Clear of Cloud

"I must go down to the 'field again"

One of my favourite places to spend a winter's morning is at the airfield.  Okay, that may seem to be overly specific since the airfield is one of my favourites places all of the time.  Maybe I should say that a winter's morning is one of my favourite times to be at the airfield.

I took this photo yesterday.  It was bright and very cold.  The air was calm; no wind, no people, no engines.  Just me and the aeroplanes.  I find it very relaxing, to be the first one out.  No waiting for a plane to come back, no hurried walkaround, no rush to get started.  I can enjoy peace of the airfield.  For all the machinery and tarmac an airfield is mostly countryside and it's never more evident than on crisp winter mornings or on balmy summer evenings.

I'd love to own my own airfield - to share in the bustle and socialising of the day and the calming tranquillity when the day's flying is done.

Anyone got a big field?

John Travolta's House

This is the first time I've seen pictures of John Travolta's gaff.

Nice

http://www.koolstuffs.net/site/2006/03/18/john-travoltas-house/

'Lil piece of heaven

We were driving around the backroads of Co. Galway, looking for likely places to move to.  We happened across a likely area; near a village, a little further than we'd like from the sea or a large body of water but it was leafy, green and tranquil.  Rural but not isolated.  All we need now is to find a property with enough land or access to land for my own private airstrip.  And then, a sign appeared.

Flicking in the breeze, tucked away in the corner of a field, a windsock.  Not only did we find an area to live in, we found a ready-made home and welcoming neighbours for my not yet built aeroplane.  I could be very happy there.  We could be very happy there, me, she and it - it, that's not yet built. .... and maybe a dog, or a cat, or a wabbit.

Old Stomping Grounds

This morning finds me on a day off around my old stomping ground of Baggot Street.  It's not work you understand, well maybe some work research.  I'm on a day off and I was meeting a friend for breakfast.  He's back to work now and I'm back in my old coffee haunt.  The difference this time,  one, it's not for the benefit of my sanity but for pleasure and, two, I'm not drafting this post in a notebook but writing it on the fly on my PowerBook.  I love wireless networking !!!!

Busy day today. There was my breakfast meeting, at too early an hour to tell you the truth; I'm going to  a briefing on the European Performance of Buildings Directive in an hour or so and the highlight then will be a two hour flight lesson this afternoon.  Bring it on!!

Thinking of familiar stomping grounds; I was flying the circuit yesterday and, for the first time in a long time, I actually felt like I was fully in control and on top of what I was doing.  I had time to enjoy the scenery, to watch the world pass gently below me.  I realised then that I had a new criterion for instructors judging a student pilot's progress.  If you're flying a left-hand circuit and the student is looking out the right-hand window, he or she has spare brain capacity.  Joe, my instructor de jour, agreed that this was a perfectly good yardstick.

Here's to lots of looking out the right-hand window today - with no instructor to obscure the view!

Fit to Fly!

Well, the Doc has just signed me off as being fit to fly - apart from the bouts of insanity brought on by not flying for the last year or more.  Now that there is a stretch in the days - the solar garden lights are glowing blue well into the night- I'm going to start my flight training again.  This year will be the year I fly Us away somewhere.

The Doc had pictures up around the office of Little Doc in the left hand seat of his Cessna 401.  Start 'em young!  New baby means a change in priorities though, so the plane is going.