A deadly cloud of ash

Source: BBC news photo
Today’s big news story was meant to be an inaugural television debate between leaders of the nation’s major political parties. Instead, headlines are dominated by another unprecedented event. For the first time in living memory the nation’s airspace has been closed to all non-emergency flights. Similar restrictions are also in place for the Republic of Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and France.

This unprecedented action was taken after an erupting volcano in Iceland blasted clouds of deadly ash more than 16,764 metres into the air. The eruption under a glacier in the Eyjafjallajoekull area is the second such event in less than a month. As it continues, a growing ash cloud is progressively making its way across northern Europe. As you can see from the Met Office's warning map below, by morning the entire UK is forecast to be covered. As a result, from noon today, all flights in the UK’s airspace were cancelled and will remain grounded until at least 1.00pm tomorrow.


Volcanic ash has proven deadly to aircraft in the past. Perhaps the most famous incident in 1982 involved a British Airways plane flying to Perth, Australia. As it flew through a fresh ash cloud high above Indonesia, all four of its engines failed and the aircraft began losing attitude. The pilots struggled for more than ten minutes to restart the engines. A similar incident occurred above Alaska in 1989. Again, all four engines shut down and disaster was narrowly averted when one was successfully restarted minutes later.

Tonight’s news reports claim that more than half a million passengers have been affected by the grounding of an estimated 5,000 flights. Ash has already started falling on the ground in northern Scotland. The eruption under the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier is still intensifying, and the wind direction is expected to bring further ash clouds into UK airspace until the weekend.


In 2008, Garry and I stayed a hotel least than 20km away from Eyjafjallajoekull. From our hotel room we could see the massive ice field crowning nearby mountains. You can see this spectacular sight in the image above. It's hard to imagine this pristine scene being dominated by a enormous black ash cloud.

Every vote counts

Gordon Brown, the UK’s Prime Minister, has finally announced a date for the nation’s next General Election. We go to the polls on May 6. As fate would have it, Garry and I will be on vacation in Greece on this date. We’ll miss one of the most pivotal elections since the Second World War.

For the first time in a generation, polls suggest the vote will result in a hung parliament. A poll out today reveals that 32 per cent of the public actually want a hung parliament (as opposed to expecting one). In other words, no major party will receive enough votes to secure a governing majority. Instead, one of the two largest parties will be forced to lead a minority government and govern in coalition with the Liberal Democrats, traditionally the nation’s third largest party. The Lib Dems received 22.6% of the popular vote during the last election, which translated into 62 seats in the House of Commons.

Tomorrow also marks another historical milestone. Tomorrow evening, for the first time in a UK election, a televised debate will be held between the leaders of the major parties. I find it fascinating that a major democracy has never had television debates. They’ve been a regular feature in Australia for several decades, and the first such debate in the USA was broadcast fifty years ago.

An estimated 20 million viewers are expected to tune in for tomorrow’s 90-minute debate between Labour leader Gordon Brown, Conservative leader David Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg. Two more debates will follow on April 22 and April 29. Months of negotiation has generated 76 specific terms and conditions on the conduct of each debate. For example, cameras aren’t permitted to film close-ups of individual audience members while a leader is speaking. Applause is also not permitted during the debate.

Another poll out today found that 42% of those contacted expect David Cameron to win the debate, compared with 22% who thought Gordon Brown would be the winner. As the Times said today, “Mr Cameron faces a real problem: It is all for him to lose. He may perform very well but that is what everyone expects and so he may not gain any great bonus from his performance. On the other hand, such are the low expectations of Mr Brown that he need only deliver a decent performance to come across as a relative Emmy award nominee.”

Australian research has shown that television debates in that country influenced the final vote by up to 2%. With Labour and the Conservatives more than three points apart in current polls, television debates could make all the difference in this election.

PS: I was interviewed by the BBC today for a lunch time busines show. The segment that went to air positioned my company as a progressive employer.

Friends and family

Swiss Cottage blossom in full bloom
We drove down to Woking last night for dinner with Garry’s Australian boss (or is that his boss’ boss?). Jane is currently home alone while her husband and children are on holiday, visiting family and friends Down Under. The three of us went for dinner at a local Japanese restaurant, Oisi. The name is an English language twist on the Japanese word for delicious. Since opening ten months ago, it’s been getting rave reviews. The praise is well earned. We enjoyed some of the most heavenly Goyza dumplings I’ve ever tasted. The restaurant even had Takoyaki (baby octopus dumplings) on its menu, a dish I’ve rarely seen outside of Japan.

