icelanders Party' and will fight for the rights of not just foreigners moving to Iceland but all minority groups, i.e. pensioners, disabled people etc. But as this is being started by foreigners in Iceland that was the emphasis at the first meeting yesterday. Tóti turned out and offered his services and told Joannas story regarding her nurse registration. That prompted alot of other people to tell similar stories of themselves or someone they know. One lady, for instance, is a lawyer educated in England who does not get her law degree recognised by the authorities. *** There was a sentence in here about the President of Iceland and his education. The fact is he studied Political Science at the University of Manchester, not law. Apologies. (Edited by Tóti) ***
So, aside from the wind, rain, lack of sun and storm warnings yesterday life here is treating Tóti okay ... just missing his three best people ...
Lots of love to you all,
Tóti, Joanna, Jolyon and Elijah

Confusion is a fusion of con and fusion ...

Just to keep you all updated about our ever so mixed up life! We had a great two weeks in Bellagio, Italy toward the end of June which included a trip to Switzerland. Joannas' parents were there with us and everyone really enjoyed the time together, despite the apartment being on a busy junction during a motorcycle festival, the biggest annual festival in the Como area and the World Cup all at the same time! Yes, there wasn't much sleep due to traffic and constant Italian celebrations. I don't think any italian cars, trucks, motorcycles or scooters actually have an exhaust system (which otherwise tend to help reduce the noise level). Jolyon went with Grandmum and Pops to England and Tóti, Joanna and Elijah went to Iceland, then Joanna and Elijah went to England leaving Tóti all alone in Iceland and this is the situation until next week. I know, we never do things the easy way ...
We'll keep you updated on moving and house issues as we go along but it was strange to go to Italy and step back, emotionally, from the whole situation. We are even more confused now about what to do!
One thing we're not confused about though ... and that is that we love you all, wherever you may reside ...
Tóti, Joanna, Jolyon and Elijah ...
PS I got the English sense of humour Adrian ... uhmm ... after Joanna explained it to me ... :-)