Eyjafjallajökulla in Iceland, the active glacier and volcano that is erupting in Iceland and causing travel chaos. Photo by Robert Corkery.
All across Europe yesterday and today, flights are canceled. Some friends were supposed to go to London today for a long weekend and can not, while another is stuck in London and three more are stuck in Como – there are worse places to be! Others have opted to take the train home. And it’s all thanks to a volcano erupting in Iceland under a glacier in the Eyjafjallajökulla area.
The volcano Hekla on Iceland. Photo by Robert Corkery.
A plume of ash has caused the air space across Northern Europe – from Britain and Ireland to Scandinavia and the Netherlands – to be closed. The fear is that the ash will damage plane engines. Stockholm’s Arlanda shut down at 6 last night and remains closed this morning. I was just looking out the window this morning and thought I must be seeing bits of ash coming down. But no, it is large fat flakes of snow mixed in with the rain. Of course.
As a former geologist, Robert is dying to go to Iceland to see the action. I am thinking that it’s good that flights are canceled.
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I agree, after recent inflight dramas, it is good that the planes are grounded, as Robert would be there in a flash.
I am sitting here in my office at Arlanda, looking out over the entire airport, and there is not one plane landing or taking off… eerie…
Wow Sharon, that is fascinating. It must feel totally strange to not see anything taking off. Thanks for sharing.
Kylie, You can just imagine how much he wants to be there!
Che bella la photo!!
This is really stressing me out. Our big move to Sweden is next week! And the pets’ paperwork expires in eight days!
I am like Robert and am fascinated by volcanoes. I remember when el Reventador erupted while living in Ecuador and not being able to fly back to Quito from Caracas. Ended up staying in Bogota and eventually flying into Guayaquil and taking a bus in the middle of the night from there to Quito with an Otavalan woman I met along the way. Her husband picked us up and it was like we entered a sci-fi film: everything was coated with grayish ash/ceniza (which was still floating in the air) and we had to wear masks and cover ourselves if we went outside. To top it off, we had a week’s worth of “volcano days” from school!
That’s a great story Kezia. I remember when you had the volcano days. Thanks for sharing!
Oh my! I hope that things can work out for you Antropologa. That certainly adds a lot of stress to the big move
It was good to remember that time and recall the “take life as it comes” attitude that evolves with living in an unpredictable environment. Yes, people are being thrown off schedule and needing to re-route (I have friends in the same boat); but, this is a small inconvenience in the grand scheme of life…
Oh, Antropologa — hang in there! It will all work out fine… (I’m Sandy’s cousin)
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