After one warm Sake too many we decided to stay overnight. This morning we took advantage of our proximity to Fernhurst and drove over to see my extended family. My cousin Hilary, her husband David, and my Aunt Shirley were all at home. We sat in the garden for more than hour enjoying an afternoon coffee while soaking up the Spring sunshine. It was wonderful to be outdoors again in the UK.

Stockholm Highlights

Stockholm proved to be the ideal location for our Easter vacation. We were blessed with three straight days of sunny and relatively warm weather. We also cashed in some credit card loyalty points which secured us a harbour-view room at the Sheraton Hotel for £38/night. This was a smart move as the hotel’s central location meant every sight was a short walk away.


Our first day was largely spent wandering the streets of Gamla Stan, the old town, followed by a leisurely alfresco beer in the afternoon sunshine. Our second day saw us walk along the picturesque Strandvagen waterfront to Stockholm’s world famous Vasa Museum. The Vasa is an immaculately restored 17th century wooden warship. It sank during its maiden voyage on Sunday, August 10, 1628 and lay undetected on the floor of Stockholm harbour for more than three hundred years.

On the day of its launch, the beaches around Stockholm were filled with spectators, among them foreign diplomats. The Swedish king, Gustavus Adolphus, had intended the maiden voyage to be an impressive propaganda display. His nation was at war with Poland and the Vasa was to be one its most fearsome warships. However, the ship spent less than half an hour under sail before keeling over as strong gust filled its sails. Of the 150 people on board, 30-50 died in the disaster.


Remarkably the ship was rediscovered largely intact in 1956. A meticulous salvage effort successfully lifted the Vasa to the surface on April 24 1961. The event was broadcast live on Swedish television; a spectacle that rivaled its first and only voyage. A purpose built museum was opened in 1990 to displayed the restored vessel. Garry and I spent several enjoyable hours exploring the museum’s many exhibits.


On our final day in Stockholm we booked ourselves onto a lunch time boat tour of Stockholm’s inner archipelago. For three hours was dined as just a few of Stockholm’s hundreds of islands glided by. Our boat, the SS Stockholm journeyed out to Vaxholm, a quaint Summer resort town. The town once sat at the entrance to Stockholm’s main shipping channel leading from the harbour to the Baltic Sea. The impressive Vaxholm Fortress, sits opposite the town, built on a small island.


I was fascinated to learn that Vaxholm’s building are all built from wood, with only the exception of the church and the customs house. This building practice was intentional as it meant that the town could be quickly demolished in the event of war or impending invasion.


Our tour route also took us past many of the city’s most famous Summer homes. The Swedish all love to abandon the city during Summer, heading off for a month of leisure at their Summer residence. Some of them are spectacular venues that resemble fairytale castles, while others cling desperately to rocks on the smallest of islands.

"Once in a life time - if you're lucky"

On Tuesday evening this week, Garry and I witnessed a breath-taking display of the Northern Lights. We were incredibly lucky. The night before had been overcast, as had most of the following day. However, by the time we came to board our snowmobiles at 8pm, the sky was clear in every direction. Our local guide took seven of us out into the night, across frozen lakes and rivers to a quaint pine hut wilderness camp where we dined on Moose soup (delicious).


As darkness fell, the night sky came to life. What a show! Several years ago, Garry and I saw the Northern Lights in Iceland. However, this didn't prepare us for the scene that unfolded on Tuesday evening. As we watched the entire sky progressively filled with more and more sheets of dancing, glowing aurora. They appeared from every direction, becoming brighter and brighter, until blinding white, green and even orange swirling bands began sweeping across the inky blackness.

At this point, even our seasoned guide gasped. He claimed he’s never seen anything like it in his entire professional career. He then excused himself and began calling friends, urging them to go outside. You know you've experienced something unique when even the locals are filled with awe. No photo will ever do justice to what we've seen.

Reindeer games

Dog sled riding is so passé. It's the ultimate cliché Arctic tourist activity. It's also incredibly expensive. The savvy tourist always chooses a reindeer sled ride. First, it's cheaper and your sled experience feels far less artificial. Reindeer live outside in the snow, they don't come to your hotel packed in a rusty kennel trailer. Second, you always set up your own sled, which includes catching your own reindeer with a lasso. They don't stand around waiting for you. Finally, they're largely silent unlike those dogs. This means you're able to truly enjoy the icy wilderness, soothed by sound of your sled sliding through the snow.


Garry and I booked ourselves on a tour that took us reindeer sledding through snow-clad pine forests and across the flat, white expanse of a frozen lake. As luck would have it, we were the only booking and thus we had the entire pristine Arctic landscape to ourselves for more than four hours. Well - almost to ourselves - we had a guide and three patient reindeer with us. Half of our time was spent sleding; the rest saw us camped around a fire in the snow, dining on traditional Sammi reindeer soup and flat bread.


