Saturday 17 April 2010

It's all up in the air

Do you know the joke about the boy who has to complete a rites of passage ceremony to prove himself a man, its an old one but still makes me laugh. He has to perform two tasks, to kill a grizzly bear and make love to a virgin. Off he goes into the wood and comes back some time later totally dishevelled, bruised and bleeding 'done that' he says ' now where's this virgin you want killing?' Its been a bit like that for me this week, getting ready to go away, planting seeds, potting on, weeding, doing the laundry, planning a small carry on case of clothes to last ten days, selecting suitable sock knitting and reading plus sanding down the balcony handrail to allow the wood to dry out before re-varnishing. And possibly all in vain because since Thursday all flights in and out of Scotland have been cancelled due to ash in the atmosphere from an erupting volcano in Iceland. We were due to fly to Rome at 6.30 am on Sunday, currently Ryanair say all flights are cancelled until mid day Monday though strangely they have allowed us to re-book our Sunday flight to the Monday 6 am one.
We had planned to fly to Rome and drive to Tuscany to spend a couple of days with our friends there, the husband is already in Italy and the wife was to fly out this morning from Edinburgh to Pisa. She has re-booked to fly to Rome with us on Monday so we can all drive to Tuscany. I can't see it happening but Mr FF is optimistic and I'd like to be proved wrong. His first reaction yesterday when we heard that our Sunday flight was off was that we should drive the 7 or 8 hours down to Dover today, catch a ferry and drive the 2 days to Tuscany, but the girls weren't up for that.
Anyway, at least I finished the little cardy to take to Italy for new baby Lara and fortunately it's size up to 12 months, just as well as she could be considerably older by the time we see her. The garden is looking great, we have family coming up from Yorkshire today who would have house sat but may find themselves spending time with us instead. At least we are not stranded in some airport, many people have been trying to get home since Thursday and apparently received no help at all from the airlines. On the downside the weather has turned cooler and there is some snow forecast, just goes to show that you can't do anything about nature. Now where's this volcano you want me to cap?

12 comments:

  1. What chaos has been caused by this latest natural disaster. Sorry to hear your trip has been delayed, it would have been so much nicer to be stuck here in Italy. We have friends who should have flown home from Florence to Scotland this am and they have been told the earliest flight available is next Wednesday!

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  2. My young man is gutted. He wants to work with Volcanoes, and the one in Iceland is the "dormant " one that he was due to go to with college!!! We have a few friends who went walking up it last year!!! Mother Nature is an angry beast at times, fingers crossed you get out there. xxx

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  3. OH NO! Fingers crossed that all will be well for you to fly on Monday morning. Have a great time....even if you have to leave a little late! I love the baby cardi. It's such a pretty pattern and colour. Have fun! Ros

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  4. Oh Jenny, I do feel for you. Hope you manage to get over to Italy one way or another soon. The cardigan you knitted is really pretty. Love the colour (well I would, wouldn't I seeing as it's purple!)I have everything crossed for you (that's going to make knitting interesting!)

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  5. That volcano is causing so many problems. We've family in LA who were due home on Friday (16th) - now booked on a flight next Sunday (25th)!! Fortunately the airline are putting them up in a hotel.

    Love that cardigan - hope it gets to its new owner soon :)

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  6. Lovely lavender cardi. I hope you can travel soon! Funny joke, incidentally. I hadn't heard it before!

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  7. That is such a pretty cardi - I do hope you can get it out to Italy. Though to be honest, I don't give much for your chances!

    But there is always hope!

    And my son-in-law is stuck in Dubai.

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  8. I hope it settles down for you in time. Close relatives of mine are waiting on the news as they too were flying out at the start of this week. It is very frustrating. I love your cardigan, very pretty.

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  9. Hi Jenny,

    It is a bit of a worry, but ur right Mother Nature has a mind of her own...
    I hope Mr FF is right and you get to ur holiday sooner rather than later.....
    More Snow, I hope we might get some(not as much as you)snow this year..
    Tracey

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  10. The cardigan is gorgeous.

    We were supposed to be flying to Spain so like yourselves are on standby though I can't see us going anywhere apart from back to work.

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  11. Gorgeous little cardie - that kid is going to look so cute in it!

    So sorry about the flights though. It's rotten to hang around waiting and not knowing. My fingers are crossed for you.

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  12. Oh, my Jenny... In a way I know the feeling, sort of. We're keeping an eye/ear on the news daily, as we're planning a trip in less than 3 weeks ourselves and hope we can still fly then. What's with Mother Nature these days?! Do hope you get to Italy yet... In the meantime--LOVE that scrumptious baby cardi--it is gorgeous, what a pretty pattern & wool. Keep up posted! Happy Week ((HUGS))

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