I am in the last leg of a trip affected by the eruption of that volcano with the unpronounceable (and unrememberable) name in Iceland (I refuse to even try to remember how to spell it).
The more people I talk to, the higher the number of people I know who were affected by it – not always in a bad way.
My trip was delayed by a week, and thus shortened by a week. That made everything a lot more hectic, both while waiting to leave in Brussels and once I got to Houston. I ended up ‘attending’ the scheduled meetings on the phone even though they occurred in the evening in Brussels.
On the positive side, David was stranded in Frankfurt by the same “no fly” ban that had me stranded and decided to join me in Brussels, so we were able to reconnect after not seeing each other for 8 years. I also met Jenn, who stopped for a night on her way back to York. David is an excellent cook and when he was tired of writing his dissertation, he would prepare a really nice evening meal for us, so that I had home cooked dinners for a week. David, you are welcome anytime!
My sister was stuck in Houston, without a way back, without a husband, who could fly to Canada, and without a hotel room. Fortunately, all this happened on the day that I was supposed to arrive in Houston, so one “O” became another “O” and she took advantage of my reservation – she was impressed by the service, and the room – I am a ‘gold’ member of the hotel and get preferential treatment. I believe Michel described her room as the “Presidential Suite” – I ended up in the same room, and agree that it was very nice.
Several colleagues of mine were also stuck in Houston after a big conference in Galveston. They trickled in two by two as seats were available. However, the first to arrive indicated that there was a lot of reluctance on the part of passengers to get on the very first plane to fly from Houston to Amsterdam. The 40-seater plane, business only, was only 30% full, if that much. Apparently, news coverage in the US focused on the fact that European countries had only reluctantly agreed to restart flights under the insistence of airlines even though they (the countries) were not convinced it was safe to fly. I think that would make me hesitate to be the first too.
Two friends were stuck in Singapore. They are probably the ones who started the volcano spewing all that ash just so that they could spend a little extra time there. What a place to be stuck for an extra week!
There were indirect effects too. One cousin had to host the two daughters of their friends for a few extra nights as the parents were detained in Paris. Three nights turned into 8 or 9, and young children can be difficult about that.
Things are now getting back to normal, until the next time that “mother nature” feels the need to remind us who is really in charge here!
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@pierreo.com Thanks again for your hospitality. You managed to get a benefit that my family isn’t getting at home, because I’m not cooking as much these days. I am making progress on writing … and I’m sure that Diana will be much relieved when it’s all done.