Latest from Ireland on Icelandic Volcano disruption

Jessie and her Granddad

Maybe in my old age i will be able to sit back and let her play for me. This is my granddaughter Jessica and she really does love my piano. When she comes to visit she runs to the piano and i have to join her and entertain her. As soon as i start to play she pulls my hands off the keyboard and takes over. She knows it all already.
As Ireland bathes in glorious sunshine our airports lie silently awaiting the return of flights carrying eager tourists to our shores. As bad and all as it is for the tourists who now find that they cannot come at this time,it is much worse for those people stranded here and who cannot get out of the country and home to their own families and jobs. There are also thousands of Irish people in foreign lands who cannot get back to Ireland so i suppose these are the people we should have the most sympathy for. My own chauffeurdrive service has been disrupted as i was to start a tour last Friday and my clients, who were traveling from the USA have been unable to get here. They re-scheduled for tomorrow morning but that has now been canceled also. Now they have once again made new arrangements and are due to arrive next Saturday. I know that they are both delighted and very relieved that i have been able to rearrange everything for them and that they are not going to either lose their holiday or their money. I have never yet penalised anybody when they have had the misfortune to have their arrangements canceled. I had one client who arrived a day late but, with my assistance, Aer Lingus refunded them the cost of that lost day and all was well. I know that many companies will not refund the clients deposit but i have never had to do anything like that. I have had incidents where people had to put their holiday on hold and come at a later date, and i will always provide the same deal when that happens, providing it is not a time when the hotel rates are at a premium and i have to pay a bit more for them. All i will add then is whatever extra the hotels charge. I do not add anything to my own charges. Travel insurance is something everybody should provide themselves eventhough i have full insurance for my clients for any accident they might have while traveling with me. Always make sure that whoever you travel with provide this insurance. You car hire a car and driver in Ireland who may not have the necessary cover so be careful. Chauffeurdrive companies like mine who can provide you with contact numbers of people who have used the service previously can give you that reassurance you need.
It looks at this stage like our airports will be closed into the latter end of the week. We have to wait for the wind to change direction as it is blowing straight down from Iceland over the British isles and Ireland and will continue to do this until later in the week at the earliest. Our other only hope is that the Volcano will cease to spew out this dust but that seems unlikely. So much for all this mighty power we seem to think we have. Nature leaves us helpless when she wants to shake us up a little. Pay attention world.
It is hard to believe when you look at the weather we are experiencing here at the moment that such a major disaster is occurring. God only knows what the final cost of this is going to be. Let us hope and pray that it will end soon.
If you are traveling to Ireland then just make sure that you keep in touch with the situation and get your information from reliable sources. As i write (Sunday afternoon) all Irish airports are closed to all traffic and there will be no resumption of flights before lunchtime to morrow at the earliest. I think it would be fair to say that believing this situation might change even then would be very optimistic to say the least. It would be more realistic to think that we may have a resumption by the end of the week. Let us hope so.
If you have any questions with regard to travel to Ireland then please write to me or comment here.

Your friend in Ireland

Dave