Those who have been following your humble art scribe’s attempts to leave the ground, and stay airbourne, since this web-log began seven weeks ago may have winced at metaphors of flight delays and disruptions... There are now readers from around the world connecting through the blogosphere to these haphazard pages who have read records of struggles to take flight....and then, in a miracle of rebirth, witnessed the Scrolls soaring like a firebird from volcanic ashes...
Imagine my surprise, though, when yesterday I received a message in my inbox, addressed to yours truly, from the Chief Executive Officer of Australia’s national airline, giving a detailed and reassuring explanation as to why flights to and from Australia have been disrupted over the last few days, due to the eruption of the Mt Puyehue Cordon Caulle volcano in Chile, and the dispersal of volcanic ash clouds into the atmosphere which apparently can make all kinds of problems; if the ash enters an airplane engine it can turn into molten glass and cause the engine to fail, a horrific prospect indeed.
When I began writing this weblog, the eruption from the Mt Puyehue Cordon Caulle volcano was but a rumbling in the bowels of the earth. But due to the current and ongoing extreme turbulence on Planet Earth, my attempts to fly into digital writing in the blogosphere have coincided with bad weather and catastrophic disruptions around the world in what must be one of the most turbulent years in human memory, when seismic, social, economic, environmental and industrial nuclear meltdowns are all coinciding to form one ‘hell’ of a Stygian Goya-esque tableaux down on dear old Mother Earth.....It’s hot down there... Now we’ve flown into another post modern digital merging of reality and imagination...Many global art critics are frequent flyers... Yet before realising that this must be a courtesy message sent out to the mailing lists, your scribe did wonder for a moment, if it was a sign this flight record is being read by people in high places - pilots and flight attendants? Either way thanks for the information, and keep up the good work of safety first on the airlines. On the ground, as in the air, your passengers, do sincerely appreciate it!
This is especially relevant to yours truly, as readers may also know, my daughter and ex-husband are due to return quite soon to Australia from Newfoundland, flying across land and oceans, on the longest flight with no stops in the world.
Air Safety First!
