This is Rúf English Radio with Darin Adam, daily English language radio from Iceland's national broadcaster, Rúf.Hello, this is Rúf English Radio. I'm Darin Adam. Thanks very much for your company today.It's time for a new episode of Þáttskulíð, the news in a simple form of Icelandic.And Bjarni is here. Hi.Hi, god dag.We're both struggling with the cold though today.Well, autumn is here and school has started.School has started, all the germs are kicking around, but we're going to struggle on, aren't we?Yes, absolutely.To bring you the news in a simple form of Icelandic.And never mind autumn, it feels like winter is here because a story from last week showing that snow is falling already in the highlands of Iceland.A little bit early even for this part of the country.So what we will do is we will start our text under the photograph or photographs.Indeed.Of the snow having fallen on the highlands.You can follow along with the text, of course.They will link to that on the page accompanying the show from Rúf English Radio.And we'll go through this from the start and then line by line.So, as ever, take it away, Bjarni.Já, takk fyrir.Það snjóði mjög mikið í eldgjá á hálendinu í gær.Sif Arnardóttir er landvörður.Landvörður er manneskja sem passar upp á náttúruna.Sif sagði ferðamennum að snúa við.Þetta voru ferðamenn á bílum sem eru ekki fyrir snjó.Ferðamenninir sáu ekki vegin.Vegurinn var fullur af snjó.Það snjóði minna í landmannalaugum heldur enn í eldgjá.Snjórin er byrjaður að bráðna í dag.Fólk á góðum bílum.Bílum komst áfram.Þetta fólk er vant að keira í snjó.Sif hitti fólk frá Noregi.Fólki sagði það var ekkert mála að keira.Sif segir það snjóar stundum í september.En það snjóar venjulega ekki svona mikið.Sif segir þetta var svolítið skrítið.Og það er að það.Við þáum það í þessu læn.Það snjóði mjög mikið í eldgjá á hálendinu í gær.So there was a lot of snow coming down in eldgjá in the highlands yesterday.And this is in the southern part.Exactly.Well you could almost say southeast.Southeast, yeah.Because it's east of the famous Eyjafjallajökull that eruptedand Myrdalsjökull, the even bigger one with Katla volcano in the middle.That's the far south.And then it's like on the east side of that you could say.You have eldgjá, the very beautiful area.But yeah, can also get a bit extreme in weatherbecause you're heading up and into the highlands.So they had a lot of snow pouring down yesterday.Sif Arnardóttir er landvörður.And Mrs. Sif Arnardóttir.Sif Arnardóttir, Sisa.We would call it a ranger.Ranger, yeah.We call it exactly guardian of the land.So landvörður.And that exactly is the formal name of people working mostly in the highlandsbut also in the national parks, etc.To keep track on things and help people and so on.Landvörður er manneskja sem passar upp á náttúruna.So a ranger is a...A person that takes care or looks after nature.Sif sagði færðamönnum að snúa við.And Sif, she told the tourists to turn around, not go any further.Þetta voru færðamenn á bílum sem eru ekki fyrir snjó.Those were some tourists on cars that are not equipped for snow.And we're getting very close to the end of the periodwhere you can drive...Where you can drive on these roads anyway.Exactly.Because normally those roads close totally.Never mind what type of car or jeep or what do you have.Yes.It's simply just closed.For about nine months of the year.Yeah, you could estimate that.So this is...We are getting into the last stages for this summer or autumn.And of course this can happen.Weather conditions like always unpredictable.So...And...And then of course if people just rented a car in September, you know,you wouldn't ask for a specifically snow conditionsbecause you shouldn't maybe expect all that yet.So that was not at all strange that some poor tourists were trying to get there.And maybe in quite a basic 4x4,maybe in a vehicle that's not, you know,especially well equipped for these roads, for these F-roads.Exactly.Yeah.And also just the overall conditions like our next sentence.Yes.Færða mennir sáu ekki vegin.The tourists simply they couldn't see the roadbecause often those roads, the F-roads, exactly like we call them.Fjallvegur.Yeah, fjallvegur or mountain road.They aren't...They are almost like a part of the landscape.It's just like a track.So if you get snow on