Ethereal Beauty >> Wordless Wednesday

Iceland volcaNO eruption, again! Thanks, God I'd been back

When I tuned in to BBC1 yesterday morning the first thing I heard was that another Iceland volcano eruption has suspended flights for fear of ash cloud. Throughout the whole day, the station gave updates on flight disruptions and related news. Me thought, Boy was I ever grateful! I had already been affected last year and even if I'm no longer in the work force now, I wouldn't have wanted to get stuck again.

On my birthday last year, I, together with my husband and my sister-in-law, flew to Sicily to see the Artichoke Festival in their city. That same day, Eyjafjallajokull, an Icelandic volcano, erupted and scattered ash clouds in Europe causing flight disruptions later that day. Luckily we had landed a few hours before news of inbound and outbound UK flight suspensions broke out.

I may not have been seriously affected when I got stuck last year as I was staying in my sister-in-law's house and there was no need for additional accommodation cost. But many were stuck in their hotels and at the airports all over the world and, definitely, I wouldn't want more people to go through the same hardships those people had.

Image Credit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-13516646

Another loophole in the UK state welfare

Upon arrival at London Stansted on Saturday, the supposedly "doom's day", my husband picked up a free daily that I didn't get to read until this morning. I had to unpack our luggage and do other house chores after coming back from a 9-day holiday in Sicily, Italy.

Anyway, what caught my most interest was about the Romanian gypsies who register themselves as self-employed by selling Big Issue magazines and are therefore given National Insurance numbers which, then, entitle them to claim benefits and build mansions back in their home country. The article, entitled, "Benefits Boulevard: Gypsies' gaudy mansions built in Romania... with YOUR money", by Sue Reid, tells how these people perform their modus operandi in a rather subtle kind of deception. There seems to have nothing illegal with what they are doing but this is absolutely a kick in the teeth.

I have worked in a winery, a playground, a hospital ward, and an office earning a meagre pittance. All on a temporary basis which means if I was on a sick leave I wouldn't get paid. And this story of fraudulent people abusing the benefit system is highly intolerable for me.

Is the UK government incompetent and inefficient in dealing with this issue? This is not the first time someone has abused the system. But they never seem to learn.

Source:
Image from http://loveyourmoney.co.uk/
Article from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1389282/Benefits-boulevard-Built-Romania--YOUR-money.html