Volcano time

Iceland's revenge on the world economy has given us a glimpse of a world without air travel

Quiet silent skies

No jet noises

No contrails in the sky

We are used to images of stranded passengers

Others marooned by terrorism

Stark pictures of industrial action are more common today 

Or perhaps just our overcrowded world in it's different guises

But it is very rare for the skies to be emptied so comprehensively as this.

As many people observed, the sight of clear blue skies without a contrail to be seen was strangely uplifting.
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But it also had a post-apocalyptic feel about it, more reminiscent of a Hollywood disaster movie than environmental utopia

Something familiar is missing

Something we have grown used to

Take away air travel and suddenly we have a glimpse of how life could be without it

Living on an island where suddenly any journey off the island becomes a different proposition

Time is changed

Instead of hours for a simple journey it is a day

And instead of a day to go to the other side of the world it is two or three

Nature has given us a glimpse of what might be in store for us in years to come

Over and over we forget nature's power

Only to be reminded in a dramatic and simple way - this time by ash

Ash that changed our world overnight

Not much on the ground but the threat of it enough to change our lives

And what else might nature show us?

Earthquakes are more frequent

Are they coming to a neighborhood near you?

More floods, maybe we have had plenty of them recently

Drought as well

Notice though no one wants to pull all this together to show how nature is more violent

More unsettled

A quick look at our past says that nature has often shifted gears

We have been through a relatively quiet and stable period

Hang on because now we feel to be entering a much more volatile period

Be warned life will not be as it was

Flexibility in your private life is good preparation for what is to come

Nature is reminding us of her power

And why might she do this?

Could it be to teach us to learn to handle change?

To accept that nothing is for sure

Nothing is to be taken for granted

Security is an illusion

Life is inherently unpredictable

To learn to live life in the moment because we cannot know what tomorrow will bring

Mmmmm!