What volcanic ash?

[Proto]

Ignoring the fascinating posts about sunset, trains, neighbour's car, much more important is that my youngest daughter is stranded in Berlin.

Took off on a jolly with a mate on Tuesday, due back last night. Not sure how she's getting home, might have to bus/train through Belgium, then ferry. But she hasn't got much money left and her 'Gold Star' travel insurance isn't exactly generous.

Supposed to be at work on Saturday and back at school Monday. A level revision awaits her.

 

[Globalti]

Thank God I'm not stuck in Lagos.

 

[BrumJim]

I dunno about smallest WITH one but the largest without (and I assume by 'full gauge' you mean standard gauge?), is is New Zealand? They, thanks to my railway-mad uncle who's been there, only operate narrow gauge due to the terrain.
Smallest with, guessing, Isle Of Wight?
p.s. I don't know if it was just the last remnant of winter or the volcanic ash, but sunrise this morning had an unusual yellow glow around it and it was blummin' cold, 2.9 deg C.

New Zealand does have a standard gauge railway. Met someone who works for New Zealand railways, and saw a loco being built for them by Brush in Loughborough. Largest is pretty obvious when you think about it.
By full gauge, I'm including broad as well as standard gauge, i.e. anything in the 4ft area.
IOW is indeed small, but I know of a smaller one.

 

[PaulB]

I don't want to spread concern or forecast doom but didn't the last ice-age begin in the same circumstances? A volcano spewed out ash for several weeks at a critical time of year. The sun couldn't get through, the weather went colder than normal, crops failed and hundreds of thousands of people died. Still, never mind, eh?

 

[Andy in Sig]

I admire the Icelanders for erupting a volcano that they know will give foreign newsreaders problems in saying the name. Loads more impressive than tosspot amateur volcanoes like Etna or Mt Saint Helens.

 

[PaulB]

I admire the Icelanders for erupting a volcano that they know will give foreign newsreaders problems in saying the name. Loads more impressive than tosspot amateur volcanoes like Etna or Mt Saint Helens.

I think they're getting everyone back who criticised their financial shenanegins.

 

[Davidc]

I admire the Icelanders for erupting a volcano that they know will give foreign newsreaders problems in saying the name. Loads more impressive than tosspot amateur volcanoes like Etna or Mt Saint Helens.

You haven't quite got it Andy.

It's all a great Icelandic conspiracy.

When we and the Netherlanders stop asking for our money back they'll switch off their ash generator (they claim it's a volcano) and let us fly our planes again.

All those pictures of the ash coming out were in fact simulated in a bollywood studio, the volcano never actually existed.

 

[Proto]

I don't want to spread concern or forecast doom but didn't the last ice-age begin in the same circumstances? A volcano spewed out ash for several weeks at a critical time of year. The sun couldn't get through, the weather went colder than normal, crops failed and hundreds of thousands of people died. Still, never mind, eh?

You've just read The Road haven't you?

 

[PaulB]

You've just read The Road haven't you?

yes

 

[Proto]

yes

Scary isn't it.

 

[Proto]

Thank God I'm not stuck in Lagos.

It's the folk stuck in Liverpool that I feel sorry for.

 

[Crankarm]

I don't want to spread concern or forecast doom but didn't the last ice-age begin in the same circumstances? A volcano spewed out ash for several weeks at a critical time of year. The sun couldn't get through, the weather went colder than normal, crops failed and hundreds of thousands of people died. Still, never mind, eh?

End of Days ......

Still, I bet the Icelanders are thinking revenge is sweet .....

The wind is blowing the ash over us. Tomorrow it will change to a southerly so possibly some respite. Having a huge high pressure system stretching from the Arctic down to North Africa funnelling freezing cold air down across the UK and Northern Europe has caused this just as much as the volcano erupting in the first place. Apparently the Eyjafjallajokull volcano has a much bigger neighbour currently lying dormant which could be stirred into action .....

 

[Andy in Sig]

Historically it usually is stirred into action when the current one erupts. So if any dinosaurs are thinking of making an evolutionary comeback, they're wasting their time.

 

[Norm]

Ignoring the fascinating posts about sunset, trains, neighbour's car, much more important is that my youngest daughter is stranded in Berlin.

Sorry if I appear disrespectful but that's quite shocking. How can you be stranded in the capital of one of our near neighbours?

Coach? Train? Have we become so reliant on the £30 EasyJet option that we don't even consider alternatives?

 

[BrumJim]

We're trying to get people back from Berlin as well - a couple of colleagues out there on business. All Eurostar train tickets have now gone, and I guess the Berlin/Paris ones have too. We are currently considering the Hire Car option.