Thursday, April 15, 2010

Empty Skies

Was it ever a consideration that this would happen?


Would the culprits be terrorists, sick on their latest campaign of mass murder for no reason at all?


Maybe the lack of fuel, the oil fields finally running dry for the flying gas guzzlers?


But no.


Instead it was a burp from a volcano tucked under the folds of the rather splendidly named Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland.  Well, if it wasn't the bank in Iceland ruining the UK economy then this stands good in terms of a second shot at it.  A blanket of ash, of grit and sand and volcano dregs lies above us.  If a plane flies through it then it is not a very good thing at all - think molten rocks clinging to engine innards, think stalling at 30,000' up, think nose-diving...well it is easy to colour in the picture from here.


So, Mother Nature wins again.  With all the earthquakes, tsunamis, volcano eruptions that have happened over the past few years perhaps this is a kick in the arse for humans.  If we think we are that powerful, that we can control the world then this is a reminder that with one little plume of dust we are nothing at all.