Six weeks ago, marooned in Helsinki by a rogue Icelandic volcano, I noticed a strong divergence of opinion between those of my colleagues in a similar situation and those with no travel plans. For me and my fellow FT columnist Gideon Rachman, it was the end of the world – even if Gideon, who wasn't rushing back for his wife's birthday, accepted it with a sangfroid that I failed to muster. For those safely in the UK, the ash cloud was a minor distraction from important matters such as the Euro crisis and the British election.
6周前，當(dāng)肆虐的冰島火山把我困在赫爾辛基時(shí)，我注意到與我有類似遭遇的同事和那些沒有旅行計(jì)劃的同事之間存在嚴(yán)重的意見分歧。對于我和同為英國《金融時(shí)報(bào)》專欄作家的吉迪恩?拉赫曼 (Gideon Rachman)而言，這就是世界末日——不過，不用趕回家為妻子慶祝生日的吉迪恩顯得沉著冷靜，而我卻無法做到這點(diǎn)。對于那些安全地待在英國的同事而言，火山灰云不過是關(guān)注歐元危機(jī)和英國大選等重要事件之余的一點(diǎn)談資而已。