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How to baptise children

As the good agnostic I am, me and Ásta had our little daughter baptised on the 29^th of October. Wanting to play it safe with the deities I suggested the baptism to be held on the land of the man who decided Icelanders should become Christian 1000 years ago. This land is in the north near my hometown. The man, Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði was the pagan chieftain of the area during the Viking era and had the task of settling the dispute if Icelanders should become Christian or remain pagan, holding on to such characters as Óðinn, Þór, Týr, Loki and such like. He was a diplomat and decided in principal we should become Christian but in fact one could as one pleased. This went well with Icelanders 1000 years ago and on the 29^th of October 2005 Karen Ásta was baptised, but with a nod to the Norse gods. The trouble is this plan of mine did not seem to go down to well with the ruler(s) of the universe.

The family set out on the Wednesday prior, i.e. the 26^th of October to have a few days of R&R in Akureyri prior to the baptism. We set out in our small Nissan Almera sports car with the aim of beating a tremendous storm that seemed to be brewing somewhere south of Iceland. We had lovely days in Akureyri and waited for the Friday when the main bulk of people was to arrive from Reykjavík, either by aeroplane or coach. But as predicted the storm hit Iceland full force on that very Friday. All domestic flights were cancelled that day and the coach only left late in the evening arriving 3 am in Akureyri with the bedraggled mother of Ásta and a couple of nieces. As this storm was not to die down until midday the following day I called up the priest and had him postpone the baptism till five in the afternoon, mainly as by then we expected the mountain pass, over which we had to go to get to the church to be cleared. To be on the safe side we had rented a 15 person Econoliner van, a 4x4 vehicle raised up and especially equipped to deal with bad conditions. Having driven many jeep under all sorts of conditions I was the designated driver. The next day, the day of the baptism, the weather was fine, in Akureyri that is, but further out in the fjord the blizzard raged and the mountain pass remained closed and the twin propeller Fokker Friendship planes of Air Iceland were grounded still. But by 3pm the weather cleared sufficiently do get aeroplanes through and although most of the people had by then cancelled, my uncle Jacques, who had come from Trondheim, Norway for this event only and stopping for 3 days, managed to get on a plane and get to Akureyri. His arrival was at 4 pm and as the baptism was to start at 5 and the church was an hours drive away, he sure made it in the last minute. Nonetheless the mountainpass was still closed, so we made a trip around the mountain on rather bad roads in the big van and just made it by 5pm. The baptism went smooth and both Karen and Steinarr were baptised and after that we had coffee and drove back home for dinner in casa Huijbens.

One would think after the ordeal and stress of getting everyone there under very hairy weather conditions we were in the clear, but that was not the case. The next day on Sunday the plan was for everybody to go back home. Some went on the coach at 3pm, but others by plane and the family packed up the small Nissan for another winter drive to Reykjavík. But the low pressure area responsible for the storm on Friday and surely sent by the gods was not about to go anywhere. It had cooled of for some 24 hours from Saturday afternoon till Sunday afternoon and as we hit the road the weather was acting up again. I chequed and double chequed the forecast and the road conditions on the internet and decided it was ok. The planes were flying all that day and the coach company had not postponed or cancelled their trips. We drove.

As we were more or less mid way that lingering low pressure area made its presence felt. As we were about to reach the village of Hvammstangi, or the road thereto, the wind reached gale force and a blizzard hit. The view from the car was less than 20 metres and cars inched their way along bumper to bumper at very low speeds. I was the second in the line. Suddenly the first car stopped and the man came out and barely making it to my car he asked me to lead. So I did for about a 100 metres when I got stuck in a snow drift. For one hour we sat there as ice piled onto the car and my wipers failed. I called 112 and they said the rescue brigades were on the way and I was not alone. After the hour many men in overalls had come from cars stuck behind me and wanted to get out of the snow so we could carry on with inching along the road. They thought all this was my fault, the stupid guy in the Nissan sportscar holding everyone up, but the fact is everyone was stuck and several had actually been blown of the road. Anyway the pushed me free and I inched on another 100m where I came to the bumper of another car. We sat there for an hour when I caught someone scuttling past in the storm. That man said at least a 100 cars were in front of me. I started to realise the gravity of the situation, during my time in the rescue brigades we had been called to rescue people stranded in cars and there were never more than 10, but still the operations took hours. Here we had at least a hundred and last time something like this happened was in the year 2000 where over 2000 people had to be rescued from the mountains near Reykjavík when a freak storm hit those going to see the eruption in mount Hekla. Rescuing those 2000 took over 24 hours, i.e. the last to be rescued had sat in their cars for over 24 hours. We could be stuck there for some time. Ok could be worse…

