Iceland, send CASH, not ASH!!!

Markus' parents spent the afternoon and evening of Jakob's 9-month anniversary with us and the following morning Markus was picked up early to fly to London again for work. While it was neverending raining in Vienna the weather in London was really nice with sunshine and blue-sky. During Wednesday noone yet was aware of the eruption of the volcano beneath the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier in Iceland and even less so anyone was foreseeing the impacts of that natural event. When the newswires were reporting about the cloud of volcanic ashes moving towards the UK and Nordic region on Thursday morning first fears of an impact on airport and air travel came up.

Ashes to ashes, but Markus not to Jakob & Kerstin

Markus at that time was still calm and relaxed that his flight back home to Vienna on Thursday evening would not be affected, but by lunchtime he realised that it might be a good idea to consider re-booking to a flight on Friday in order to have a seat guaranteed, as UK airports were closed down. The sky above London did not look like a huge cloud was hanging on the sky, as the sun was shining and all seemed normal, yet airplanes were grounded and thousands of passengers stranded. The more time advanced into the afternoon the clearer it became that Markus will not come home Thursday night and so he was not surprised seeing flights suspended until at least Friday morning. As a consequence he went shopping for clothes (obviously he only brought stuff for 2 days!), supported the UK economy and is hoping to be able to hug Jakob again on Friday evening. Somehow the odds look less and less good for that, but maybe the night brings some wind which could lighten up the cloud of ashes.

Jakob, Kerstin & Markus