Tales From Yester-Year by David Bevan (1955)

"Hair-raising"

It was a boisterous evening. Unremitting rain was being driven horizontally across the bleak landscape. The howling wind found every little crevice and aperture in the building. Inside though was my refuge – it was usually cosy and always snug, and every morning and every evening, in fact everyday, I hand-milked 14 cows.

This particular evening, treacherous as the weather was - there was an almost dreamlike quality of luminosity striking through the windows. This, after all, was ‘The Land of the Midnight Sun’.

There probably was a touch of surrealism too on that evening, especially when two beautiful blonde Icelandic girls entered my little refuge. After all, I was only a teenager! Clutching a billy-can in their hands, they proceeded to ask me in faltering English, if I could fill it up. So, taking their billy-can, I walked to the end of the building and on into the dairy, proceeding to fill the billy-can up with milk. "No, no, no" they cried, "we want some belja vatn." My knowledge of the Icelandic language at this stage was very limited and this of course put me at a disadvantage. But when a cow, tail in air, started gushing forth, the girls started gesticulating wildly and pointing to the cow!

That evening I had acquired an additional task. To an onlooker though, it must have been hilarious! Every time a cow lifted its tail, I grabbed the billy-can, endeavoring to the very best of my abilities to deliver as good a measure as the two girls had requested.

Nowadays, conditioner is usually used after shampoo has been rinsed out of ones hair. However, this was 1955, and in Iceland. Had there not been this look of total disbelief written across my face, I probably would never have known what it was going to be used for.

"Come" they said, "you will help us rinse our hair." Meekly I followed.