Menu:

 
I’m surprised that the volcano-ash-cloud situation didn’t occur while I was travelling. Knowing myself and my travel experiences, this is just the kind of thing that would have happened to me. I’m sure as hell never complaining again about missed connections and lost bags. I do feel for all these people stuck in various airports around the world, away from home and with the anxiety of not being able to do all the things they were supposed to do and for which they were travelling for in the first place. One of these people is my dad; he just made it to Rome on Friday, although I really am worried about how he’ll get back home (Mexico) when his business trip is over.

      What I found truly surprising, as well, is that there’s never been a movie made about a distaster like this. I think of the millions of pounds/dollars/Euros that are burning away  because of the air travel block; really, is the word millions sufficient to describe it, even? People desperate to get back home, but who’ve been camping out at airports for days. It seems like the scenario for a bad sci-fi movie. Yet what is really scary, I find, is how little we really know about this whole deal; we accept and assent.

      All I can think of in relation to this is the swine flu. I lived in the epicentre of the crisis (Mexico City), my finals were even postponed because of the outburst, but the media never told us: who got it, where they got it, how they got it. In a city of over 20 million people, things like these are indicative of how such a disease might spread. I never knew anyone who got it, and to be honest, the economic losses that occurred during those unforgettable 2 weeks still amaze me. Restaurants, businesses, shops, offices closed down; people where forced to stay at home, we were encouraged to call supermarkets and tell them to bring groceries over, to avoid exposure. It was one of those crazy economics-textbook scenarios: if there is a sudden outburst of an epidemic, what will happen to the supply and prices of surgical masks and clorox wipes? I’m sure you can guess the answer.

      It’s the same these days. I would dread getting on a train this week. Being in St. Andrews does cut one off from the outside world, and I wonder if there’s more traffic on the highways, if road accidents have been more frequent, and if a train ticket might cost a fortune already. Bottom line is that we are always slightly left in the dark, and the less we know, the more we panic. It does get one wondering how many things going on around, above and below us we don’t find out about.

      The swine-flu crisis was hushed away slowly with propaganda on washing your hands and being less physical when greeting people. I don’t know if the air travel problem will be as easily resolved, or how reassured those first few passengers will be when they get on planes again. It does seem, however, that when the world wants mass hysteria, it is getting more and more inventive. 
 


Comments


Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply