Birthday

It was Fiona's birthday yesterday. I will not say how old she is, but SAGA membership is VERY close! Anyway the plan was to have  a couple of days in London seeing the sights etc. However, that has been put off until our anniversary. We had a nice day and she had some very nice presents from friends and from myself (thank goodness for on-line shopping!!) In the evening we went out to a local golf and country club and and I have to say it was a very pleasant evening. I cannot remember the last time we went out somewhere on our own. A friend even provided a taxi service so we were able to enjoy the rather pleasant ale on offer.

Volcanic Ash

Been following the problems with air travel. I hope you are not due to travel or are not stranded abroad. If you are I hope you get away  soon. It has been amazing to see the number of gliders, balloons and light aircraft operating around here. I see that airlines want to resume flights and can see no reason not to fly as they have done some test flights. Perhaps they should remember what happens when aircraft enter an ash cloud.

No Vapour Trails

Well what every terrorist group throughout the world has only dreamed of doing, nature has none. The volcano has grounded all jet flights in the UK and most of Europe. We do not get many aircraft over us here but what I do notice is the lack of vapour trails. It is not unusual to see at least 10 which I assume are aircraft heading to the US. Anyway sat in the 'shack' listening to the hot air balloons making their way from Bath. People have been saying their cars are covered with ash but our car has been covered in dust since last week so doubt if it that. The next event that nature has for us is due in 2012 when the sun will be at it's maximum. This has the power to destroy electronic equipment and satellites. The last time the sun was very active was in the 1980's when of course there was not as much electronic communications. This, as a radio amateur made it possible to chat to people in the US with very simple equipment. It will be very interesting to see what happens.
Update on the ankle is that it seems to have settled down and the pain is very low. Have an appointment with the company Doctor next week. I think it is to make sure I am not 'swinging the lead'! Anyway will be interesting to see if they let me do 'light duties'.