I live very close to where the Shoreham airshow disaster happened in 2015. We had just settled in the garden to watch the air show when my husband suddenly shouted 'oh he's crashed' and the rest is history. We get the odd one or two light aircraft coming over but not every day, it depends on which direction they're taking off/landing. Personally I love the noise, we are both keen on planes and we rush out to the garden if we hear anything different. Now and then we get Apache helicopters and sometimes a Chinook. We used to live south of where we are now, right at the end of the runway and the planes were barely off the ground when they flew over us, great fun on air show days! Sadly, no more air shows for the Shoreham area, a great tragedy, not only for those who lost loved ones but also for the enthusiasts who are no longer able to exhibit their beautiful vintage aircraft.
It's alway good to remember, for sure, that one person's hell can be another person's heaven. "Horses for courses", whatever that might mean exactly.
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I am reading "Dear Friend and Gardener" a book of letters between Beth Chatto (1923-2018) in Essex and Christo Lloyd (1921-2006) at Dixter, composed in the late 1990s. I find it very moving - their companionship, the details of their quiet lives in older age and how much they value the communities they have built around them. I think this is part of the reason that they are so still so beloved - education and community a large part of why they did what they did. The large range of people close in around them seem equally important to them as the plants. That warmth and value really come across in the letters.
I love this section from Beth - written one frosty winter evening:
I think many members of the forum appreciate their luck in this way.
I agree @Fire - it's a lovely book. I've only recently read it through borrowing a digital copy from the RHS library. Both wrote in such a lyrical way.
I had no idea how bad the light pollution was in this country until I went to rural France for a holiday and saw so many stars, it was like visiting the Planetarium.
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