There's a chill in the air..

Napping, or at least being ridiculously lazy, is an essential part of a Sunday. And being accompanied by a fellow cat napper (in this case an actual cat) makes it even harder to rouse oneself. After breaking my cardinal vow and not sleeping in on yesterday's Saturday morning, instead showering and dressing at a despicable 7am - ie even earlier than I normally get up on a working day - I decided that spending all of today in a state of semi-consciousness was more than allowable.

Except now it's 7 in the evening and I have another working week to get through that starts in exactly 12 hours. That's five more days of early mornings staved off somewhat by endless cups of instant coffee, working tirelessly at a non-definitive desk space ( my record is five days at the same computer - a happy memory..) and waiting for the weekend.

Just as well I only have eight days left of the 9 to 5 (or 6, or 6.30) before I stop being a commuter and start frolicking about in geysers and lagoons and volcanoes. Eating very fishy pickled things, black pudding, and maybe even giving fermented shark a go. We’ll see. On October 7th, I am heading to the picturesque and rather chilly city of Reykjavik, Iceland, where I'll be helping out with their annual music festival, the Iceland Airwaves.  I am volunteering my services to wherever they're most needed, be it aiding in the setup of a venue before a gig, taking tickets, directing music lovers where to go, or lending my fairly adequate muscles to the security team. Although I don't know many of the bands on the line up, I'm pretty certain this is going to be a ridiculously fun experience, not to mention a chance to improve on my Icelandic music knowledge; despite a horde of American and European bands featuring on the bill, a great many of the bands are local or hail from Scandinavia.

The festival is already completely sold out, and, judging from their website and twitter feed, the organisers are expecting to welcome a host of festival fans and music lovers from around the globe. Despite never hearing about Iceland Airwaves before, after doing a bit of research I've discovered that it's a veritable smorgasbord for new music, of both the Icelandic and international variety. There will be industry bigwigs and journalists thronging to the various venues in the hope of discovering a new sound or hidden talent. Since 1999, when the festival first began (in an airplane hanger, no less) it has moved from strength to strength - their only disappointment to fans this year was the news that Sigur Ros, arguably Iceland's most famed musical export, will be unable to perform. Luckily this is tempered by the fact that Bjork (the other side of the argument for Iceland's greatest musical act) will be playing a set of six special live shows at Reykjavik's Festival Hall to coincide with the festival dates, meaning visitors can indulge in her crazily eccentric antics during their time in Iceland.

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about this trip. The circumstances surrounding my first visit to the Arctic mean that instead of simply heading to the Blue Lagoon, Golden Circle and attempting to see the Northern Lights, I'm going to firmly ensconce myself in downtown Reykjavik for two weeks, in a shared house with other volunteers from around the world, and have the chance to gain an insider's knowledge to the country. Although I'm obviously going to be a total tourist, too. Who wouldn't want to see the Northern Lights?