that they are unable to give to me because the person who is supposed to give it to them was stuck in France last week and is now behind in their work.

I'm wording a *very strong* letter to the Met office to complain.

flight ban but some years back, a BA 747 few through a volcanic cloud and suffered total engine failure after flying through an ash cloud.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9)

Even though the engines restarted, the plane struggled to land because the windscreen was sandblasted opaque by the dust.

*dances a small jig of sheer happiness*

It must be awful for him.

I'm completely out of mangoes, figs, papaya and coconut and it's playing merry hell with my exotic fruit diet I can tell you...

was unable to fly on his honeymoon on friday, so has returned to work

I have had to listen to him trying to re-book his fortnight in the Maldives, all day....

Squeaky bum time.

My car has got ash on it, and I only had it washed a week or two ago. Is that minor enough for you?

Not being able to fly for a few days does not constitute a 'crisis'. Up until a few years ago most people flew infrequently if at all. People have a difficult journey home? Well they'll have something to talk about when they get back.

Personally I have been slightly inconvenienced by the fact that the consignment of nasal hair trimmers I ordered for my new mail order business have been delayed.

is full of aged stranded sweatys that were on a golf tour. Constantly watching sky news and moaning about everything under the african sun. If they dont fly soon there's gonna be trouble in paradise.

Due to fly in to Dublin on Thursday for my wee brother`s wedding. One brother has already had to cry off due to Mount Doom spewing hot ash from the depths of Mordor. Not a happy camper at the moment.

Just been emailed by the venue to say that his gig tomorrow night (Edinburgh) is at best postponed, if not just cancelled, because of the cloud. Rats!

having no ruddy jets overhead for so many days. Blue skies, horizon to horizon, with no contrails.

Bring back Lockheed Constellations, BOAC and proper international air travel.

We shouldn't be jetting all over the bloody shop like we do anyway, and anyone who says otherwise doesn't really mean it, 'cos they know I'm right, deep down.

I'm going to suggest that the Icelandic government drop a nuke down a few more cracks to keep the ash flying.

It's made for a lot of conversation in the office, it seems like just about everyone knows someone affected and not able to get home. The singer of the FPO's band is somewhere in Portugal so her gig this week is off. We're hoping it all gets sorted out before our flight the the US next week. Where's Red Adair when we need him?
On the car front it's even more serious, I should be getting a new one an a couple of weeks time but the old one is now getting dirty and I only took it to the carwash in January, I'm not about to shell out for another clean, that would be a frivolous expense.

Which was supposed to take place next Tuesday and has now been put back to June 3rd. Given that my right ear is recovering after a perforated ear drum and I was less than confident that I'd be able to attend I'm rather chuffed that it's been put back. They do say that every (ash) cloud has a silver lining don't they.......

I don't think I've been even slightly inconvenienced. My colleague at work has had her daughter stuck in Lanzarote which hasn't bothered her, my car was covered in shite anyway so the dust doesn't show, I don't eat air-freighted food..

It's been nice in Portsmouth because we lie under a major air route. The skies have been clear blue with no annoying contrails.

All this after the banking crisis and Kerry Ketona.

between Cheryl Cole & this bloody volcano?

The volcano is the only one blowing ash at the moment...

Boom boom.

Q: What comes from Iceland and causes havoc at airports?
A: Bjork.

I'm stuck in Florida until next Tuesday at the earliest. Just spotted John Fogerty is on in Tampa on Saturday. That'll do.

It's stopping the news from becoming one long Election bore-fest.

According to The Guardian today, it's the "Volcano crisis". Aaaahh, I love the smell of hyperbole in the morning...

flew outbound of their own volition and via a travel agent or an airline. Now there's a problem on the inbound leg, it seems it's all the government's fault and they should magically get them home again.

And with all this prattle about whether the risk was over-stated, you have to wonder. How many people would get on an aircraft if they were told it would be flying through a cloud of potentially damaging dust but the flight was deemed, "only a bit dangerous" as I heard one person put it.

You almost (almost) feel sorry for politicians. Mind you, Brown's outrageous whopper about 100 coaches already being in Madrid completely undoes that sentiment.

As an overseas subsciber, my word magazine has not yet arrived, inconvenient as I've had lots of time to read it during my 2 weeks paternity leave following the arrival of the new minor.

seems rather churlish to complain about a free extra weeks holiday, but we would rather have come home on time. Still we had it easy.

No moaning from me, nor from the photographer who took this superb photograph of Eyjafjallajökull, I shouldn't have thought. It's one of four on the Times website.