rm | #ashtag update

UK airspace was briefly reopened this morning. It's since been closed again and they say the ash situation is getting worse both in terms of wind direction and the eruption itself, which is continuing. Currently UK airspace is slated to be closed through 7pm tonight and they will update that figure in about 45 minutes. ETA: airspace is now closed until 1am Sunday.

As of this moment our flight tomorrow has not yet been canceled, although we expect it to be. When that happens we wind up at the back of a line of people to get out. Right now they say the resolution of the flight chaos after the ash abates will take several days, all of which means that unless there's a radical wind shift, we do not expect to get out of the UK until midweek at least.

We checked with the hotel last night and should be able to hold this room for another night, but they weren't sure. I'm not yet putting out the "save us, Internet, save us" feelers, but if anyone has a spare couch somewhere accessible by London tube, we may need to know soon.

Everything feels sort of post-apocalyptic here. The news keeps explaining about anything that needs to fly in or out can't. Impact on the UK and European economies, airline stocks, and food prices getting a lot of press.

And, oh yeah, this is apparently the biggest European airspace shutdown since WWII.

So that's going on.