Akureyri, 12:43 am

The photo shows the lights of Akureyri in northern Iceland, seen from the eastern shore of Eyjafjörður.

Now you may ask why the photo is slightly blurred and the people look as ghosts. That’s because I took the photo with a 15-second exposure, resting the camera for stability on the rear-view mirror of a van (I don’t have a tripod).

You may also ask – and this is not an unreasonable question – what we were doing out in the open in northern Iceland on a winter night. We were looking for the northern lights.

Did we see the lights? Well, not tonight, although the skies over Akureyri were exceptionally clear. We saw the lights on Monday night outside Reykjavík, but it was overcast and the display was brief and faint.

I am in Iceland for four more days, and will keep you posted if I see anything more dramatic. In any event, I can’t help feeling that standing around in the open in subzero temperatures, often in strong winds and snow, craning my neck at the night sky looking for something elusive and fleeting, will – as Calvin’s father would say – help build character.