Friday 16 April 2010

Volcano


From the back of the card:
A recent eruption from Kilauea Volcano's Pu'u O'o Vent within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  Bright red lava flows swiftly past the hardened black rock formed by previous lava flows.  Photos Lee Allen Thomas.
This card was sent to me in May 2008 but I'm posting it today because the recent eruptions of Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland have left the northern and western parts of Europe grounded.  All airspace over the UK will be closed until Saturday at least.  France has just closed all of its airspace.  Approximately 17,000 flights have been cancelled throughout Europe.

While the airlines are suffering, alternative modes of transport are experiencing a boom.  The cross-channel ferries and Eurostar are almost fully booked and traffic is reaching levels normally seen during the summer holidays.

It's a major problem for many people, no doubt, but we should remember people in Iceland who are far more severely affected, many having to leave their homes because of flooding from a river which has swollen with ice and mud.  There are fears that the nearby Katla volcano will also erupt.


This is a post for Postcard Friday, which is hosted at The Best Hearts are Crunchy.
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21 comments:

  1. Very apt! What a beautiful, frightening sight though and I do feel for those Icelandic folk who have had to evacuate their homes.

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  2. VERY appropriate. I've been praying for those folks in Iceland. I was alive when Mt. St. Helens blew in 1981--ash fell from the skies for weeks. I can remember drawing pictures down at the park--hearing the bits of ash as they hit the paper upon which I was drawing.

    I can't imagine what the people of Iceland must be feeling just now...though most of them have lived all their lives with the knowledge that this could happen...

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  3. It is so amazing to see all these forces of nature at work! So many earthquakes and, now, this massive volcano erupting. It makes us realize that, we are, after all, mere mortals.

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  4. That is a lovely postcard and an awesome sight. Glad I'm nowhere near the real thing though!

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  5. Amazing and perfect for this time in our history. Mother Nature can be awesome and frightening all at the same time.

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  6. Thanks for sharing - the airspace in Europe looks so messed up right now! Poor people on or trying to be on vacation! Happy PFF!

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  7. A beautiful and very apt card. Here in the Netherlands no planes are flying at the moment. It's a very strange idea that there is this cloud with tiny stones and pieces of glass hanging above our heads. And the sun shines. Happy PFF.

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  8. I hope you won't be affected. I saw on line that if large amounts of ash start falling over the UK there could be trouble for those with respitory problems.

    If this goes on, this will hurt the tourist industry too.

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  9. That card looks almost like a colorful abstract painting!

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  10. Hi Sheila! I get most of my cards as gifts, but I know where some come from. If you go to most artist's webpage you can order them, as well as places like zazzle - where lesser known artists can sell there stuff. Often time I google fairy and postcard and see where I go. :) There's lots out there!

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  11. Glad there are no active volcanoes in the UK, though they are fascinating, great card.
    There was an Australian family on the Manchester Airport train this morning hoping to travel because their airline had told them they were flying (they were going to Budapest) though the ticket collector said to them he doubted it. Luckily they had friends in Manchester if it all went wrong.

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  12. Great card and message. Another commenter mentioned Mt. St. Helens. I actually saw one of the eruptions all the way from Seattle. That's a lot of ash!
    Happy PFF.

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  13. Volcanos are so intriguing... too bad we live right on top of them or next to them. Amazing how one can affect the whole world. I too remember Mt St Helens and the ash from the sky. I was living in Denver, Colorado thousands of miles away. I hope the activity stops soon, people can go home and the skys are clear soon.

    Happy PFF!

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  14. John | Daily Photo17 April 2010 at 09:58

    It's shocking how the news in the U.K. only seems concerned how the eruption affects us and barely mentions the people in Iceland.

    I keep looking out at sunset / sunrise to see if the sky looks any different, but no real change.

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  15. This was sad..I was following it all through and my heart goes out to the folks who had to witness this

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  16. A very appropriate card. Amazing how a (relatively) small and (unpronounceable) volcano has caused such havoc. When Mt. St. Helens blew, we missed work for 3 days due to the venting system being shut down in our building to keep out the ash. I feel sorry for all of the people who are disrupted by this. A friend of mine had his flight canceled so he took a bus and ended up home 2 hours BEFORE his flight would have originally landed!

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  17. great card and a timely reminder of how small we are all in the face of nature...this whole thing has left me awestruck...the fact that we simply have no idea when things will get back to normal is sobering...

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  18. We were able to walk out on the hardened lava when we were there. We walked as close to the burning lava as we could which was not very close - it was burning hot! :)

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  19. Beautiful look, even it is dangerous. Seem europe is suffering from the ash right now.

    Thanks for sharing.

    My Bangkok Through My Eyes!
    You Got A Posty

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  20. Great timing on the card! I live in London and one of my best mates has been affected the ash. She's stuck in Spain this week as flights from Mallorca are not heading back here, so she's had to take a week off and stay on the beach. Terrible.

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