Are Britons just too angry?

My family isn't the jet setting sort. I travel a great deal and spend a fair bit of time in the air. As does my uncle who is visiting me in Japan just now. But it's not common for 4 or 5 or more members of my extended family to have travel plans at the same time. So i think it is a bit funny when I think about the timing of the current, or recently ended ban on flying in Europe.

It is amazing that there could be an all out ban on flying, thinking how much money is involved in travelling. But personally I'd rather sleep at an airport a few days, or delay my vacation than fly into a cloud that has the potential to turn my plane engines into glass...I am one who lives by the philosophy of choose life.

I suppose that many Europeans don't live by that philosophy which is why they seem to be so angry about the trouble. I think it is absurd to get angry about the weather. Isn't it? Isn't it a little bit absurd to get angry about a volcanic eruption? I mean this is the first time every... every that a volcano has felt the need to erupt in commercial airspace... you think people would be a little bit tolerant of the fact that this has never happened before.

It's like if you were flying into somewhere that was at that moment having an earthquake... would you really want the plane to land? Or would you prefer it was rerouted or delayed... Is it really something to get angry about. Now I know that its hard when you are stranded and don't really have money for a hotel or have a friend in the area with a couch you can crash on, which is a good time to make some friends, and I think European hostels should have been making a move on airports advertising their cheap beds and busing people to and from to help them get through the problem.

But I read the news reports and there are words "infuriated" and "irate" and "angered" being used and it just makes me think, man I hope i never have to go to Europe and meet all these people who can't recognize that sometimes things that HAVE NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE happen and that when they do, we have no plans in place, and perhaps erring on the side of caution is nicer than allowing people to die and expensive equipment to be damaged, when a lot of patience and willingness to accept that when things that HAVE NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE happen, we don't always choose the best way to deal with them.

Rie

I watched her come home and quietly put the medal in the trophy case. And I thought, she is finished with skiing, now. I have a marathon medal just like that. It says marathon on it, but I know it was only 5ks.

She said, "thanks for all your help with the trip. Everyone had a great experience." She looked at the case and then closed the glass door. "Uh," she started.

I've started biting my cheek, I thought. And wondered when the habit started.

I asked her to help me make a flyer for some new classes. She agreed and said she would come back a little later. I agreed that was best.

Later, her mother said she would send the flyers from Tokyo. I thought as much.

That evening my student said to me, "Why can you speak Japanese?" I said, because I like to tell stories. He didn't understand. But thinking about it now, I do like to tell stories.