Volcano: bad for more people than you think

The disorder caused by the Icelandic volcano is not totally bad, as this Dutch cartoon points out. More people are distressed ...

Sky covered by ash plums. Osama, problem.

Bruges

Yesterday, we drove to the old town of Bruges, in the Flemish part of Belgium, to meet with our stranded relatives. They were all supposed to fly to Amsterdam but their plane ended up stopping in Portugal. From there, they drove all the way to Paris and then to Bruges.

Bruges is very similar to Delft, but larger and with much more tourists. It also has thousands of shops selling Belgium chocolate and Belgium beer.

We enjoyed everthing, including a tour through its canals. At the end of the weekend we were exausted but happy for the family reunion.

Good things came out of the volcano

Not everything that happened due to the Volcano Elyja ... ja ... kull was bad. Indeed, the air industry lost a few hundred million dollars, but nothing that can make the EU shake on its foundations. Actually, the level of stranded tourism increase tremendously.

But I believe I got the best part of mother's nature wrath. A pleaseant surprised was reserved to me and my family as Michelle Weirathmueller came to Delft to see us. Michelle is a former UNB student in Geomatics Engineering. She currently resides in sunny California. The company she works for sent her to do some work in France where she became stranded. She ended up finding some time to visit us in Delft. It was really great.

Volcano Eyjafjallajokull

The name of this volcano is a mouthfull. No wonder it is so angry! Why not changing its name for something more enjoyable, like Mont Blanc?

Well, we became victms of mother nature too. Our sister-in-law was coming to Amsterdam to visit us but she ended up stuck in Portugal. But everything turned out fine!

Now, my expectation is that the skies will be clear for my trip to Vienna, to participate at the EGU. The way things go, it seems the volcano has started to do its usual destructive business with good'old lava, not this uncivilized smoke that disrupts airplanes. Everything is fine now.