My Wyrd Life In 100 Objects: 4 – Postcard From Iceland

I sent this postcard to my family in England during the summer of 2011 when I was in Iceland for three months as a conservation volunteer. Somehow, it’s ended up back with me and lives on the fridge with a Jólakötturinn magnet made by my friend Giorgia of Litla Keramus.

On the back, I wrote about having seen an Arctic fox the night before near our campsite at Ásbyrgi and on the day I sent the postcard, seeing humpback whales at Húsavík. I wrote about the damage to our tent by ash from Eyjafjallajökull, the rip in my sleeping back, and my snapped walking boot laces. (My fault for buying cheap gear.) I wrote about how the hoof shaped glacial canyon we stayed in was made by Sleipnir and asked my mum to buy some wool. Several team members were knitting themselves a lopapeysa, and I fancied making one, though it’s over a decade later, and I’ve yet to pick up a ball of yarn.

Titled Heading Home and shot by one of my favourite photographers, RAX AKA Ragnar Axelsson, I’ve never encountered a postcard in Iceland that I’m more besotted with. He may have stopped selling his work as postcards because I’ve never been able to find more, which is tragic because most postcards for sale in Iceland are bizarrely lacklustre.