Lyn's Journals

On the 27th July Nic, Ian and I went out to the Farnborough air show and it was spectacular! After browsing the planes on display, we found ourselves a comfy spot on the grass and settled down to watch the show. It started off fairly spectacularly with the Red Arrows, and Ian put it very well when he said that they’re real crowd pleasers because everybody has a soft spot for them. Their performance was a real treat, and I was very impressed with some of their manoeuvres – my favourite was where one of them went flying straight at three planes coming the other way and it went straight through them like a dog through a hula hoop! Enough to take your breath away (well certainly mine!) Next came the loudest plane of the day – the Eurofighter Typhoon. I really wished I had earplugs for this one – it was crazy! Just after this, almost as if to emphasize this quietest plane at the show – the ??????. It’s actually unbelievable that a plane can possibly take off so quietly They also had the Airbus mommy and baby A340 and A340-500, which were cool to see, and there was a beautiful sequence by two gliders that was set to music and the show was appropriately called the “Lesham Gliding Pilates” J. My favourite, though, has got to be the Harrier (Baesystems Harrier GR7). Started off a bit bizarrely when somebody near us said something about this plane being able to hop – so I’m staring at it throughout it’s performance wondering if it is in fact able to ‘hop’ or if this is some kind of flying jargon that I’m unaware of. To be honest, I still don’t know, but I do know that the plane came screaming down the runway as if to land and then somehow didn’t and just took off again – but it didn’t have far to go – it stopped in mid-air, hovered there for a bit, and then proceeded to reverse!!! I couldn’t believe it! It reversed right past us and then just as it got in front of us it turned toward us and did a neat little curtsey, with the pilot grinning at us through the window. I know that this is a real crowd-pleasing trick, but I’ll unashamedly admit to being one of the crowd that loved it! After that there wasn’t much to top it, except a yummy fruity ice-cream, which made me happy all over again and somewhat soothed the thought that it was time to go home! Oh, and in news of the bizarre, on our way out of the field we passed a fairly menacing helicopter, and there was a sign in front of it saying “Fully portable helipad, as seen on TV” Like, huh? Could there possibly be an infomercial market for portable helipads? Certainly not on daytime TV! And so we ended off the day in a fit of giggles, having had a great day out! Darrel’s going to be in a production of West Side Story in September, which he’s been rehearsing very hard for ever since I met him, and he’s very excited about it. Unfortunately for me West Side Story is one of my least favourite musicals. Even more unfortunately for me he dragged me to see another production of it at the Open Air Theatre in Wimbledon… Fortunately it turned out not to be too bad and I’m (almost) looking forward to seeing it again in September ;) Seriously, it’s going to be great, and we’ve got a whole crowd going to support him – so he better be good or he’ll never hear the end of it – but I don’t have any doubt that he’ll be excellent! Had a good night out at Bar Madrid one night – Bob was back from his travels, although he’s back in SA now for a bit before starting work again in London. Between them Bob and Don have taken some pretty awesome pictures and I’m thoroughly jealous of their adventures! Nina’s also back and it’s great to see her – she’s even coming to stay with me in Wimbledon Park for a bit. My good friend from work, Fiona, has finished working at the PCT to start an NHS fast-track to management program, so she’s moving down to Poole and she’s already sorely missed. The office somehow just isn’t the same without her. :( - and I’m also supremely jealous that while I’m in rainy London she’s going to be in sunny Cuba!

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