Ashes to Ashes revisited

The reverberations of Iceland's contribution to the atmosphere look set to continue long into the future, according to a report in today's Guardian, which comments that:

"While 10 million consumers insist they will not change their travel plans as a result of the volcano, its impact has clouded others' intentions. As a direct consequence of the volcanic ash cloud 2.8 million Brits have decided not to fly at all, and as many as 4.7 million are undecided. Added to the 2.4 million who have already decided to stay at home it seems the outlook for domestic tourism remains optimistic"

2009 was one of the best years for tourism here in Wales, and though there are times that the main restaurants etc get booked out, there are, thanks to the development restrictions imposed by the National Park, still hundreds of places that you can hide away next to the ocean with only the gulls and an occasional seal for company.

Long live summer.

Food insecurity, spin and salad

The Guardian's headline says it all:

Flight ban could leave UK short of fruit and veg

And then goes on to say.."This will mean a three-day shortfall in the supply of... asparagus, grapes, green onions, lettuce and pre-packed fruit salads. The fear is that, while there are still supplies of these products in the supply chain, they are likely to be exhausted next week."

I'm quaking in my boots and am not sure how my family will react when they discover that asaparagus and green onions will be off the hors d'oeuvres plate. And I dread to think how they'll take the prospect of not being a able to buy packaged salads at exhorbitant prices.

Nonsense reporting such as this gets in the way of much more serious concerns around food security - an oil shock due to supply interruption would cost lives, not dinner parties.