Garry was a master with his lasso, while I struggled to catch anything other than thin air. When I finally did lasso myself a reindeer, the stubborn creature refused to budge an inch and I eventually had to let to go. Once our reindeer were captured and harnessed, as with all tours, our guide patiently explained what to do should we fall from our sled, or if our reindeer were to veer off course.

However, we weren't told what to do should our guide fall from her sled. Naturally, this happened and for several hilarious minutes we watched our reindeer dutifully chasing after an unmanned sled. I did begin to wonder if we were destinated to sled our way across the entire width of Sweden. However, in a moment of pure Hollywood stunt craft, our guide commandeered Garry's sled, rode up alongside her emply sled and lept from one to the other.


The next funny moment occured when Garry stepped off his sled to rescue our guide's mobile phone. He swiftly discovered that the surrounding snow cover was more than a metre thick. Within seconds he found himself buried up to his waist and remained entombed until I came to his aid. The entire hilarious incident was then given a final slap stick moment as Garry's reindeer stepped back, pinning our guide's phone under its hoof.

The ICEHOTEL

The Swedish town of Kiruna can be found nestled in a broad river valley, more than 145kms above the Arctic Circle. It’s the largest urban area at this latitude for thousands of kilometers. Its claim to fame includes being home to the world’s largest underground iron ore mine. It’s also home to the nearby Torre River, the largest of four highly protected river courses in Sweden. As a protected river it will never be dammed or diverted for its entire length.

The Torre River is a strategic waterway. Half its 522km length forms the border between Sweden and Finland. Its waters are also considered some of the purest in all of the Sweden. Every winter it freezes solid, forming a broad expanse of ice thick enough and strong enough to drive a truck on. Contrast this with the fact that every summer, it’s bathed in perpetual daylight. The sun never sets between May 30 and July 15.


On the banks of Torre River, near Kiruna, lies the small village of Jukkasjärvi. It’s home to 520 people. At first glance there’s little here to distinguish it from any other riverside location. The oldest building in the village is picturesque wooden church, built in 1608. However the newest building in town will always be the newest because it’s rebuilt every year without fail. This is the world famous ICEHOTEL.

From mid-December, for an all too brief four and half months, the hotel hosts more than 30,000 overnight guests. Many chose to sleep overnight on beds built from ice, as the indoor temperature hovers at -5°C. Those who know me will also know I have a list of travel destinations I’m determined to see before I die. Sleeping at the ICEHOTEL is one of these. Last week Garry and I finally joined the hotel’s guest list, spending one night in an ice room and one in a warm timber cabin.


Construction of the ICEHOTEL hotel is a fascinating exercise. Every year several tonnes of crystal clear Torre River ice and compacted snow are used to build this temporary venue. Ice is typically harvested between mid-March and mid-April after its grown to be at least 80cms thick. Incredibly, customised heavy machinery is used to harvest the river ice. On our last day in Jukkasjärvi I watched a harvest in action. First a giant chainsaw on the end of a long tractor boom cuts the ice into large blocks. These are then lifted from the river by a small crane, before being stacked by a regular forklift inside an enormous cold store building.


I later learnt that this ice would form the foundations of next year’s ICEHOTEL. In other words, ice from the previous winter always forms the building blocks of the hotel. The ice is also graded. Crystal clear ice is used for ice glasses and dishes, while veined ice is used for scuplting. Every year 150 artists and designers are invited to create several dozen elaborate ice-sculpted hotel suites. Over the years photos of these rooms have become the hotel’s most enduring iconic images - and this year was no exception.


The experience of sleeping on ice proved far cozier than I’d anticipated. Each guest is given a large arctic sleeping bag and each ice bed is topped by the thick foam base and luxuriously soft reindeer skins. I slept remarkably well. Garry complained that the foam base wasn’t thick enough and he hated the restrictive sleeping bag. I got at least seven hours of solid sleep; Garry much less.

Fortunately, Garry loved the rest of our ICEHOTEL experience. We spent our time enjoying several Arctic adventures including snowmobiling and riding our very own reindeer sleds. I’ll share more about these experiences in a separate post, including our jaw-dropping Northern Lights encounter. Stockholm seemed rather plain in comparison.

City Hall Tower

Our hotel room in Stockholm looks out across Riddarfjarden Bay, part of the city's inner harbour. City Hall, an imposing red brick building, dominates the view. Its fascade is dominated by a copper crowned tower, rising 106 metres above the harbour. More than 2.5 million bricks were used to construct the tower.


