I´m born on the 14th of February. I didn´t know it was Valentine´s day until my early twenties when the Icelandic market realized its potential selling point. How nice it is to celebrate my birthday on the most romantic day of the year and, simultaneously, how strange it sounds to define this day as the most romantic one. Well, romantic or not, all decent restaurants in Reykjavik are fully booked on this day, flowers are bought like there´s an imminent shortage coming up, and heart-shaped chocolate sells like there´s no tomorrow. It feels good to be born on the day of lovers, especially when I tell a girl and she responds with a pleasant surprise. Maybe I can construct a nice pick up line out of this. In addition, I have the same name as a Roman God – Janus, the God of beginnings and transitions (sounds like falling in love). I only need to add a “tic” to that: “Hi, my name is Janus, the Roman(tic) God, born on the 14th of February.” Can any woman resist?
Okay, okay… stop with the vanity.
My birthday is on the fourteenth day of the second month of the year which sometimes transcribes to 14-2, or vice versa 2-14, depending on where in the world you´re situated. The numbers 14 and 2 put together as 14-2 is marked in Iceland´s history. Ask any Icelandic football fan and he/she will tell you that this was the scoreline in the match between Denmark and Iceland in 1967; Iceland´s biggest defeat and Denmark´s biggest win. Of course the humiliating defeat had to be against the former colonizer, Denmark, the country I was born in, to an Icelandic mother and a Danish father. Kind of a sarcastic birthday for a half-Icelandic and half Danish football fan.
Some might find it hard to believe but Iceland has quite a decent football team today. A team that won´t lose 14-2 to any team in the world, not even to the hosts, Brazil, in the opening game of the World Cup. Croatia played that game and lost 3-1. I watched the game with great reluctance because Croatia were in Brazil on Iceland´s expense. We were so close to making it to the World Cup for the first time, but unfortunately lost to Croatia in the knockout stages, 2-0 on aggregate. Defeats are not always measured in numbers. The loss against Croatia is the toughest so far.
Welcome the unexpected 