Planes and venus

Since the volcanic eruption in Iceland (I nearly typed Venus there, confusedly. That WOULD be news!) the volcanic ash has grounded all the planes. The skies are empty.

I like it. Selfishly, as I don't have any need to fly, it's rather nice. I think flying is rather unnecessary in most cases. To travel long distance, it is necessary. To travel within the UK, it is silly, but ludicrously often cheapest. To go to another country merely to increase the likelihood of skin cancer is moronic and should be banned. To see the world and soak up culture: acceptable (but not the be all and end all of life); to visit a hot(ter) country and lie by a pool getting fried is one of those peculiar things that obviously comes from the same part of the brain as liking Heat magazine. So, flights being off is generally quite good from a grumpy point of view.

As we are on the flight path to just about everywhere from just about everywhere else, there's always planes in the sky. But now, there's nothing. No trails, no plane sounds. And at night, any bright light doesn't immediately start moving across the sky. A bright light quite probably IS a planet.

And so, tonight, I saw Venus and Mercury and was satisfied that neither were about to land.
Which was very exciting.