ATLB

I’ve just seen on the news that there is a new volcanic ash cloud that’s probably going to reach the UK on Tuesday. I can’t believe that there is going to be the same disruption to airspace that there was last year, but it’s still likely to make a difference to anyone who wants to travel this year.

Luckily I don’t have any flights booked until September so I don’t think there should be a problem. I feel sorry for anyone who’s got flights booked in the near future though – there’s every chance they’ll still be able to fly but the anxious wait must be very difficult to take. Hopefully the cloud will pass soon without much disruption to the airlines flying in and out of the UK.

From what I understand the scale of this eruption is nowhere near the size of last year which was exceptionally big, so I doubt there will be the same level of disruption which is good. The size of the particles this time is larger meaning that they fall quicker.

One interesting thing is that there is a Champions League final in London on Saturday between Barcelona and Manchester United. United would have a major advantage if none of Barcelona’s fans could make it to the ground! It’s obviously wishful thinking, but it could happen! It would be a shame if the stadium wasn’t full though for such a big game, although I’m sure it won’t come to that.

I applied for my Olympic tickets near the start of the allotted time window hoping to get some to see minor events but I also applied for the 100m final. I knew that it would be oversubscribed but I thought there’s no harm in applying for some of the cheaper tickets. I’ve just heard that there are 40k seats available and over a million people applied!

I don’t mind that fact that I’ve got low odds because a lot of other people applied – that’s just something you need to accept with this sort of system. What annoys me is that the stadium is capable of holding over 80,000 people, yet half the tickets are going to corporate sponsors rather than fans.

I understand that some need to go to the sponsors – someone has to top up the budget – but didn’t tax payers pay for the vast majority of the games? It seems crazy that such a large proportion of tickets is taken up by people who probably aren’t that interested in being there.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised though. Exactly the same thing has happened at the Champions League final at Wembley in a week or so – it seems to be the accepted way of selling tickets for major events these days.

It’s difficult to say whether it will detract from the atmosphere, but it’s a shame that so many people are going to miss out.