This morning, thanks to daylight-saving enhanced jet lag, I woke rather early. While Garry slept I ventured out to walk around City Hall. By chance I came upon the entrance to its main tower. The queue was short despite signs warning that only 30 people could ascend at any time. On impulse I decided to climb its 365 steps to the outdoor carillon.


I'm glad I made the effort. The view from the top was stunning, taking in the city's ice-choked waterways and the jagged skyline of Gamla Stan (old town). Stockholm's many canals and islands also become very apparent from this vantage point.


However, perhaps the most unexpected sight came into view two-third the way up the tower. In a large room I came across a 7.5 metre tall statue of St Erik, the patron saint of Stockholm. It was originally built to sit in the carillon's open platform. However, the architect Ragnar Ostberg changes his plans and the statue remains stranded in its current location.

Later, after descending the tower, I discovered that the crowd waiting to climb had grown to form a long line requiring a wait of almost an hour. Jet lag has served me well.

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Stockholm Spring

Garry and I have arrived in Stockholm for Easter. We've been blessed with cool but sunny Spring weather for the next three days. Our first day has been spent leisurely wandering the narrow, bustling streets of Gamla Stan, Stockholm's old town district. The streets were filled with locals clearly enjoying the first days of Spring.

Garry and I stopped for lunch at an old warehouse building, dining on Moose and meatballs made from game meat. The meal was delicious and we can now add Moose to our list of tested and approved local dishes.


Other off-beat attractions that captured our attention today include watching large ice flows making their way down the city's many canals. The Spring thaw is clearly underway upstream resulting in a mesmerizing flotilla of ice sweeping by the city's numerous waterfront parks. We were particularly bemused by a lone swan calmly preening itself while standing on one flow as the current carried it along.

We've booked ourselves on a Sunday brunch cruise touring the Stockholm archipelago for three scenic hours. However, first up is the world-famous Vasa Museum tomorrow. Watch for more photos soon (PS: The image opening this post was taken from our hotel room where the city's town hall dominates the view).

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An ordinary week

It’s been a rather ordinary week; a rather mundane time of long working hours and regular household chores. Our car is back from the repair yard. It looks as good as new. Outside Spring is finally making its mark; a month later than usual. The daffodils in full in our yard (although we’ve noted numerous stems yet to bloom further down the street) and the first blossoms have finally appeared in the backyard. Last night the clocks also went forward an hour, heralding the start of British Summer Time. Garry and I both noted how light it was at 7.00pm this evening. We’re finally eating dinner in daylight again.

Temperatures have also been milder. Today’s high reached 13.3°C. However, another cold spell is forecast in the run up to Easter. Wednesday’s high is predicted to drop to a chilly 7°C, with overnight lows of 1°C. This will be ideal training for our Easter vacation in Stockholm. The daily temperature isn’t forecast to rise above 6°C while we’re there with overnight lows dropping to -1°C. Weather at the Ice Hotel will be even colder, with daily highs of 0°C. I read this morning that the temperature inside the hotel will be -5°C.

The first daffodils of Spring

Hooray! Our first daffodils have burst into bloom. Spring is finally on its way. Just as horticulturalists have predicted the stems are shorter than normal thanks to unseasonally cold weather stunting their growth.

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Seeking sights and sunshine

The daffodils still haven’t bloomed. However, the buds are swelling. Our first flowers of the season can only be days away. Even better, the daytime temperature is finally heading into double digits. Today's high reached 11°C, while Wednesday’s high is forecast to hit a balmy 14°C. The warmer weather has arrived just in time for the Spring Equinox, now less than six days away.

Garry and I are busy making final preparations for three holidays planned for April and May. Two are side trips which make up our annual round-the-world ticket, and a third is a discount special from British Airways. We’ve scheduled each to coincide with forthcoming public holidays. However, we’re a little anxious as British Airway’s cabin crew have announced plans to strike. Currently the published strike dates are outside those of our travel but previous strikes disrupted flights for days afterwards. Hopefully, there will be aircraft in the right location on the right day over Easter.

The first vacation is an extended Easter break in Sweden. We’re flying to Stockholm for three days, before heading north to enjoy two days at the famous Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi. Garry is keen to see Stockholm, while I’m keen to go north of the Arctic Circle and chance our luck for another sighting of the Northern Lights. We saw aurora borealis for the first time two years ago in Iceland, also at Easter.

Our next vacation will take advantage of the first public holiday in May. We’re off to Greece for a week of island hopping and touring ancient Greek ruins. Our tour takes in three days in Mykonos, two days in Santorini, followed by two final days in Athens. We’ve taken advantage of off-peak rates and booked ourselves into some incredible hotels.

