by 
A man from Yorkshire who spent more than a fair amount of his hard-earned cash on four nights in Reykjavík is now absolutely kicking himself.
Simon Williams, a retired staple manufacturer from Bradford, had hoped to see the famous northern lights before he died and so booked the trip for himself and his wife to mark his sixty-eighth birthday in January.
“When I used to hear people talking about ‘the northern lights’ I had always assumed they were talking about the Blackpool illuminations,” he told us.
“But then when we got t’internet in 2014, I had a quick search, and it turned out they were talking about these beautiful lights in the sky – the ‘areola boorish’ or somethin’.
“I added it to me bucket list there and then and started savin me pennies. If I’d have known I could have sat in me own bleedin’ back garden and watched ’em then obviously I would have done so and saved meself a load of money,” he bemoaned, staring glumly out of his lounge window at the hues of green, white and red dancing merrily across the Yorkshire night sky.
“It was cloudy every night we were in Iceland, so I didn’t see a thing, as it ‘appens.”
He added, “And you wouldn’t believe the cost of a pint out there, ee ba gum!”
According to reports, the Icelandic tourist board have expressed concern that if sightings of the Aurora Borealis become a regular occurrence in Britain, then tourism could now drop significantly, and so in an attempt to lure visitors, they are considering halving the price of alcohol to only twenty quid a pint.
