Jules Verne Forum

<jvf@Gilead.org.il>

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec 19961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009

The Blog of Axel Lidenbrock : June 13th 1863

From: Harry Hayfield <harryhayfield~at~googlemail.com>
Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:44:17 +0100
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

BlankAfter the exertions of yesterday, I felt like I deserved a good rest
but being an upstanding member of society I did not let my morals slip and
got up at the crack of dawn, the only problem was that my crack of dawn was
mid morning to everyone else. Let me explain the problem. Back home in
Hamburg, I get up at 6.00am in the summer (and a little bit earlier in the
winter in order to warm up), and at this time of year that usually means
that the sun's been up for a couple of hours or so and everywhere is nicely
warmed up. So you can imagine my dismay when I woke up at 6.00am and found
that everyone had been up for hours and was already thinking about lunch.
The reason for this, Iceland's northiness. You remember I told you yesterday
that the sun was setting just before midnight last night, well I have
discovered that the sun rises again a mere 125 minutes later. And if that
wasn't bad enough, according to this box of tricks the time difference
between sunset and sunrise is as low as 90 minutes on Midsummer's Day
(clearly I will have to catch as much sleep as I can before we set off).

On the subject of our expedition to the volcano that towers over Reykjavik
(see I told you I could spell it), we gained a new member today. Herr Hans
Bjelke is his name and when I first met him this morning my inital
impression was "Yes, he could come in handy". The reason for this
assessment? Well, just have a look at him



This fine fellow must have been possessed of great strength. His eyes, set
in a large and ingenuous face, seemed to me very intelligent; they were of a
dreamy sea-blue, The movements of this native were lithe and supple; but he
made little use of his arms in speaking, like a man who knew nothing or
cared nothing about the language of gestures. His whole appearance bespoke
perfect calmness and self-possession, not indolence but tranquillity. It was
felt at once that he would be beholden to nobody, that he worked for his own
convenience, and that nothing in this world could astonish or disturb his
philosophic calmness and I thought to myself, "That's just the person we
need!"

His employment as our guide was detailed thus: he would take us to Stapi, on
the south shore of the peninsula, at the very foot of the volcano. By land
this would be about twenty-two miles which my uncle thought could be done in
about two days. However, (and he was very upset when he was informed of
this) he was wrong. Miles in Iceland it seems are measured by the Danish
standard. A Danish mile is 24,000 feet long, this compares to an English
mile which is 5,000 feet long. In other words, about 4 times as long
therefore our trek would take four times as long. As you can imagine what
with the length of days here in Iceland after all that had been sorted out I
felt exhausted and happily crept into bed at 10.00pm (even with the sun
still shining in the sky)

Received on Sun 15 Jun 2008 - 09:06:45 IDT

JV.Gilead.org.il
Copyright © Zvi Har’El
$Date: 2009/02/01 22:36:11 $$