Our final vacation will be a long weekend at the end of May, once again taking advantage of a public holiday. We’re off for three days in Copenhagen, neatly rounding off Garry’s progressive tour of the Nordics. In recent years we’ve made it to Oslo and Helsinki. Hopefully, we'll encounter some reasonable Spring weather over the next few months.

Pace yourself

Today's paper kindly warned us that this spring is likely to be unseasonably cool. I tend to believe them. We've experienced a week of wonderfully blue skies most days, accompanied by bitterly cold winds sweeping in from the Nordics. Today's overnight low is forecast to reach a chilly 2°C, before falling to 0°C overnight later in the week. Sunday night's low was even lower, dropping to an icy minus 2°C.

I also read today that the extreme cold weather has delayed England's daffodil season by up to four weeks. In previous years our garden was filled to over-flowing with bright yellow blooms by early March. However, this year the bulbs are still struggling to make their presence known and none have yet flowered. The trees are also bare, whereas two years ago most were smothered in blossom by this date. In fact, this winter has been so sodden and cold that a couple of smaller trees in the backyard simply toppled over last month rather than burst into blossom.

Hit and run!

A shocking surprise greeted us as we prepared to drive to the hardware store this weekend. As we approached our car, parked as always in the street, we discovered someone had hit it. Worse still, they'd driven off without leaving a note. The right rear side bumper and boot lid are completely mangled. The cat had been hit so hard, its rear wheels were shunted a foot away from the curb, leaving it parked at an awkward angle.

Garry was most upset. After such a long and demoralising winter, this latest incident simply seems to add to our litany of winter woes. I was a little more sanguine. Sadly, it's not the first time I've had someone hit my car and disappear without a trace. We've submitted an insurance claim and take the car in for repair on Thursday. We're now a small part of the £54 million worth of insurance claims lodged nationwide every day.

In an ironic twist, we renewed our insurance a month ago, changing insurers in the process. The new insurer gave a better deal with a lower excess. Garry also discovered that we'd been charged insurance rates for a completely different (and more expensive) car form factor (a convertible rather than a sedan) for the last four years. It's our gas bill debacle all over again. I'm staggered that yet another UK company has been ripping us off for years. I swear I've never experienced such fundamental billing errors in Australia.

Cold feet in the morning

We endured more winter fun and games last week. The water main ruptured in our street. The subsequent loss of pressure meant no water was reaching our top floor apartment for two days. While the main was repaired within a day, a plumber had to come in and bleed air from the pipes before water could reach our floor again. Poor Garry endured two days without a hot shower, while I was forced to trundled off early to use the shower in our office. This marks our fifth ‘no hot water’ incident so far this winter. The novelty has definitely worn off.

Spring at last

Tomorrow is the first official day of Spring. The daffodils and snowdrops have started sprouting. I’ve even noticed buds on some trees starting to swell. These milestone couldn’t come soon enough. Winter has been particularly wearing this season. As recently as this week we soldiered through yet another bout of rain and sporadic snow flurries. On the home front, Garry has come down with a debilitating chest cold and I’ve been working extra-ordinary hours covering for staff on leave and senior vacancies we’re currently filling. With all this happening around me, I’m beginning to truly appreciate the psychological impact of the seasons on Britain life.

Thirty years ago, during the last winter as cold as the current season, civil unrest and union strikes crippled the nation. This infamous Winter of Discontent eroded confidence in the Government of the day, paving the way for the General Election that ultimately brought Margaret Thatcher to power in May 1979. History seems set to repeat itself as the nation’s major parties prepare for another General Election. The winter’s been harsh and current economic conditions are almost a bleak.

This week the Office for National Statistics revised last quarter’s GDP growth figure from 0.1% to 0.3%. In any other year this would have been positive news. However, the Pound’s value fell during the week as fears grow that GDP will contract again during the first quarter of 2010. This so-called double-dip recession is a distinct possibility for many reasons.

January’s foul weather hit retail sales hard as people stayed home. The pound has fallen again in value making basic imports, including petrol, more expensive. At the same time, VAT (goods and services tax) has returned to its pre-recession rate of 17.5% and several other Government stimulus policies have come to an end (including a stamp duty ‘holiday’ on house sales and rebates for scrapping old cars). Finally, factor in the dampening sentiment of a pending election, and you can understand why most economists think economic growth will be subdued at best.

Roll on Summer!

ON A LIGHTER NOTE
I came across these wonderful images of our Winter. While it’s been harsh and relentless, the nation has experienced some incredible scenes. Take a look.