What time do you wake up in the morning?
“7:30, though if it were entirely up to me, I’d push it a little later. I do think of myself as a morning person, but some of society’s rigid schedules feel a touch extreme.”
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
“Usually I wake my daughter up if she hasn’t already stirred. Then it’s a small daily mission — she walks to school with her best friend, and more often than not she keeps him waiting. If he’s late for class, it’s always her fault, so we parents tend to stand around quietly hoping for the best.”
On a scale from 0 to 10, how humorous are you?
“I’m so glad you asked. I once came across a critique in Viðpispablaðir where someone called me either boring or humorless — possibly both. I don’t think I’ve ever felt quite so personally attacked. In my own estimation I’m a fairly cheerful person; I’m cracking jokes throughout the day. I was, for example, once voted the funniest girl in Gaggó Mos. Do we need more witnesses? I’m going with a solid 10.”
Halla’s approach to organization swings wildly. At times, her planner and to-do lists shine in their clarity, while at other moments, she utterly forgets their existence. Thankfully, her excellent colleagues are there to steer her back on course, and it never ceases to amaze her how plans seem to take shape, despite her lapses in memory.
What project occupies your thoughts these days?
“As the chairman of a trade union, inflation and policy rates are always on my radar. The economic climate has a real effect on our members’ day-to-day lives at VR. Lately we’ve been looking closely at energy prices, particularly after Veitur’s erratic tariff hikes in December.
We just launched a podcast called H for Economics, where Ásgeir Brynjar Torfason, the editor of Vísbendingar, and I talk through core economic concepts and what they actually mean for people. We’re keen to bring in interesting guests, and the hope is that the conversations land with ordinary listeners.
We’re also pushing hard against the rise in preschool fees and the changes to preschool services in Reykjavík. More and more, municipalities are offloading early childhood burdens onto working parents, and we think there are fairer ways to handle this.”
How do you maintain organization at work?
“Some days I’m very on top of it — planner open, to-do lists ticked. Other days those lists might as well not exist, and the day just does what it wants.
I’m lucky to work with people who are genuinely well-organised and who quietly pull me back on track when I start to drift. It’s actually a bit remarkable how things come together even when the plan has more or less evaporated from my memory — a bit like New Year’s resolutions living somewhere in the subconscious.”
What time do you typically go to bed?
“Somewhere between eleven and twelve-thirty, it varies. I remember Vigdís Finnbogadóttir saying in an interview that she made a point of going to bed early one night a week so she could justify staying up late on the others. That stuck with me.
I like winding down with a book, something on screen, a conversation, or just scrolling and doing a puzzle on the NYT app — Pips is worth trying, by the way. Midnight would be the ideal target, though actually sticking to it is another matter entirely.”
