No fly zone

As Iceland continues to pump out ash like a chain smoker at a sexual harassment hearing, all flights remain grounded over Europe. This has led to ‘travel disruption’, ‘travel chaos’ or ‘travelgeddeon’ depending upon your choice of media but it has also led to skies of perfect blue.

This may be somewhat ironic, an ash cloud is blanketing Europe and frankly, I was expecting to see some Hollywood special effects. Indeed I was busy practicing my embarrassing pose to be doused in. In 2,000 years time, bored schoolchildren would be shown round the ruins of the city that was once London and snigger at the natives, frozen forever in the poses of everyday life, texting, sitting slumped at a keyboard or deciding what coffee to order. However, what we have are clear skies.

And I mean clear. This was the weekend to sell your house if you lived near a major airport ‘oh yea, it’s always like this. Flightpath? Nowhere near it.’

So we have a sky clear of the vapour trails that normally criss-cross our skies like graffiti and enjoyed a balmy summer’s day…in April. This has led to the green of the parks turning pink and then red as people enjoy themselves in the sunshine and of course that other great British summer institution. Iceland may have an ash cloud, but Britain has around ten million active barbequeues, all sending sizzling sausage fat high into the troposphere. With luck, we can keep this up all summer – Europe a no fly zone, Britain warm and sunny and the World Cup to look forward to. Let’s just hope to god the lager arrives by boat.