It may have been a while since my last post as la belle dame, but the overwhelming abundance of breaking news from the political trail of all three main parties (Cameron’s standing in front of a wall of Warburtons medium sliced! What can this mean?!) campaign propaganda gone mad (a future fair for all Gordon? Even old Etonians?) and election gaffes (does anyone understand the proportional representation system?) that have filled the newspapers recently has bored me to tears.
More controversially however, the volcanic ash billowing across the sky in the Northern European hemisphere has prompted nothing but upset, anger and disappointment for the thousands affected, with images of sooty faces raised to the heavens in aguish jostling only with the Prime Minister’s wobbling jowls for a place on the front page of the nation’s tabloids. And yet, I can’t help but wonder at the great British public’s reaction to what is, essentially, a God given excuse for an extended holiday. Granted, the crisis has so far cost airlines $1.7 billion in revenue, sure, some companies are refusing to pay out for any incurred expenses on what started out as a business trip, but what happened to optimism people?
One friend in particular, ‘stuck’ in Barbados at her family’s holiday home after being told she wouldn’t be able to fly back to London for another week, persisted in sharing the misery of her position on her Facebook status every few hours, while the rest of us sat shivering at our desks with two pairs of socks on. So while I can understand that a family with 2.4 children on their way back from Disneyland might be upset about the financial implications of such a natural disaster, why don’t the rest of us just lie back for a minute – wherever we are – and relish in the carefree spontaneity of the situation.
More controversially however, the volcanic ash billowing across the sky in the Northern European hemisphere has prompted nothing but upset, anger and disappointment for the thousands affected, with images of sooty faces raised to the heavens in aguish jostling only with the Prime Minister’s wobbling jowls for a place on the front page of the nation’s tabloids. And yet, I can’t help but wonder at the great British public’s reaction to what is, essentially, a God given excuse for an extended holiday. Granted, the crisis has so far cost airlines $1.7 billion in revenue, sure, some companies are refusing to pay out for any incurred expenses on what started out as a business trip, but what happened to optimism people?
One friend in particular, ‘stuck’ in Barbados at her family’s holiday home after being told she wouldn’t be able to fly back to London for another week, persisted in sharing the misery of her position on her Facebook status every few hours, while the rest of us sat shivering at our desks with two pairs of socks on. So while I can understand that a family with 2.4 children on their way back from Disneyland might be upset about the financial implications of such a natural disaster, why don’t the rest of us just lie back for a minute – wherever we are – and relish in the carefree spontaneity of the situation.