that and you don't know where you're heading,it can really get easily...It can be dangerous that you don't really know where to go.It's a shame to say I've never actually been on one of the F-roads.I keep planning to do it during the summer and maybe take,I think it's F35, which is the road, one of the sort of the easier ones.Yeah, that's Kjörlur.It takes you from the south to the north.And then of course there's Sprengisandur also, heading north-south.Do these roads have the yellow poles on the side of the road?Because I know the main roads around Iceland doand they're very useful if you're stuck in a...Yeah, not all...No, I've...Well, it has been a while since I went up there.Yes.But no, after a certain...When you like leave, what would you say?Like when you leave the formal area,when you really head into the wildlife, you could say,then that stops also.So therefore you need to have a very good guideor very good visibility and so onand not just all covered in snow.Like they just happened there.That's true, indeed.Vegurinn var fullur af snjó.So the road was simply, well, full of snow,meaning that it was covered so you couldn't see the differencebetween the landscape and the track or the road itself.Það snjóði minna í landmannalaugum heldur enn í eldgjá.Another very famous place is Landmannalaugar,the hot springs exactly north of the big glacier Myrtalsjökull.So this is a little bit to the west from Eldgjáand there they had snow also, but not as much as in Eldgjá.Snjóðin er byrjaður að bráðna í dagand then already, because it's not yet totally winter,the snow started to melt already the day after.Fólk á góðum bílum komst áfram.People driving good cars,meaning with old...all equipment, correct equipment,could go through.Þetta fólk er vant að keira í snjó.And this, of course, is another point.It's not only if you have a car with everything,four by four and everything needed,you also need experience.It's, of course, very good to have also.And the people that could go through,they were experienced, vant að keira í snjó.Sif hitti fólk frá Noregiand she met some people from Norwayand that people said, fólki sagði,það var ekkert mál að keira.And they said simply there was no problem at all to drive.So that, of course, and understandably,it's from where you come from,how used are you to...There can be all kinds of conditions,driving in severe heat versus driving in snowand all between.So...So there, being from Norway, was an asset.It was a head start, wasn't it?Sif segir, það snjóar stundum í septemberand she says, yes, it snows a few times in Septemberen það snjóar venjulega ekki svona mikiðbut normally it doesn't snow this much.Og Sif segir, and she says finally,þetta var svólítið skrítið.This was a bit odd.Well, maybe by the time,you hear this conversation,it will have snowed again.Who knows?Who knows?Who knows?Of course, well, we know that nature is unpredictableand in later years even more than beforeor not in the same pattern as we saw and so on.So therefore, always and even more importantto check the forecast and check the conditionsand all those things.Yes.I don't think it's the first snow of the year, though,because a couple of weeks ago in Akureyri,the hills around that town,were dusted with a little bit of snowand we can probably say that that was the first snow of the season.That was maybe even in August, actually.Yes, yeah.And of course, yeah, the tops of the mountains start,yeah, and normally nobody is driving there, luckily.No, not to the top of the mountain, no.No, but there, exactly, I'm not sure of how many metres we were.They're in Eldgjá, still quite a lot,but not on a real mountainand therefore they were,they're a bit surprised.Well, the further inland you go, the colder it isand the less you've got the benefit, I suppose,of the water and the coast.No, no, exactly, and you're always going upwards also,inlands and upwards.Absolutely.Okay, Bjarni, thanks very much indeed.We'll talk again next week,another episode of Óðis Gleith coming up thenfrom Rúf English Radio.My name's Darren Adamand you can get in touch anytime.We're english at ruv.is.There is more from Rúf Englishwith all the news from Iceland in Englishat ruv.is slash english.Rúf English Radio is a daily English language radiofrom Iceland's national broadcaster, Rúf.
