The best joke going around Twitter is this: the English said they want cash, damnit! But a close second is the one about learning not to declare a financial dispute with Iceland, because they’ll sic their volcanoes on you.

It is going to take some time to calculate just how many people have been inconvenienced by the ash still rising from the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland. On Thursday at least 5,000 flights were cancelled, most of them due to land in the UK, Finland and Norway. The number for Friday will be roughly the same, depending on what exactly the wind decides to do.

On the weekend media coverage will shift to secondary issues: will this cloud have an impact on the weather, or climate change? Has it disrupted migratory patterns of the lesser spotted purple cockhen?

Read more: BBC, Guardian

Photo: An aerial handout photo from the Icelandic Coast Guard shows a plume of steam rising 22,000 feet (6700 meters) from a crater under about 656 feet (200 metres) of ice at the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in southern Iceland April 14, 2010. The volcanic eruption on Wednesday partially melted a glacier, setting off a major flood that threatened to damage roads and bridges and forcing hundreds to evacuate from a thinly populated area. Picture taken April 14, 2010. REUTERS/Icelandic Coast Guard/Arni Saeberg

Photo: A plume of volcanic ash rises six to 11 kilometres (3.8 to 7 miles) into the atmosphere, from a crater under about 656 feet (200 metres) of ice at the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in southern Iceland April 14, 2010. A huge ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano turned the skies of northern Europe into a no-fly zone on Thursday, stranding hundreds of thousands of passengers. Picture taken April 14, 2010. REUTERS/Jon Gustafsson

Photo: The ice-covered summit of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano can be seen with fluid magma erupting and a lava flow spreading northeast, spilling into Hrunagil Gully in this image provided from NASA’s Earth Observing (EO-1) satellite and taken March 24, 2010. A huge ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano turned the skies of northern Europe into a no-fly zone on Thursday, stranding hundreds of thousands of passengers. REUTERS/NASA

Photo: Stranded passengers rest or sleep on camp beds at the Hamburg Airport April 16, 2010. Several German airports including Cologne-Bonn had to be closed due to the ash cloud caused by an Icelandic volcano that turned northern Europe into a no-fly zone. REUTERS/Christian Charisius

Photo: Airplanes are seen grounded following the announcement a flight ban due to an Icelandic volcanic eruption, at Belfast city airport April 15, 2010. A ban on flights through UK-controlled airspace will stay in place until at least 0500 GMT on Friday due to the danger posed to aircraft by a cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland, aviation authorities said on Thursday. The UK’s air traffic control body said it was reviewing the situation and would give an update at 1900 GMT on Thursday about flights on Friday morning up to 1100 GMT. REUTERS/Cathal McNaughton

Photo: A passenger gestures as other passengers wait in check-in queues following the cancellation of flights, at Faro airport April 15, 2010. Dozens of flights from Faro airport on the Portuguese tourist resort province of Algarve to northern Europe were cancelled. A volcanic eruption in Iceland, which has thrown up a 6 km (3.7 mile) high cloud of ash and disrupted air traffic in northern Europe, has grown more intense, an expert said on Thursday. REUTERS/Carlos Brito

Main photo: A plume of volcanic ash rises into the atmosphere from a crater under about 656 feet (200 metres) of ice at the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in southern Iceland April 14, 2010. A huge ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano turned the skies of northern Europe into a no-fly zone on Thursday, stranding hundreds of thousands of passengers. Picture taken April 14, 2010. REUTERS/Olafur Eggertsson