Sorry - not been around much for the past few days: but Saturday was lovely - very warm and breezy - perfect for doing the washing, and clearing the last of the outdoor tomatoes (the green trusses are tied in long strings, and are hung up to ripen). Yesterday was less good, but today has been generally nice again, apart from the odd sharp shower. Went for a walk along the beach, and, wouldn't you know it, the heavens opened when we were furthest away from any shelter. Well - we could have dived under the cliff, but since it is crumbling and occasionally dropping large chunks we thought wet was better than squashed
Same with me Chris, just love seeing the old planes. Last year I flew from Duxford to London, from Houses of Parliament down river and over the uncompleted Olympic Site, in 1930's Dragon Rapide - outstanding! What we'd all give for a flight in a Spitfire or Hurricane............oh well, dream on! I still take the occasional lesson just up the road, in a Cessna, and it's great fun flying in the area from Benson up to Aylesbury, then back down to the Thames, overflying my house then on over the allotment, seeing my friends down there working away, whilst I'm taking things easy 2000 feet up over their heads. Back to reality at the allotment tomorrow, and, of course it's as much fun as being in the air.........well, nearly!
Looks loike it will be better today, so far only had 1 shower and now the sun is trying to come out. Waiting for chimney sweep at the mo. We have a wood burner its so cosy with that going and heats the whole house
That wee boxer tells me Stockton light rain, well we have sunlight and blue sky, "Rain" lives ten miles away under the Hills and a big shiny sun is over her at this moment, once again we buck the trend but then we are never with the trend. Do our own thing merchants up here, must be the Nordic blood.
Love watching old planes, flying in them another thing, had some nasty moments with them starting with a Rapide then a Dakota both wanting to stay on the ground, then a particularly nasty flight from Cyprus in a Brit, only just made it to Brize. Much prefered the ferry into Hamburg as we went in and out of Germany although saying that, had a couple of nasty moments in the Bay of Biscay on troopships. I just worked it out? I cannot win!!!
You have certainly had some interesting times Frank
ChrisX
Depends on what you mean by interesting Chris, one of them in Lincoln was a bit close for comfort. We were doing Artillery spotting in an Auster single engine high wing plane taking off from a grassy field with a swathe cut in it for a runway. I had been up a while when the Pilot said he was tired and we came into a very bumpy landing. His Officer said he had to do one more run but had brought a relief for me so he took off, ten minutes later there was an explosion on the landing strip and both were killed. The Rapide never made it up and when I saw I was sitting in a canvas seat inside what looked like cardboard sides i was happy about that. The Dakota ran out of runway but it was dead flat desert so he made a turn and back to the start. Hang about lads we will clean the Carb's!! what? and they did take the covers off mess around and said right. Off we went again, we had no side doors on as we were dropping supplies and gravel was flying in so we knew we were again off the runway but this time it staggered up. We did the drop got back and the Captain said "same time tomorrow lads" on your Nelly I managed to persuade the MT Sergeant it was my turn on the ration truck. I managed to find trouble where ever I happened to be, is trouble interesting? depends how hard you have to clench your cheeks. Been up the A66 and could see out over the Dales sunny and the Vale of York cloudy, coming back it was clear out over the coast. Bought a big bargain bag of Daf's and one of Tulips at the GC, surprised to see the Christmas section is quite small this year, do they know something?
sandown isle of wight has been heavy and frequent showers today.. not what as forecast on my one here of local.. so not too happy.. as got only 1 hour outside to do stuff.. tomorrow is forecast rain all day so no chance then either.
Frank, after learning of your experiences with some of the old piston-engined classics,perhaps I will go back to one of my early loves - boats......or do you have some bad moments with them? Maybe we should all stick to our gardens and allotments, which should be relatively safe - or has somebody got a tale or two to prove otherwise?
