No Fly Zone

In a future world without aeroplanes, children would gather at the feet of old men, and hear extraordinary tales of a mythic time when vast and complicated machines the size of several houses used to take to the skies and fly high over the Himalayas and the Tasman Sea. ... The wise elders would explain that inside the aircraft, passengers, who had only paid the price of a few books for the privilege, would impatiently and ungratefully shut their window blinds to the views, would sit in silence next to strangers while watching films about love and friendship - and would complain that the food in miniature plastic beakers before them was not quite as tasty as the sort they could prepare in their own kitchens.

A delightfully whimsical piece by philospher/author Alain de Botton, A World Without Planes, on the BBC website. Sometimes one does just want to turn the clock back to a time when things were simpler ...

Postscript :

And Carol Ann Duffy also sees a silver lining in an ash-cloud.