Down to the wire

Really? A volcano? Brilliant.

Not a strike by BA, or a death-filled red shirt revolution in Thailand, but a bit of a low-level geo-burp in Iceland is what is causing total mayhem across the travel world and may knacker my visit.

It's a bit of a perfect storm in that this window is pretty much the only time we can come until nearer the end of the year - Anna's TV show finishes this Wednesday, and my work project kicks into a higher gear from May 24 until mid-September, which whilst not ruling out any holiday from May to September, does rule out any 3-week trip back to the UK. I've heard of a few mad buggers from here going back to the UK for ten days, but I'm not mental enough, or rich enough, to be thinking about that anytime soon.

Even if the airspace opens and planes get back in the air by midweek there's all sorts of stories like this one saying that it'll take at least a week of chaos after that to get back to something vaguely normal from a logistics point of view, due to planes not being where there supposed to be, crew on disrupted work and sleep patterns, and the huge backlog of folk who were supposed to be flying now being crammed onto any spare seat that might be available on the flights that can now get going. Important Business-class John might trump me when it comes to getting a seat on the plane (or worse, get me moved from the exit row seat which I've pre-booked).

A bit like the Gills chances of survival, the run-in looks iffy and despite earlier confidence-boosting results, there's now quite a decent chance it could all end in tears. We haven't yet started looking at three weeks in Bali as an alternative, but it's a possibility.


It's almost a quaint distraction now, but Thailand's got worse over the past couple of days - the army's moved into the financial district, and the yellow shirts, who closed the airports the last time they got uppity, have told the Government to sort out the red shirts, or they'll be back on the streets waving their wads of baht in the faces of the poorer rivals. They made this announcement on Sunday, and gave a seven day ultimatum before "showing their voice". If they were punctual in 'displaying their noise' it would be getting an airing this coming Sunday, which is when we're due to be in Bangkok for a 24 hour stopover, flying out at just after midnight on Sunday night. Marvellous.

After 25 folk died in the clashes last week (many near the Ko Sahn Road), the comments coming from the yellow shirts are slightly scary, calling on the reds "to value their own lives by not making any untrue statements saying that the government killed the people."

"If you value your life you won't say that government troops killed a load of folk by firing into the crowds, even though they did. Just shut it, right? Or you'll get some more of the same which will result in even more of your lot not getting killed by government troops. Long live the royal family!"

"What has Thaksin Shinawatra ever done for us eh? Alright, apart from supply fresh water and electricity to poor rural areas. Yeah, and provide other forms of basic infrastructure vital for economic development in underprivileged parts of the country. But apart from that..."