I'm back!

Yes ... my blog has been screaming of utter neglect. I will offer no excuses ... I'm guilty as charged!

Things had been really chaotic on my end - from one activity to another, I try to cope up as best as I could. For the past 3 weeks now, I have been battling awful cold and allergy which doesn't seem to let up even after a lot of intake of good old fashioned "home cure". I've lost my voice for a good two weeks ... last week I thought I was feeling a lot better - boy was I totally wrong!

I was in charge of a 3-day training program at work last week for new employees in our category. It was participated by some new colleagues from our European regional offices. I thought I had everything under control - until the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland last Wednesday, 14 April ... I was wrong again!

Anyway, no one paid much attention to the volcano eruption the whole morning of that Wednesday. We even talked about it over lunch - some think it was such an exotic news. For most Scandinavians, it was no big deal. Erupting volcanos in Iceland is as good as ordinary. No one was really concerned about any danger until the afternoon of the following day, Thursday , 15 April. By noontime, news had spread that the volcano has continued its stream of explosions and started spewing ash forming into heavy clouds over the skies. The strong winds started blowing northbound, spreading steadily its heavy ash clouds. By the end of the day, the Scandinavian airspace, and airports, closed. Panic spread swiftly among my European colleagues as they asked: "How are we going home?" Over our tapas and paella dinner, their worries quelled a bit as we talked about trivial topics.

As our training drew to a close yesterday, I noticed how distracted everyone was. No one was really paying attention to the presenters during the morning block - eyes were darting between the presentation screens and their laptops, or their mobile phones. During the morning break, we were advised that Sweden had announced closure of its airspace and total suspension of all flights in all airports. My poor visiting colleagues were devastated ... their panic was visible - and understandable, too. My participating group came all the way from Russia, Romania, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, UK, France, Holland, Tunisia, Norway, Finland and Italy. Halfway through the last day of the course, we had no choice but to cut the training sessions short. After lunch, we tried to help arrange alternative ways for the group to get home - by boat, rental car and by trains. Some opted to stay extra nights in Gothenburg hoping the flight ban would let up today - fat chance! The volcano's raging mad and continues to draw havoc with its heavy ash clouds.

As I am writing this and looking out of my window, the skies are unusually grey ... or was I imagining it? Nature really has it way of getting back at you, eh?

In whichever case, I hope my colleagues who braved the seas, long hours of drive and crowded train queues have managed to get through and arrived home safely.

And yes, I'm back ... home to my blog again.