the weather in scotland

[ewein2412]

I wimped out of flying again today. The weather was marginal all morning (raining and misty) but around noon it started clearing up a little; Fiona who manages reception at the flying club was very encouraging on the phone and said to come do some circuits (of the airfield, i.e., landing practice; the clouds are so low at the moment that it would be rather pointless to try to go anywhere). So I headed on out to the airfield and on the way it started raining. Then it started pouring. Then it started to hail. I got to the airport, parked, considered going in to say hi (but it was still raining)... so I called Fiona from the parking lot and said, in the immortal words of Tim, sod this for a game of marbles. Fiona said, "but Ari's just taken off, and so-and-so's about to go up." OH--what a wimp I felt like! But it rained all the way home, too.

EVEN THOUGH I would have been landing in a crosswind, and it was raining, I WOULD have gone, if it hadn't been for the HAIL.

rrrrhhhnnn

Comments

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

It rains a lot in Scotland??!

What a shock.

Hey - we're coming to Glasgow for World SF Convention!! Just a long weekend (Thurs - Tues) cause you would not believe what is going on around here (we're moving to another city) - but I really really hope we'll see you. Is there anything fun to do in Glasgow?

[ewein2412]

there is loads of fun in Glasgow! and in fact I seem to remember going to the Burrell Collection with Delia the last time WorldCon was in Glasgow. But I haven't done the Tenement House (or anything else, for that matter). The E Wein Tourist Agency is open for business--and this time I have a car.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Oh, is *that* why Delia had such a great time in Glasgow last time that she wants so badly to go back this year? I knew it had to be something.

Yes! Offer gratefully accepted with true delight - it will be lovely to spend time with you again, and to meet the kids, if possible. We are just going over long enough to spend 5 full days in Glasgow, and I have no desire to spend every minute of them at the con, so please yes rescue us and let us have fun together!

Your friend,
Ellen

[ewein2412]

we'll be here! Keep me posted on your plans.

[katranides.livejournal.com]

Come to Germany and fly here! We've just had another sunny day in Leipzig.

[ewein2412]

hmm, that's not an entirely outlandish idea. My license would allow it... but I wonder if the German air traffic controllers really DO speak English on the radio. (you could translate!) (blimey. We'd really be a team. I am such a radio wimp anyway.)

[katranides.livejournal.com]

My understanding is that they do. One of my classmates comes from Hungary and is a military airtraffic controller; she married a German guy last summer. If I understand correctly, she has to learn German to get citizenship, which she needs in order to direct German fighters, but English is still the language of the skies.

Hmmm....

It sort of seems unlikely that the German air force would be speaking in English, doesn't it? Maybe I'll ask for clarification.

[ewein2412]

English *is* the official language of the skies; I just wasn't sure it was put into practice at, say, local airfields.

One of my favorite apocryphal stories on this topic (quoted from http://www.businessballs.com/airtrafficcontrollersfunnyquotes.htm ):

Allegedly, a Pan Am 727 flight waiting for start clearance in Munich overheard the following:

Lufthansa (in German): "Ground, what is our start clearance time?"
Ground (in English): "If you want an answer you must speak in English."
Lufthansa (in English): "I am a German, flying a German airplane, in Germany. Why must I speak English?"
Unknown voice from another plane (in a beautiful British accent): "Because you lost the bloody war."

[katranides.livejournal.com]

LOL! And because you let McDonald's, Burger King, and Walmart in.

[katranides.livejournal.com]

OMG, these quotations are hiLArious! Thanks, Beanie!