Naturally it got worse. The car’s ventilation and heating had been slowly but surely icing up. Shortly after reaching the car in front of me the heating finally broke down and no air was being blown into the car, neither hot or cold, but as the ice storm raged outside the temperature in the car quickly sought equilibrium to the one outside. It was time for action a 13 year old, a 4 month old, me and Ásta in a freezing car and could have to stay there for several hours. I decided to go outside. I put on everything I had, which was ok, but I had no protecting trousers and no hat. I got out of my car and hung on to the bonnet inching my way to the car in front, it was like being hit by a volley of ice needles, my hair and ear immediately froze up and as I could not hold on to the bonnet of my car getting over to the other car I was blown to the side of the road where snow had piled up and had to crawl along that and the snow that had accumulated on the lee side of the car in front in order to get into it. I got there and pulled the door open and guess what therein was a good friend of mine from Akureyri all alone in a car with a functioning ventilation and hot air. I hurried back to my car and made the family ready we had to get over there. First I took Steinarr. I told him he had to simply led go, let the wind blow him on the ice towards the snow on the other side of the road and crawl along there and then up the ridge that had formed on the lee side of the car in front. Naturally I went with him and then back again. Each return to my car meant some 15 minutes of gathering strength as the ice shower literally knocked the wind out of you. Then it was to get Ásta and the baby over. We strapped Karen on the front of Ásta and roped a blanket over her and out we went. We had to go the same way and thankfully it went very well and finally we were all in the car in front. I will freely admit that transferring Ásta and my little girl between the cars in these conditions was the scariest thing I have ever done, me I knew would be ok and Ásta too, but nothing and I truly mean nothing could happen to Karen, I shudder at the mere thought of the infinite potential accidents on this short route.

With the relief of getting all safely into another car, with my good friend I filled two ½ litre plastic bottles with pee and started to try and dry myself as I was by then soaked to the bone. In that car we sat for 5 hours till a snow mobile from the rescue brigades came to pick us up. We were among the last to be rescued and we were transferred to the community centre at the village of Hvammstangi. Most of the people had been brought to another village nearby and most of the relief work was being concentrated there so when we arrived there was not much to be had. I was still soaked and had become hypo thermic with a body temperature of 35,5° still we had to sort out our sleeping and I got a room in the basement for us with 3 thin mattresses and 2 duvets. Steinarr got one Ásta and me shared the other, but Karen was sorted in a carriage and all with her own duvet which we pulled out with us. Needless to say I shivered through the night and it was not till lunch the next day I was back to normal, but being cold is not so bad and could function allright. My role for the following day was to keep the children occupied.

That day the weather was the same a raging blissard and ice storm and not until evening did conditions improve, at least in the village. I went with the rescue brigades to retrieve the car. We reached the cars and the weather there was still as bad, but this time I had borrowed good gear and was fine. We pulled out several cars and watched a couple literally blown of the road until we finally reached mine. Mine, as everyone elses had its bonnet filled with snow which was like concrete. We had to hack our way to the air intake and fan belt and free those before attempting to start the car. Naturally I needed a jump start but the car did start, much to my surprise and I drove under escort to the village where I tried to mend what I could and unthaw the car. We staid another night in the community home this time with proper mattresses and duvets in a warm room. The relief was immense, I had a few friends amongst those who had got stuck and they were now in the village as the two relief centres had been joined. We managed to get the local publican to open up and sell us a few beers as we were now in the clear.

The day after we drove home to Reykjavík in fair conditions, but as we came into the city I stopped at the Volvo dealership and bought a brand new Volvo station V50. If I was going to be stuck again like that, I want a car that works and we do not run the risk of freezing to death while waiting to be rescued. Next time there might not be an empty car next in front. Why Volvo then, well one of the cars we pulled out was a Volvo and the owner sat in it after we dug it out, started it and drove off. There was nothing wrong with it, nothing. It could take the ice storm, while as almost all other types broke down in some way. I also made another promise to myself. My mountain gear would always be with me in the car from now on!

Baptising children is always an occasion, but if you want to remember it for the rest of your life do them in Iceland, during winter.