Kerre Woodham: Grounded in Paris

Planes are stranded at Charles de Gaulle Airport, outside Paris and Kerre Woodham is meant to be flying on one of them. Photo / AP

It was my travelling mate who first noticed it. We were being driven through the ancient French town of Reims to be wined and dined by the charming man from Bollinger.

Geeling and I had finished the Paris Marathon without major damage and, as a reward, we'd skipped town to sample champagne.

Night was falling and Geeling exclaimed over the colour of the sun. It was huge and an orangey blood red. "Have you ever seen anything like it?" she said.

I had. About eight years ago, I was driving over the Rimutakas to Martinborough (another wine district, funnily enough - there's a pattern forming here) and the moon looked the same as the Reims sun. Huge, and the most exquisite colour.

Apparently, I said, that one was caused by the ash from the bushfires that were blazing across Australia at the time. "Fancy," she said, and then we turned a corner and arrived at the restaurant and thought no more about it until Geeling received a text from Air France.

"Your flight to London has been cancelled," it read. "Thank you for your co-operation." Like anyone had a choice.

That's when we jumped online and found out that Eyjafjallajokull volcano had erupted and crippled the northern European air transport system.

On the plus side, the ash drift was providing exquisite sunsets, but that's a small bonus for those poor souls who have to be somewhere urgently.

I am so glad I'm writing Eyjafjallajokull and not trying to pronounce it on radio or TV but no doubt our newsreaders have got their tongues around the name by now.

So now we sit and wait.

Geeling has been waiting three days to try to get to London for a connecting flight to San Francisco. I've had only the one day's delay so far. The hotels are fine because although people can't get out, others can't get in, so some sort of equilibrium seems to have been reached with the accommodation - at least in Paris.

I heard a group of tourists complaining on the train back from Versailles. "We saw it on the television," one said in the voice that carried to every corner of the carriage. "It was a tiny puff of smoke. What an over-reaction."

Speaking for myself, I have no desire to risk becoming a member of the Galunggung Gliding Club, those passengers and crew on board a BA flight over Indonesia whose plane lost all four engines for about 15 minutes after they were clogged with volcanic ash.

No, there's something wonderful about nature really - for all our clever inventions, technology and science, natural forces will always have the final say.

I just hope nature in the form of the Icelandic volcano shuts up soon because, while there are worse places to be stranded than the City of Lights, there's only so long you can live out of a suitcase and off a credit card.