Pain In The Ash

Living in Florida most of my life has prepared me for natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, tropical storms, and brushfires.  I know that those things can be dangerous and you have to be prepared with a safety plan, supplies and all that.  We went through so many of those things that I don't want to say they weren't a big deal, but it became expected that they would occur and like second-nature when preparing for them.

I'm coming across a whole new natural phenomenon here in Australia- volcanic ash clouds.  You can't see it, smell it, or feel it but it is taking over and ruining things.  I have executive board members stranded here at work, some are stranded in Melbourne, they need places to stay, food to eat, flights to be rebooked and put on the earliest standbys, car transfers to be rescheduled, clothes and toiletries to be purchased as they didn't expect to be stuck in Sydney for 5 days.  I have meetings being cancelled every other hour, catering that's being delivered because it was too late to cancel and people are angry because they still have to pay for the catering even though they aren't here to eat it. 

Everyone is frustrated and tense and there's absolutely nothing that can be done.  What I've learned is that the aircraft engines get so incredibly hot (equivalent to the temperature of the sun) that if the volcanic ash hits the engine, it will melt and clog the engine, causing a plane crash.  So Qantas, Virgin Australia, Jetstar, all airlines have cancelled all flights.  This happened for a couple of days last week and it looks like it's going to last until Saturday or Sunday this week.  What is so crazy is that the volcanic ash is coming all the way from Chile but it gets stuck in the high-altitude winds and end up all the way over here.  I know it could be worse.  I could be in Chile with the volcano.  So I'll just have to weather the ash storm and see how we go.