Oh No, Look up in Sky!

One of the well kept secrets of Iceland is the term "gúrkutíð", which idiomatically would mean "cucumber season" and is used as a term, especially in the summer, when news is slow. Instead of serious news coverage of events like train wrecks or riots in other countries, you can expect news coverage of the diminishing appearance of wasps in Reykjavik. That's just how things work in Iceland, for example, instead of wallowing in a state of depression over affairs in the Middle East, there is a collective mindstance to ignore these things. We have our objectives in our war on terror.

The terror is close to home, because if you take a stroll downtown to Tjörnin, then you will find a most devious creature with a gluttonous appetite to boot. You all know of whom I speak of: It is the seagull. A very dangerous animal indeed, or as City Official Gísli Marteinn Baldursson said: "We have a flying rat problem in Reykjavík". I don't want to be meticulous but I am very certain that this bird and as matter of fact birds in general are not rodents. And I will transgress so far as to say that they are no threat at all.

It seems like because we Icelanders live on an island and nothing terrible really happens, we simply have to invent something. Take for example earthquakes. In the last few years we have seen terrible tragedies around the world result because of earthquakes that register around 7-8 on the Richter scale. The last serious one that I recall happening here in Iceland was around the scale of 5 - and yes we had some damage: bookshelves fell over and I woke up to my head being bounced against the wall adjacent to the bed at my former girlfriend's room. More recently was the bird-flu scare, in which every night pundits of varying talent informed us of the dangers daily since occurrences had been reported first in Asia, later Turkey, and finally in England. The scare was all too real in the Icelandic news. But, alas a few days later it was revealed that the bird in England has simply died of natural causes.

This mentality of fear is perhaps best portrayed in the glaring title, "Seagulls making life hell for people", of urgency displayed this week in Kastljósið, our daily version of 20/20 or 60 minutes combined with the cerebral depth of Fox News. There is also the comments of City Official Gísli Marteinn Baldursson (a man that seems to think it is alright to lie about having a university degree) that are perplexing and seem to add to meaning to the phrase "Orwellian.". Deep down, I think he worries more about his suit being terrorised by seagulls rather than their eating habits. Although, personally the most amusing part of this discussion has been the answer that one lady gave: "Even though I have no scientific proof, it's just my feeling that they should be killed".

Somehow, I don't feel this sense of dread - even though I have seen "Birds". If you really want to find a way to do something, say for example like feeding the ducks, you can do it without fear of reprisal from seagulls. Either way, if this plan to poison and shoot seagulls goes through, it could make sense to send these specialists to other trouble areas in the world. Maybe Iran and Syria? If all else fails they can always kill seagulls near San Francisco or Australia.

Marvin Lee Dupree is a Reykjavik.com contributor