Should I be worried or happy that Clint Mansells Requiem for a Dream soundtrack seems to have leaked into Radio 4s daytime schedule? I thought I heard it a couple of weeks back, and this morning it was backing music for a very sensible program about comprehensive education.
I never did write up my day at the Little Gransden Airshow, did I? It started with me wishing I’d paid more attention to the map before leaving home – I figured I’d see what happened when I got out the other side of Little Gransden itself, since I’d hardly expected to find an airfield in the village, and suddenly there were ‘no parking’ cones everywhere and an obvious way to head.
Then they’d found some spare spaces at the far end of the car park and I was ordered to follow the car in front and park next to him…this was a grassy field that had been turned over to being car park for the day, and there were a surprisingly large number of 4x4s there creeping along really slowly in case they broke anything – these conditions are fine for family cars doing 30mph as long as you don’t try to stop too suddenly, if you’re gonna drive those monsters at least drive ’em properly.
Just as I was entering the main arena there was the disturbing sound of the engines of the plane overhead cutting out. I looked up to see a freefall, thinking “I hope that was part of the show”.
There were a good number of people there, with many stalls close to the entrance, then an area with a good view of the runway and taxiway – they’d both been taken over as flying areas for the day, they can’t fly over the public areas these days. Then beyond that was a vintage car rally, where I found lark_ascending and crazyscot hiding in the shade of a Hummer.
The engineering on show was incredible, there were a few highlights of both automotive and aeronautic kinds – the crop dusters running with a stall speed of around 60mph, they shouldn’t fly, not that slow, but they did. The aerobatics, a team of four identical planes flying in formation, then bursting balloons and flying under a line held by some fearless assistants. The Merlin engine. The Hurricane, just like the airfix model I remember as a child, but with a much better sound to it.
And the cars – I found myself drawn to the sixties and seventies sports cars. And the Jags. There was a Jensen Interceptor, a Bond Bug, and a whole bunch of beautiful old Triumphs and Capris. There was a surprising absence of Rover SD1s, which is a shame, they’re such nice cars, but that was made up for by an over representation of Rollers and Marcos.
It was time to go home when the Hurricane finished and the commentator started talking about remembering the brave who fought in the war for us….while I think it is valuable to remember these things, I think we are better off spending our time and energy figuring out how to make sure it never happens again, rather than dwelling on things that have happened before. Annoying, but that I can deal with. It was when he started turning it into a chance to preach to us that I decided it was time to leave – I don’t want to hear about your God, hes not the gentle understanding person you think he is, he wouldn’t have asked you to go to war if he were. It was out of place and a sad end to an otherwise lovely day out.
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