Haukur skrifar

I don't have an Icelandic keyboard so for now I shall blog in English since Icelandic written in the English alphabet looks silly.
Just over a month ago I arrived in England and lived with Palli in his theatre company's flat in Eastbourne, East Sussex for the first two weeks. I recorded a few of the Rude Mechanical Theatre Company's shows in August and we started the principal photography for our feature film, Courier, on the 16th of August. After the last show of the season we moved to London to live in a micro-studio apartment in Stockwell, between a Portuguese Deli which made delicious chicken and had a barbecue going all day and night, and a Jamaican barber which specialised in dreadlocks and braids. Our windows opened to their backyards, they provided no view but we could smell the flaming barbecue and listen to reggae all day.
The shoot in England was successful though we had a few setbacks, mostly with the jeep breaking down, first on the M23, the day we bought the Land Rover, my first day on the English motorway. The engine mysteriously slowed down and choked halfway from East Sussex to London and I had to maneuvre the jeep from the central lane to the edge of the road. I walked a few hundred feet away to look for a sign, holding the camera bag. Then I decided to document what was happening since we are also making a documentary. As soon as I had the camera in hand a police car came to inspect me. I assured them I was a tourist and showed them the Land Rover, they were quite suspicious of me and my story until I told them I was Icelandic, then they just smiled and shook their heads.
After four hours standing on the side of the motorway the car dealer came smiling and called the AA, some mechanic came ten minutes later and fixed the car in five minutes. Apparently some wire was loose in the engine.
The next week the central locking failed and it can't be locked manually but that is all being sorted at the moment.
But at least we managed to shoot the motorcycle chase in downtown London without any police interference or major accidents. We shot it from countless angles, from street corners, from the back of Palli's CBR and from a Vespa (belonging to Gisli Orn Gardarsson) which Gotti, Pallis friend, was driving in front of Ricci and Palli. Ricci Harnett is an actor who is starring in a film called The Rise of The Foot Soldier and was premiered the day after the chase in 150 cinemas in England. He was still eager to do his own stunts just for the heck of it. He and Palli were both couriers, working for a company called One for the road, about seven years ago.
So we were in high spirits on the last day of shooting last sunday, on our way back from London to Bexhill where we're now staying when badabingbadaboom the head gasket blew and eventually Palli and I left the Land Rover south of London and rode down on his bike. The next day Palli got some recovery company to move it to the mechanic in East Sussex but the recovery vehicle funnily enough broke down, then Palli joined the AA but they said they couldn't get there until three hours later so he drove south again to negotiate with the car dealer, then the AA called and said they'd be there in fifteen minutes, Palli went back and then they were gone, then eventually an AA man came on a small van. Palli was disappointed and said: I envisaged a big lorry which could carry the jeep in the back and the AA man retorted: Well I envisaged this would be a great job, but it ain't. So he towed the jeep with Palli inside all the way south, then Palli and Caroline went back on her bike to pick up his bike and then badaboom as you've heard, she was hit by this Peugeot.
So we've been lucky in a way since we're all right but from another point of view we've had a few disasters and we haven't even left England yet, which counts as bad luck I would think. But fall er fararheill as we say where I come from.
So we will probably leave England on Saturday, will keep you posted.
Haukur Valdimar Palsson