When Nature unleashes...

I see that America has declared war on Iceland. Apparently they are accusing them of harbouring a “weapon of ash eruption”, courtesy, Ten of the best Iceland volcano jokes.

If you've been remotely abreast with the latest news, you know by now that the Eyjafjallajokull volcano of Iceland erupted last week, and while it only spewed ash high up into the air and thankfully did nothing fatal to anyone (we'll talk about the repercussions of the glacier it is melting sometime later), it did disrupt the entire European airspace for about a week.. While I am currently not traveling any place, sometimes I wonder if the chaos caused by nature need be compensated by the poor airline companies who've lost billions in canceled flights and stuff, as is. On the other hand, unless you're stuck in some remote location with no civilization, I am not sure it would be too boorish of me to question if people really have to camp at the airport inconveniencing themselves and others rather than extend their stay (yes yes it adds to the expense of the trip and everything, but big picture, people!) and find a cheap hotel or something. Asking for reimbursement on canceled flights is one thing but asking for accommodation compensation is taking it to ridiculous heights. After all, it is a natural disaster. And considering the suddenly escalated number of airplane crashes over the past year, it comes as little surprise that the airspace control is playing it safe. If there's one crash in the scheme of things, guess who gets blamed once more? Really for them, it is damned if they do and damned if they don't.

On a lighter note, how does it affect me?

1. The Indian store is sort of barren and pathetic looking this week. No fresh mounds of kothamalli, no kariverpulai or pachai milagai. None of the fresh produce has arrived. Everything's probably sitting elsewhere and rotting. I heard they have a very fishy situation in the UK. The stench of rotting fish has taken over Heathrow's storage central. Which begs the question.. couldn't they just sell this stuff to the local markets or something? I am sure there's a million import/export formalities, embargo and what not to limits I can't fathom... but most times, simple is better.

2. The professors are all here. Well, it is vacances scolaire (the 2 week break for students (which unfortunately doesn't include PhDs) every 2 months - yes yes, become a student in France) and so normally the professors stack up the work on us and vanish for the vacation. But thanks to canceled flights, everyone's here.

3. Tickets are skyrocketing and the railways are overcrowded. Maybe because of the current dip in the flights, any place you look to travel, the tickets are sky-high priced. Besides the fact that the train stations are overflowing with stranded passengers trying to find some way out of this damned Paris they got into. Funny how a week-long "dream" vacation to Paris (or any other place) can become a nightmare if extended by another week....

Enough said.

PS: Happy Earth Day! And let us hope Mother Earth settles down and doesn't unleash any more wrath on us. But I suppose, it's a give and take policy. Let's save the Earth and she'll save us. :)