990208.1507 land’s end aerodrome

the phrase used by the pilot was < in the lap of the gods > . i may be flying out sometime this afternoon . or i may not .

i’m sitting here in the flourescent-lit cabin which serves as waiting room , windows lashed by rain and wind . the forecast is for winds reaching force nine in the islands . here on the mainland it’s no more than six or seven . taking off under these circumstances doesn’t seem to pose too much of a problem . landing , on the other hand , does .

yesterday morning was bright and clear . the drive down from gloucestershire was without incident . a great feeling of escape . my heart always lifts at the moment when the a30 plunges down over the lip of dartmoor and a breathtaking vista of rolling hills , light and shadow , extends to the distant horizon . even in the sluggish and unwieldy van it was a joy to trundle round the familiar roads . i met up with my mother , my sister anna and her husband adam in hayle as arranged yesterday afternoon . we braved the wind and went out for a short walk on the sand . i always loved the beaches down here in the winter . there’s a melancholic beauty and bleakness which i find supremely calming . and of course , no tourists .

early start this morning , reloading the van and driving down to the quay at penzance . everything was weighed and loaded into shipping crates amidst
pirouetting fork lifts and lorries unloading supplies for the islands . the
driving rain made me glad of those hours with the shrink wrap .

the docker who helped load everything up was not enthusiastic about computers . < when someone invades and turns the power off they’ll be no bloody use at all . who wants to spend all day sitting in front of a screen anyway ? > . i told him that broadly speaking i agreed with him , but pointed out that they actually made quite good weapons if dropped from a decent height .

looking out of the windows , i see that someone has just got into the small
plane’s cockpit , poked around and got out again . the flight was due to leave a few minutes ago . no decision yet .

i’ve arranged with david peacock to have a boat waiting for me at st mary’s to take me over to st agnes . i’d better call and warn him that the plan might be changing .

.1552

still no decision . before we can fly the pilot needs to be confident that
there is a fall-back landing strip which can be used should conditions at st mary’s be impossible . crosswinds are too strong at lands end , newquay , rnas culdrose and raf st mawgan .

.1630

it’s final . no flight today . back to hayle and hopefully more luck at 0825 tomorrow . i managed to get through to david peacock and call off the launch . the plane’s been wheeled back into the hanger .

: cH