To my four-year old son, I say: I will bring you home some ash from the eruption at Eyjafjallajökull.
20/7/10. Arrive Reykjavík.
Suggestion #1 from locals (my hosts)
Ash is available in small tubes for $15 from Reykjavík souvenir shops. Why drive all the way to the volcano?
Ethics
Is it wrong to buy ash for your four-year old? Yes.
Suggestion #2 from local (musician)
Ash is available from my practice room window sill. See. (Wipes index finger on window sill, still dirty with ash.)
Ethics
Is it wrong to clean a friend’s window sill and call it collecting ash from a volcano? Yes.
Method
1) Borrow host’s car.
2) Drive to volcano: 100km from Reykjavík, $60 in petrol.
3) Collect ash from roadside.
Suggestion #3 from local (my sister/tour guide)
Make sure you get the white ash. It is fresher than the dark stuff.
13:00, 26/7/10. Drive begins.
14:00. Stop at Selfoss for hot dog and chocolate milk and Icelandic donuts.
15:00. There is no roadside ash.
16:00. There is an ash storm. The sky fills with white ash. There is absolutely no ash by the roadside.
Ethics
In the face of an ash storm, is it wrong to abandon the search for ash? Yes.
17:30. Search abandoned.
15:00, 27/7/10. Airport souvenir shop. Purchase of 1 tube of ash (sparkles): $15.
16:10. Depart Reykjavík.
Ethics
Is it wrong to take the label off the tube and pretend that I collected the ash myself? Yes.
The view of the ash storm from Hlídarendi, as it comes out of the valley
A curious resident of Hlídarendi
Looking up the valley towards Thorsmörk, the ash thickens
Back in town: proof that spontaneous acts of street poetry can end badly
And one wonders what's left to do
