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It’s saying a lot – but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a worse time for volcanic ash.

Living near an active volcano as we do, we’re not strangers to having volcanic ash around (in fact, you may remember that I mentioned it here). But over the last couple of days it’s been quite the topic of conversation.

The news this week was that the spewing of the volcano was interrupting flights from central Mexico. I checked a couple of news reports that explained that the volcano had had “13 exhalations” (which is pretty much what it sounds like – spews of gas or ash) in one day. Well, today it’s 148 exhalations so far. Quite high – though it’s certainly been higher other days this month.

Anyway, whatever the reason may be, I’m feeling ash as I type on my keyboard here. You can wipe a surface in the house and come back a little later to wipe it again. It gets into everything – very fine, it hangs in the air like a mist. People are out sweeping the street in front of their houses – Shari included. Our neighbour was cleaning out the nooks and crannies in his car – even in the engine. And sweeping it up does help to keep sewers from getting clogged.

But you must admit, it does feel a little useless when you can come out and see the grey-black dust everywhere that you just swept!

The good news is that the wind seems to be blowing the plume in the opposite direction for the moment (apologies to our friends in Puebla!), and it doesn’t seem to be smoking too much at the moment. But you can check it for yourself right here (webcam). And in case you’re interested, a few years ago I posted the local recommendations of what to do in case of ash.