Sounds fun. I'm hoping for a moderate wind to practice crosswind landings in my club C172 on Sunday (working on the private pilot certificate). As luck would have it, we had all kinds of wind when I wanted to solo, now it's been calm when I want to get the crosswinds nailed down with my instructor.

By the way paulsc, have you seen this metatalk thread on the airplane conveyor belt? Seems Mythbusters will test it with an ultralight.

"... By the way paulsc, have you seen this metatalk thread on the airplane conveyor belt? ..."

Yes, thanks.

Good luck, sincerely, with crosswind takeoffs and landings. You can't go anywhere, reliably, unless you master them, and have a bit of luck.

It's having the bit of luck that's really hard.

What am I doing this weekend? I drove five hours to spend two days watching lots of my friends compete here and get jealous because I still don't have my boat back on the water.

Go NAVAIR!

This weekend - working from home today. I slept late, just got up (it's 10.30am, and my sleep is still a little off from flying west to east last weekend).

Tomorrow, I may, if I get up early enough, head up to North Weald market to look for a tea cosy for an American friend who needs one and can't buy one in the States. Then home before 12.30, as it's Arsenal v Manchester United (my team) live on Sky Sports.

Sunday, dunno. The forest is lovely at this time of year. I may take my camera and go for a walk.

It's Guy Fawkes Night on 5 November, but most places will be having their big firework displays this weekend. I know there's a huge display at the Metropolitan Police Club at Chigwell, so traffic round there will be jammed on Saturday.

Personally, I'm in favour of a ban on firework sales to anything other than official, organised displays. Anyone can buy them. You're meant to be over 18 to buy fireworks, but just about every newsagent has a display of fireworks, and it seems that the only people I ever see buying them are teenagers.

It's not too bad round here because it's fairly quiet, but friends who live in more built-up areas are plagued for weeks with kids throwing fireworks in the street, those really, really loud ones that terrify pets.

There's also plenty of accidents where kids lose an eye, or where a spark ignites a load of fireworks some kid is carrying in his pocket. Not to mention the deliberate acts of cruelty - there are always reports on the news at this time of year about cats and dogs that've had fireworks tied to their tails.

*shakes fist at firework makers*

Well, as someone who used to be one of those kids, jan, I am sad at the thought that my kids will never have the pleasure of "blowing shit up". Then again, I am now have trouble with the contact lens in my right eye because of damage caused when I got hit in the face by a sky rocket, so I see your point.

For essexjan:

When first I came to Jacksonville, I didn't want to, but it was time. My mother was dying, and it was time to be her son, again.

All that hurt. And on top of all that, I had moving to oversee, and a stupid dog. And, the schedule of a hospital, taking care of the woman from whom I sprang.

We happened, the stupid dog and I, to come to Jacksonsville, exactly, memorably, without invitation, without plan, on the night before SuperBowl XXXIX (39). Nothing special about that night.

Except, $4 million dollars worth of fireworks.

Now, my dog doesn't keep a calendar. He'd never met my Mom. He didn't know our new home, our destination, was JAX.

But he knew that $4 million of fireworks, and traffic stopped and pulled off on I-95 in the emergency lanes, was worth a doggie treat, or two. So, we pulled over, with 10,000 sojourners on I-95 that night, and we watched, from the parking lane, as did others, on bridges and overpasses, and naked miles of freeway, the sky burst purple and green and red, while the bridges stayed lit, in blue.

My stupid dog cowered, and howled, under the passenger seat of my truck, through $2 million of SuperBowl fireworks largess. He was scared. He thought the world might be ending. He didn't understand why I didn't share his views.

But after a while, he came out, hungry for $0.5O Alpo treats, and my approval, more than he was afraid the world was ending.

That's a good damn dog, if a stupid one. He was willing, despite all evidence to the contrary, in the sky above, and in his ears, to believe that I knew what the hell was happening. As it happened, I did, and I had doggie treats.

And that, despite fireworks, is exactly how he and I came to Jacksonville.