Volcanic ash cloud

When it was reported that a volcanic

eruption on the island of Iceland was imminent somewhat naively, I didn’t stop to think

about the resulting ash cloud and it’s ramifications not least of all the

misery it would cause to hundreds of thousands of air travellers. Now reports

are emerging this week of local schools with as much as one fifth of their

teaching staff stranded by the ash cloud - Marlwood School had to shut it’s doors to the whole of year 7

yesterday as schools returned after the Easter break although the school was

open to all year groups today. The Castle school has faired better but counts

the headmistress as one of the casualities of the flight ban.  One local resident due to fly home from the Far East last Saturday has had his flight rescheduled for the 3rd May

with no guarantees of returning home even then. There is talk of other

residents travelling from one European destination to another in the hope of

getting home with others expecting a flight home from Amsterdam tonight, following

optimistic reports by KLM test flights yesterday and forecasts of a  ‘window of opportunity’ in the dispersing ash

cloud today, having had their hopes dashed and I’m told their ordeal continues.

Having set off to the airport on Saturday for their long anticipated visit to

Bristol,  Friendship Force Des Moines

Iowa, some of whom  were to be guests of Thornbury residents, took what

appears to be the very sensible decision to postpone their trip until later in

the year.

Reports that the situation is dynamic and

rapidly changing means a time of great uncertainty continues for those caught

up in the travel chaos and for those waiting for the safe return of friends,

relatives and neighbours. Forecasts of a change in wind direction for Friday,

however, may mean a reprieve as the Met Office reports that '‘even if there is a fresh volcanic eruption,

the ash cloud should not blow over the UK’ and many of those currently stranded, we can only hope, will finally get

home.