Dmball, "err" did you say boats, well apart from pushing Chesil beach another mile out to sea when Stationed at Wyke Regis, they are not too bad. A couple of bad periods in the Bay of Biscay, A Med storm best forgotten and a North Sea storm the worst I have ever seen that sent the ferry we were on from Hamburg nearly to Iceland as we rode it out. Apart from that nothing to write home about.
Still a lovely day here though the sun is now going.
Posts
Sorry - not been around much for the past few days: but Saturday was lovely - very warm and breezy - perfect for doing the washing, and clearing the last of the outdoor tomatoes (the green trusses are tied in long strings, and are hung up to ripen). Yesterday was less good, but today has been generally nice again, apart from the odd sharp shower. Went for a walk along the beach, and, wouldn't you know it, the heavens opened when we were furthest away from any shelter. Well - we could have dived under the cliff, but since it is crumbling and occasionally dropping large chunks we thought wet was better than squashed
Looks loike it will be better today, so far only had 1 shower and now the sun is trying to come out. Waiting for chimney sweep at the mo. We have a wood burner its so cosy with that going and heats the whole house
That wee boxer tells me Stockton light rain, well we have sunlight and blue sky, "Rain" lives ten miles away under the Hills and a big shiny sun is over her at this moment, once again we buck the trend but then we are never with the trend.
Do our own thing merchants up here, must be the Nordic blood.
Love watching old planes, flying in them another thing, had some nasty moments with them starting with a Rapide then a Dakota both wanting to stay on the ground, then a particularly nasty flight from Cyprus in a Brit, only just made it to Brize. Much prefered the ferry into Hamburg as we went in and out of Germany although saying that, had a couple of nasty moments in the Bay of Biscay on troopships. I just worked it out? I cannot win!!!
Frank.
Nr Lincoln.
Morning folks.
Bright and rather chilly here this morning. Box says light rain but so far so good, stayed dry.
You have certainly had some interesting times Frank
ChrisX
Very heavy rain (showers oh yes?) & windy in Manchester today.
Earlier it was sunny, but that didnt last.
J.
Depends on what you mean by interesting Chris, one of them in Lincoln was a bit close for comfort. We were doing Artillery spotting in an Auster single engine high wing plane taking off from a grassy field with a swathe cut in it for a runway. I had been up a while when the Pilot said he was tired and we came into a very bumpy landing. His Officer said he had to do one more run but had brought a relief for me so he took off, ten minutes later there was an explosion on the landing strip and both were killed.
The Rapide never made it up and when I saw I was sitting in a canvas seat inside what looked like cardboard sides i was happy about that.
The Dakota ran out of runway but it was dead flat desert so he made a turn and back to the start. Hang about lads we will clean the Carb's!! what? and they did take the covers off mess around and said right.
Off we went again, we had no side doors on as we were dropping supplies and gravel was flying in so we knew we were again off the runway but this time it staggered up. We did the drop got back and the Captain said "same time tomorrow lads" on your Nelly I managed to persuade the MT Sergeant it was my turn on the ration truck.
I managed to find trouble where ever I happened to be, is trouble interesting? depends how hard you have to clench your cheeks.
Been up the A66 and could see out over the Dales sunny and the Vale of York cloudy, coming back it was clear out over the coast.
Bought a big bargain bag of Daf's and one of Tulips at the GC, surprised to see the Christmas section is quite small this year, do they know something?
Frank.
sandown isle of wight has been heavy and frequent showers today.. not what as forecast on my one here of local.. so not too happy.. as got only 1 hour outside to do stuff.. tomorrow is forecast rain all day so no chance then either.
Dmball, "err" did you say boats, well apart from pushing Chesil beach another mile out to sea when Stationed at Wyke Regis, they are not too bad.
A couple of bad periods in the Bay of Biscay, A Med storm best forgotten and a North Sea storm the worst I have ever seen that sent the ferry we were on from Hamburg nearly to Iceland as we rode it out.
Apart from that nothing to write home about.
Still a lovely day here though the sun is now going.
Frank.