Atomic Glow Me

On Friday I went to a local airshow, it was really good, the weather was perfect, small children were running around screaming their heads off overdosed on e-numbers from dodgy burgers and blue coloured cola. The adults were boring each other with details of the specifications of the different aircraft on display. The local dignitaries were slowly melting in their formal dark suits and heavy chains of office.

I got caught by the sun, I am known by people who know me as bit of a sun screen bore "slap it on, you can't risk being burnt, skin cancer is serious yadda yadda yadda. But each bloody year I get caught out, the one day I expect to be overcast and me staying mostly indoors I end up being out for hours in the full sun. Friday was such a day.

I had taken my camera along so that I could capture the sights, if not the sounds, of an airshow but unfortunately the batteries failed on me before I could take any interesting photos. So I'm afraid to say that you have missed the sight of a Tucano zipping above the runway upside down at 100 feet, the excitement of seeing a Jaguar zoom vertically into the clouds only to tumble artfully down towards the ground before levelling out at a height that I don't think is allowed in the rule book. Also I can't show you the slow grace of 2 Tiger moths and a Chipmunk as they swooped over, in tight formation before landing. Or the massiveness of a C17 as it did a slow then fast fly past. Then we were stunned as the Red Arrows flew past in formation smoke streaming. A big impressive American helicopter swung by, then the venerable Canberra, the oldest aircraft in the RAF's arsenal, it first flew in the 1940's and I think that barring accidents it won't be retired until later this decade.

I once "flirted" with a Canberra pilot and there are not many women under the age of 50 that can say that. He was a lovely bloke, it was while I was still going out with my ex, I was waiting for him to turn up at a local pub and this suave debonair man started to talk to me. Eventually I was "rescued" by my then boyfriend who surprisingly enough knew Flo of old.

Flo said "Sam you bastard what are you doing here, I was just talking to this beautiful woman"

Sam "Yes I know, that's my girlfriend"

Flo "Right I'll get my coat" but fortunately he stayed and we all had a very good chat.

Tragically Flo was killed in an accident at RAF Marham last year. He was a really nice man, a family man, the sort of chap you wanted to have as a friend. And very very funny.