Europe Under the Ash.

Eyjafjallajokull, that unpronounceable volcano, prompted inevitable chatter about nature's awesome fury and the inadequacy of human invention to deal with it. Few Europeans had even heard of the volcano before, and they marveled at, but mostly grumbled about, how such widespread havoc could be caused by such teensy particles of ash, adrift from Iceland. On the whole, Europeans tend to forget about Iceland until some fresh calamity compels their attention. The last was the banking implosion, and a line making the rounds in Europe has it that Iceland's final wish after its economy kicked the bucket was to spread its ashes across Europe. Other jokes were even worse. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]