Help we're trapped on an island

So a volcano on an island of comparable size to our own has decided to cough out volumious amounts of sulpherous ash. That would be all well and fine, well not for those Icelanders who live beside it, except the wind is in cahouts with this belchy volcano. This complicitious wind is blowing in a southerly direction bringing the ash cloud over our land. So what? Well unless you want to get on a ferry you are stuck on this island. Planes flying into an ash cloud will apparently suffer acidic corrosion and drop from the sky. So all planes were grounded yesterday. No flights in or out of this land. I wasn't planning on going anywhere but I'd like to have the option. Know what I mean? So today some flights to the US are departing but for one day we were reminded that yes we do live on a little island that can very easily be isolated from the rest of the world.  We think of ourselves as citizens of Europe, of the world. We're a small country that punches way above it's weight. Why then haven't we ever thought about our geographic vulnerability. Why don't we have a tunnel under the Irish sea linking us to the UK, to the Chunnel and the rest of Europe? Why are we the only people in Europe who can't get into a car and drive to another country?