Kiss My Ash Iceland

So instead of lying on Jessica’s couch in Philadelphia today recovering from too many El Vez Margaritas, I am still in the the UK. I’m currently sitting at a Krispy Kreme trying to steal free Internet. Iceland and the volcanic ash have grounded me and my trip home to visit, which is already long over due, and will now be rescheduled for a 2nd time. I’ve spent the last few days sulking, feeling sorry for myself and sad over all of the important plans I’ll be missing and many cocktails I should be sharing. However, I woke up today feeling tired of my own attitude and decided to try and make the best of it. I sat down a few days ago to write about this and the entry sounded like a Dear Diary page stamped with tears and streaky mascara. I’m back to feeling like myself (dead inside) but still am not a fan of 1.) Iceland, 2.) volcanoes and especially 3.) volcanoes in Iceland. However, I realize how lucky I actually am compared to so many others that are stranded in airports all over the world running out of money, their medications, food and in many cases hope to get to where they were intending to go. To me this is just more of an inconvenience and as much as I want to visit my friends and family, I am able to wait this out from the comfort of my apartment.

Reading all of the scientific facts about the ash cloud have been fascinating and I spent a good part of my day on Friday comparing all of the stories and reports of damage volcanic ash can cause. Despite the fact that BBC news has reported that 600,000 people have been affected by the airport closures, and that this is the biggest airspace disruption since WWII, I still think the most important fact is that this has cancelled my flight and forcing me to miss my little sister’s guitar concert. I tried to call Heathrow to explain this, but strangely my calls were not accepted.

It’s somewhat funny that I did not even hear about the volcanic ash situation until I was on a conference call with work late Thursday afternoon. Since I have been settling into my new apartment this past week, I am still without proper Internet connection, a television or a radio. I was happily unpacking suitcases, packing others, and writing work reports without any clue what was spewing from the mouth of a volcano that would ruin my plans. I have decided that I now have documented proof that I should never be without a television. Not only do I enjoy sitting in front of it to watch cooking shows and silly dramas, I also am a complete and total media mole without it and miss out on internationally significant events.

I pulled myself together this morning and decided that I would spend the day enjoying what was around me and not what I was missing in the states. I grabbed my camera and just started walking. Just to be clear, I never intended to be sitting in a Krispy Kreme but it was time for a coffee break. For the past few weeks I have been walking amongst some pretty incredible history, but never stopped to notice as I am usually just in a hurry to the train station and back again. I stopped to read one of the tourist maps today and found out some incredible facts about my new address. I live on the edge of Folly Bridge which I thought was simply a picturesque and convenient spot for people to do some outdoor drinking and rent boats for small trips up the river. However, Anglo Saxon chronicles describe a settlement where people would drive their cattle across the river. They believe the town came to be known as Oxford because it was formed from the words “ox” and “ford”. The very bridge where this occurred is my new address. More interestingly, a man name Lewis Carroll took Alice Liddell and her sister’s on a rowing trip from Folly Bridge and told them stories during the trip about a girl named Alice. These stories came to be better known as Alice in Wonderland. For some reason, the estate agent left all of these cool facts out of the leaflet with the apartment measurements.

Since I needed to stop hitting refresh on the US Airways website yesterday and start talking to people again, I joined my co-worker Christina and her family with our other colleague Margaret in Bath. I was there years ago when I was here for school and it was as beautiful as I remembered it. It was a great day and so much fun to walk around and enjoy the great weather that we have been experiencing here. Also entertaining to see how people in the UK tend to wear close to nothing at the first few signs of nice weather. My co-worker Christina has two young kids so it was also fun to be around them, run around in the park and have my biggest challenge of the day be which Thomas the Train toy we would play with first. It was a great distraction for the day and Christina has already promised me that I can join her and the kids throughout the year for all of the activities that a 29 year old gal can’t attend alone anymore – LegoLand and dinosaur exhibits are always more acceptable when you are escorting little people.

So I am going to carry out my Sunday as I normally would – grocery shopping, errands, cleaning and a little retail therapy thrown in to make me feel better. Nothing rationalizes an expensive shoe purchase like a deadly volcanic ash cloud.

Stay tuned for updates on my new arrival dates for the US. I put a call in to Iceland for them to pull it together and build a lid for that damn volcano. I have a flight to catch...