In the last few minutes, Dublin airport has joined Cork and Shannon in reopening to airline traffic. Shannon and Cork reopened earlier this morning. The IAA has announced the reopening:

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has announced that as a result of the ash cloud continuing to move away from the South East of Ireland, it is lifting restrictions within Irish airspace except for a block off the south coast of Ireland. This effectively means that Dublin Shannon and Cork Airports will be open for flights.

Flight restrictions into Northern Europe still prevail. Parts of British airspace will be closed until early tomorrow morning, barring a clearing of the ash cloud from the skies.

Update – 11:07am: Channel 4 is reporting that long-haul flights to Gatwick are being diverted to Glasgow, as Heathrow and Stansted remain closed until 1am tomorrow morning.

Update – 12:17pm: Quickfire status on European airspace that remains affected by the ash cloud.

Airspace over Northern France remains closed until 8pm. Dutch airspace closed until 6am tomorrow morning. Danish airspace will be closed until midnight. Belgian airspace will remain closed today.

Flights to and from Finnish airports have been affected. Finland is expecting a new cloud of volcanic ash to arrive tomorrow morning, so restrictions look set to continue into the weekend.

Krakow airport has closed as well. It was scheduled to host arrivals for the state funeral of former President Lech Kaczynski. Airspace in Poland, Austria, Latvia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic has been closed.

Finding joy in the Bangladesh slums, killing giant insects and collecting bones on The Killing Fields – Henry Rollins‘ passport heaves under the entry stamps. For a butt-numbing but enthralling two and half hours last Tuesday night, Rollins’ played with his Vicar Street audience.

With the energy of a hundred Duracell bunnies, Rollins exploded on the Dublin stage (his first show in a marathon tour) and raced through his travelogs. Each one coloured by insane taxi drivers, language barriers crossed by shouts of “Obama, Obama, Obama” and a burning sense of wonder.

We sat on his lap in the passenger seat of the million dollar hand-built as a Saudi screamed through lunchtime traffic, pressing the phantom brake pedal. We sneaked in the Union Carbite factory in Bhopal on the 25th anniversary of the accident, took photos of ill-fated tank 610 that exploded and killed thousands. We headfucked hustlers that prey on tourists in Tiananmen Square by inquiring if they could do something for us and then asked them to leave Tibet. We shouted down Deakin from the Animal Collective  in a Timbuktu festival.

A tour obsessive, Rollins was quick to point out that his home is on the road. As the lead singer of Black Flag, he lived much of his adult life traveling. Where once he toured to play, he now tours to learn.

To understand what motivates Rollins to visit such far-flung places, one just has to look to America. He wanted to visit China to see what America’s loaner, recycler of plastics and trading partner looked like before it changed. Rollins is convinced that one must travel to learn more about their country.

The insular world view of Americans is something that irks Rollins – especially through his references to “those loud Americans”. Betreyal of principles bites him too. Despite his joy at Obama winning the presidency in 08, Rollins’ disappointment with the ongoing deployment of troops to Iraq is raw. Triumph tainted by bitter disappointment. Side swipes at our new blasphemy law book-ended proceedings.

To finish on a high note, he encouraged the spellbound crowd to travel and to pass those learnings on to the next generation. A positive note to finish on and something the crowd feasted on into freezing January darkness.

Photo: HenryRollins.com