Ashes, Ashes (we all fall down?)

On Thursday April 15th a volcano erupted in Iceland.  The result: European and British airspace was utterly and completely closed down.  Luckily for my parents and I, we were already home-sweet-home from Spain, puttering around Maidstone, taking excursions to London and Canterbury, as I'm sure you so excitedly read about.  Not-so-luckily for a couple friends of mine, though, this closed airspace meant they were stranded in Europe with no clue of when or how they would return to England.  Kari was in Spain with her parents and Sarah in Denmark (according to her, the "best place in the entire world" to be stranded - NOT) with her friend Tianne. 
After several days of cancelled flights, Sarah decided to book several trains which would bring her home over the course of three days (and which would cost a ridiculous $1,000 Canadian dollars).  And why did it cost that much, you ask?  Because the Eurostar decided to make a profit from this natural disaster and exploit innocent people who just wanted to get home to their jobs and families (they charged up to TEN TIMES what they would normally charge for a one-way ticket)!  Absolutely disgusting.  Not actually sure why the British and European governments let them get away with that... But really, what choice did Sarah have?  As Timeplan teachers, we don't get paid for missing work, so the longer she was away the longer she would go without pay (and after a two-week holiday, we kinda needed the money). 
She finally made it home late Monday night and made it to work on Tuesday, exhausted but happy to be home.  Kari, who had a similar story and drove 27 hours in a rental car from Spain to France, made it to work on Wednesday.
And it seems as though my parents couldn't have picked a better day to fly home.  They left Thursday afternoon, and England re-opened its airspace on Wednesday evening.  Their flight was only delayed 55 minutes.  Perfect timing for them AND Britny (my roomate) who arrived home from Canada that same day!  Things really did work out for mom and dad and I.  But for all those poor people who slept in airports several days in a row or who paid 2,500 euro to take a taxi home...let's hope the bigger volcano that lives nextdoor to this one doesn't take its turn next holiday, shall we?