ashes to ashes

Who would have thought a week ago that a volcano could cause

* > 100000 Belgians that can't return home from there Easter vacation ...causing absences in companies & schools tomorrow
* tour operators organising "air bridges" to Spain from which several dozens of coaches are now scheduled to pick up tourists
* car rental company find their cars scattered over Europe since who has a car drives it across the continent to get home (often renting out the spare spaces )
* taxi drivers get the rides of their life with trips to Vienna, Oslo & Milan for a few thousand euro
* ferries are fully booked and remarkably all cars have 4-5 passengers :p
* organ donor lists being reshuffled to give organs now on a "nearby" base priority
* cycling tours need special permission to get a helicopter in the air to film & broadcast the images
* a Polish state funeral for the victims of a plane crash cannot be attended by other state officials since they fear...a plane crash (hmm wouldn't the Polish have wished this volcano started a week earlier?? how ironic is this?).
* all cargo companies have sent their people 4 days ago home already on 'technical unemployment'.



These are strange times but seriously, it's so quiet outside! And I don't think I've ever seen a blue sky without lines from the airplanes in it. I have never realized air traffic was so auditive & visible! It really is. It's strange outside.
And I'm also amazed by the number of people that I know that are affected by this. So many flying people. wow. I wonder if there will be colleagues absent tomorrow.

Comments

Carol said…
Aleks is stuck in Milan and is trying like crazy to get back to Prague. Looks like he's booked on a series of trains starting tomorrow night -- 24+ hours of travel (and a cleaned out bank account... sigh) for a few hundred miles!

Weird stuff, indeed.

Carol
Korie said…
One of CB's friends is stuck in NYC.
zusjesenzo said…
Straf hè. Onze directrice zit ook vast op vakantie, en de directeur van een school vlakbij ook. Ik wou dat ik ook ergens had vastgezeten... mijn vakantie had best wat langer mogen duren.
Brian Miller said…
wow. its all craziness...wonder what is to come next? i was traveling when they shut down air travel on 9/11...had to get a rental car to drice home...

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