Dusted
Today as I went to attend my nephews birthday I had to start out dusting off my car. Not because I hadn't driven it in awhile, but because we're still dealing with the after effects of our latest volcano eruption. Friday we had a taste of what some people have to live with constantly, as the dust pollution index here rose above the 50 level mark (50 being the health limit) and went over 300 for a period of time during the day (200 being the level when flights are grounded). Closer to the volcano things were even worse.
This pollution has a natural cause. Which just goes to show that "all natural" isn't a guarantee that it's good for you. As people around the world are aware we had volcano eruption here in Iceland. It shut down air traffic across Europe and stranded people all over the world. The reason was the fine ash produced by the volcano. Because it was so fine, the wind would carry it all over. Not all of it was blown out to sea. We've got tons of the stuff on the ground. When the wind blows from the east, our usually blue sky now might turn a shade of brown.
Friday was particularly bad. My friends in Hong Kong will known what I'm talking about. In March this year one of the worst dust storms in history made the air in Hong Kong turn a particularly nasty shade. Residents of Beijing are accustomed to dust storms turning the air orange. Apparently this dust reaches Korea and Japan fairly regularly. So what's happening here isn't that unusual. But for us here in Iceland. This is unusual. I've never experienced anything like it before. You could literally taste the ash. People with respiratory problems were warned to stay in doors. Dust masks sold out in the pharmacies. I kept my windows closed. Now we just need a good rain to keep this out of the air.
This pollution has a natural cause. Which just goes to show that "all natural" isn't a guarantee that it's good for you. As people around the world are aware we had volcano eruption here in Iceland. It shut down air traffic across Europe and stranded people all over the world. The reason was the fine ash produced by the volcano. Because it was so fine, the wind would carry it all over. Not all of it was blown out to sea. We've got tons of the stuff on the ground. When the wind blows from the east, our usually blue sky now might turn a shade of brown.
Friday was particularly bad. My friends in Hong Kong will known what I'm talking about. In March this year one of the worst dust storms in history made the air in Hong Kong turn a particularly nasty shade. Residents of Beijing are accustomed to dust storms turning the air orange. Apparently this dust reaches Korea and Japan fairly regularly. So what's happening here isn't that unusual. But for us here in Iceland. This is unusual. I've never experienced anything like it before. You could literally taste the ash. People with respiratory problems were warned to stay in doors. Dust masks sold out in the pharmacies. I kept my windows closed. Now we just need a good rain to keep this out of the air.
Ummæli
ps: your comment on Joyce's blog about writing with passion was extremely inspiring to me as I am such a new blogger. Thank you.