"The weather was perfect, sunny and still, and the streets were teeming with shoppers. On fine days like this boozers and vagrants gathered to lounge on the benches in the [Austurvöllur] square, knocking back meths, illegally distilled spirits with a variety of mixers, or cardamom extract, basking in the warmth and bickering among themselves or shouting insults at passers-by."
(extract from "Reykjavik Nights" by Arnaldur Indridason)