Every cloud has a silver lining

Yes, even ash clouds with turbine blade wrecking silica.

It's difficult not to be trite when so much inconvenience has been caused by the airspace closedown, and there is no schadenfreude in my observations of disadvantage to airline passengers, carriers and businesses affected by zero cargo space. And I'm not going to say to all the whingers 'come on, 'man'- up' like the indomitable travellers we have seen biking, hiking and generally pushing on using initiative and viagra-esque stiff upper lip.

I'm not going to say that because for every stir fry denied mange tout and baby sweetcorn there will be someone still undergoing dialysis because their promised organ transplant could not be flown to them. For every Ryanair executive moaning that he is losing revenue from his grounded pay-per-pee lavatories there will be a business struggling because their transportation network has a disconnect.

I'm not even going to say that my life has been enhanced because the purity of the recent blue sky is devoid of the silver snail-trails which usually sully it.

There is however a quickening which comes with challenge and imperative that demands intellectual activity above and beyond trying to work out which lying politician is currently fooling most of the people most of the time. I know from experience how stimulating it is to have to think on your feet, create a 'best fit' situation with disparate components, and how when you go to bed after a day of stimulation, you may be knackered, you may be half worrying what the next day brings but you will have a glow that only problem solving offers.

One of my heroes, the late, great Ian Dury sang of 'Reasons to be cheerful .... one, two, three', so here is my trinity of reasons to be grateful;

1 The opportunity to flex the 'leetle grey cells' (apologies to all of my Belgian readers, that was an appalling accent!) and show that we can adapt and survive; we must thank our gods that the mobile phone signal was not disrupted ....

2 I don't have empirical proof, but it seems to me that a more significant reduction to the alleged global warming issue will have been provided by the absence of aviation fuel guzzling leviathans for a week than for the whole stock of 4x4 s roaming the UK - can we have our tax back please mister? Add to this the reflective nature of the dust reducing the warming effect of the sun which makes it past our depleted ozone layer and we may be entitled to ask for a reduction of punitive excise duty on other larger engined cars too!

3 As the paperazzi cannot jet off to stalk 'slebs' on holiday / shopping in their track suits and slippers / stumbling out of toilet cubicles, we might have a temporary respite from Jordan's exploding breast implants, Leonardo Di Crapio's receding hairline and Kate Moss's little white moustache - really guys, am I the only person to retch when I see paper wasted on this schizzle?

That's it for today. If you like it, comment. If you don't like it, comment. If you don't care, sod off!


Anne

PS Day off tomorrow, but I'll talk to you soon God willing