Bragi Ólafsson - The Ambassador

It is made from particularly durable material, 100 % cotton yet feels waxy to the touch. And the seams will last a lifetime. The exterior is like a laminated dust jacketsomething youll appreciate, being a poetwhich makes the item totally waterproof, the perfect design for the weather in this country, or, to put it more accurately, any country where you cant take the weather for granted. Even when a day begins without a cloud in the sky, you cant guarantee that dust and dirt are the only things thatll have fallen on you by the time night comes. The color, too, is a key attraction: it doesnt garishly call attention to itself yet is likely to invite quiet admiration, even perhapsthough of course one shouldnt think such thoughtsenvy. The fact that it was made in Italy is insurance against the price one would have to pay for it, a price thatd clean out your pockets, as the saying goes.

And, on the subject of pockets, one of the nifty little inside pockets is made-to-measure for a cell phone. Or for a cigarette packet, if perhaps the owner doesnt use a cell phone and is instead one of those few stubborn people out of every hundred who smokes, who dont care about smokings effect on their health. The other inside pocket is also worth mentioning: small, designed perhaps for a wallet, it contains a small, dark blue, velvet bag (thats one of the things that makes this item unique, a bag made from velvet) and in this charming little bag, which you draw closed with a yellow silk cord, are two spare buttons, for the unlikely event that the owner managed to lose the originals and had to replace them. But theres little danger of that happening, since the stitching is, as was mentioned earlier, guaranteed to last a lifetime.

With these words or something along these lines the salesperson in the coat department of the mens clothing store on Bankastrti describes the English-style Aquascutum overcoat to Sturla Jn. Sturla had decided to buy this coat a long time ago; hed even re-ordered it after it sold out. The sales attendant has no idea Sturla Jn had made the order Sturla hadnt spoken to this employee, who seems to be new, before. So it takes Sturla pleasantly by surprise that the sales attendant recognizes him, though perhaps Sturla should have expected that a person whose job involves paying close attention to clothes might also pay close attention to the people wearing those clothes. On the other hand, its possible another employee had pointed out, when Sturla entered the store, that this was Sturla Jn the poet, maybe adding: you know, the one who published that book, free from freedom.

Sturla had first set eyes on the overcoat in the store back in February. At that time it had been too bitterly cold and stormy for him to justify buying an unlined overcoat, even if he could have afforded it. And when he remembered to take another look at the overcoat later, in June, when there was a marked difference in his financial outlook, the three or four coats that were there before had disappeared from their hangers; theyd all been sold.

There was a guy in here the other day who must have tried on every single suit in the shop, the sales attendant is saying. Sturla isnt sure how to react to this information. Perhaps you know him, continues the man. I think hes a painter, or some sort of artist.

Did he buy anything? Sturla asks.

Im an artist myself, as it happens, the sales attendant adds, doing his best to sound nonchalant. Sturla repeats the question.

He couldnt find anything that suited his style, answers the sales attendant, smiling. We dont have anything in stock that comes with dried mustard on the lapels.

Sturla is surprised to hear a young man like the one standing in front of him use a word like lapels.

The jacket he was wearing had a crusty old stain on it, the sales attendant offers by way of further explanation. When he describes how the customers mustache was like Adolf Hitlers and adds that it had been difficult at first to tell whether the yellow of the customers shirt was the original color or a color the shirt had acquired over time, Sturla is fairly certain that the customer was N. Pietur, the visual artist and composer, an old friend of his father. He begins to wonder whether it is appropriate for a sales attendant in a store of this caliber to gossip about other customers. When the attendant adds that, naturally, it isnt just anyone who buys such expensive and elegant clothes, referring to the range of clothes in the store, Sturla is convinced that if anyone should be allowed to sound-off to a complete stranger about the delicate relationship between employee and customer, in which one person offers another merchandise and that other person has to accept or reject those items, then it should be the customer, not the salesman. Sturla reckons it isnt a great idea for this young employee to be talking to a potential customer about interactions hed had with a different customer, even if or precisely because the former customer hadnt bought anything, despite having asked the salesman to go to a lot of trouble.

His thoughtlessness notwithstanding, the salesman was right to suggest not everyone could afford the clothing this store sells, especially the item Sturla has his eye on. Youd have to say this Italian-made, English-style overcoat is expensive or, more accurately, over-expensive. But many years ago Sturla Jn, who made it a rule not to spend much money on clothes, had seen a coat like this, somewhere between a mackintosh and a trench coat, and it had occurred to him that, just this once, he should break his usual clothes-shopping habits. So hed set himself the goal of acquiring the overcoat, almost regardless of the price: the goal of allowing himself, this one time, to buy something expensive, something he knew would afford him more pleasure to wear than the other clothes he owned, clothes which cost no more than they had to.

And as Sturla declares that he is going to take the overcoat, he realizes he is wearing a broad smile on his face the smile of a man at peace, he thinks, but then he worries it might come across to others as though he is uncontrollably proud of himself, like a child or teenager who is about to fulfill his wildest ambition. Ill take this one, he says decisively, trying to wipe the smile from his face. The salesman nods gravely, as if an important decision has been reached by all, and says, Good choice.