Up to 200 domestic helpers are stuck in Indonesia right now because of a volcanic ash cloud, even after some of the affected airports reopened. That's according to Hong Kong's employment agencies association, which is also bracing for more flight cancellations. These are the women who run half the households in this city. Every one of them stuck there is a family here scrambling.

Here's the bit nobody says out loud: this city runs on the assumption that a helper's flight always lands on time. No backup plan, no buffer day, nothing. A mountain in Indonesia does something a mountain does, and suddenly it's a crisis for a two-income family in Tai Koo who both need to be at work Monday morning. The volcano isn't being unreasonable. It's the system that has zero slack in it that's the problem, and that was true before the ash cloud too.