Imagine Peace

Earlier on, I was looking for a brooch to wear on my jacket and I found this badge, that I got on holiday in Iceland, wedged at the side of the drawer. I originally had loads of them in different languages, but I gave them away to friends. I kept this one, mainly because it's in French, and I could pronounce it correctly, but also because of the softness of the words.


The trip on which I got this badge was an amazing one, taking in some of the most beautiful and unusual landscapes that I have ever seen. The Blue Lagoon was stunning, Þingvellir National Park, simply outstanding, Gullfloss, utterly breathtaking and the sight of the geysir Strokkur, shooting a jet of water metres into the air is one that will stay with me forever. The colourful houses and buildings that lit up a cold October were also a delight. On first sight, they had something of a temporary feel to them but on spotting '1901' on the outside of one house, I realised that, despite their ramshackle appeal, these buildings were able to stand the test of time.


After arriving on the first day, I went on a night boat to an island off Reykjavik to visit a peace tower built by Yoko Ono (not personally of course!) in memory of John Lennon. When I visited, it was in the run up to the 30th anniversary of his death and each night between his birthday and the anniversary of his death, a beam of light was projected up from the centre of the tower. As we walked up the hill to the tower, our guide Roland teased me about Scotland's footballing prowess (I obviously missed the time that Iceland won the World Cup.) and warned us of the killer sheep that roamed the hills. When we reached the tower, all of the people on the tip, and our guides, held hands in a giant circle around the column from where the beam of light was projected. In that moment, when people of different nationalities held hands, it was almost as if peace was being given a chance. One day, maybe...