Connected (F1 Story)

Chapter Thirty Nine: Ice

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I couldn't believe how beautiful this country was. Someone could have said Iceland to me a couple of months ago and it wouldn't have had an affect on me at all. Perhaps frozen party food may have crossed my mind if I was particularly hungry. But now, every time I remembered where we were I would grin dramatically, resembling a small child who'd just met Santa Claus.

It was dusk in Reykjavik, the Icelandic capital, now as it still continued to snow heavily. Paul, Lizzie, Daniel and I were sat downstairs in the hotel lounge, watching as life continued normally outside.

One centimetre of snow in the United Kingdom and the whole country came to a standstill. 1 foot of snow in Iceland and the traffic flowed and airport, hotels and restaurants gave out free hot chocolate with a special little shortbread biscuit. Life was different here; it lacked that sense of urgency that everywhere on the Grand Prix calendar seemed to have.

In Iceland, you could properly unwind. If you chose not to dive with sharks...

Chatter filled the relatively small hotel space, mainly Scandinavian accents could be heard. The Australian men had parked themselves in prime location in front of the open wood burner. Daniel still had his ski jacket and woolly hat on. As a result, only his nose and brown eyes were poking out from beneath the many layers. I worried about him sometimes.

He was the only one in the room that was wearing more than a thin jumper. Lizzie and I were sweating like there was no tomorrow in t-shirts and leggings. No waterproof trousers for us Brits.

"So, tomorrow we get up and go lava tubing, and then drive to the volcano and do waterfalls en route...then we end the day with glacier walking and stay in Vik?" Lizzie stated for more of a conformation. Tomorrow we would head south east towards the volcano that caused havoc in Europe when it erupted a couple of years ago.

I had no problem pronouncing it, just cannot spell the volcano's name at all. All I can tell you is that it starts with an 'e'. I think.

"Buzzing my tits off for lava tubing!" Daniel said, his eyes gleaming as he took a sip of his second hot chocolate. Paul was unaware that Daniel had managed to sneak a second cup of heaven without him knowing. Crafty so and so.

"Yeah, we gotta be careful your Shakira hips don't get stuck," Paul snickered, throwing his head back in his chair. I mean it was mildly amusing but not that hilarious.

"Well you guys have fun whilst I'm minding the bags..." Lizzie said. Due to her being pregnant, she wasn't allowed to go tubing for obvious reasons. So, it was just me who was going to be stuck with the two Aussie boys in very tight spaces.

What could possibly go wrong?

Daniel placed a reassuring hand on Lizzie's shoulder. He was kind like that.

Then, Ricciardo's phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out from the midst of his trackie bottoms and grinned at the screen.

"Mum and dad love the photo we sent them," he declared, showing us the message that had come through from Perth. "Look, they printed the photo out of us and stuck it on their fridge."

"Woah!" I chuckled. "Is it next to the drawing you did of your sister when you were five?"

"Sure is!"

"Shit," Paul exclaimed. "They really do like that photo then!"

And Daniels parents were right to like it. We'd gotten a passer-by to snap a photo of us in front of the Blue Lagoon after we had been swimming and showered. By that time, there was a thick layer of white powder covering the ground making the setting magical. It may have been over a month until December 25th, but it sure felt Christmasy in Iceland.