http://www.businessinsider.com/un-health...-settles-2010-4

Here's a shelter-in-place scenario for you!

Some volcano 2,000 miles away shuts down everything.

Yes, it could happen here in the USA - without the Yellowstone scenario.

Best get the beers in then.

Yep. I lived 35 air miles from Mt. St. Helens when it blew.

And had just had my '69 Mustang painted. Ash is bad for lungs, engines and auto paint.

John..i read where you smell that volcano in Scotland!!!

If you haven't seen it already, here's some good video of the volcano, shot by Iceland TV. It even has some good Euro trash music to accompany it.
http://www.gettingprepared.info/blog/video-the-iceland-volcano/

I lost a motorcycle engine to Mt. St. Helens. Also spent
a week stranded indoors at a friend's house.

Don't drive, and replace those air filters asap.

I thought the "stay-indoors" alert was a hoax. I followed those links, and they seem pretty insubstantial. All it says is that some anonymous "UN official" says so-and-so.

Now there's a bit more meat to the bone from other sources. The source now has a name to it, seems credible - but still way out of proportions. It MAY come to a point where it would be advisable to stay indoors during ash fallout. Particular for people with airway issues.

Just business as usual. It may come to this, it may come to that... and then all you read in the headline is STAY INDOORS. As always I'm impressed by how the media distorts things to gain attention.

My brother is stuck in Denmark.

He can't get home because there are no flights. He can't even get a train ticket because they are sold out. Can't get a hotel room anywhere near Copenhagen, so he is a long ways out. Can't get a rental car even.

About all he can do is wander around whatever town he managed to snag a room in.

I was kind of hoping he would have to sleep on a park bench.

I am not aware of any advice or instruction to stay indoors, no ash or dust can be seen here, it is a bright sunny morning with a clear blue sky.
Life carries on as normal, except of course for those wishing to fly, or otherwise reliant on the aviation industry.

One should of course be prepared with supplies and plans etc. for sheltering in place, in case of pandemics, radiation release, escape of toxic chemicals, or natural disasters.
There does not appear however to be any need for sheltering in place at present in the UK.

The advice I've seen is that it won't affect you unless you have a pre-existing condition, like asthma (in which case you are probably affected by everything anyway, and you'll already know about it).

Here in Nottingham (middle England) it's sunny, but cold. I don't know if the cold is due to the dust. (If it is, I may have a solution to global warming.)