Each new day brings new hope and experiences.

During my second trip to beautiful ( meant in it’s truest sense) Northern Ireland, 1978, I was tasked with taking an aircraft from our base, 10 miles from LondonDerry to Antrim, with an overnight stay. Whoooppeee, an away day! 
On arrival there was a small heli-pad marked inside the wired perimeter by two orange panels, making a T shape. Standard stuff. Now try and think back to my visit to Castlereigh when the Policeman strapped in both his huge thighs. 
As I came within 20’ of the deck I suddenly discovered two orange nylon panels flashing around, attached to the rotor blades and making one hell of a racket. This was no time for delicacy, get it on the ground, the panels fell off as the rotors slowed. The bloke who formed the T for us was extremely apologetic, he had no idea that he was supposed to secure the panels to the ground using tent pegs or something similar. Laugh, I nearly did. :-( 
This was an Ulster Defence Regiment base, as secure as it could be, even though the heli-pad was obvious to anybody walking past and Antrim wasn’t exactly in love with the security forces, ie me. 
The next day started slowly, sunny, dry and quiet. That soon changed when the reason for our visit arrived. The UDR had arranged a garden fete for a local school which specialised in teaching those with learning difficulties. I had seen but never talked to people with Down’s Syndrome so this was going to be a new experience. Mini busses full of teachers, carers and of course their students and parents started arriving. The age range, as can be seen from the photograph, went from 50+ all the way down to teenies. They crawled into every available seat, space and piece of equipment, fascinated by the intercom in the headsets and our helmets, the children chatted away, asked questions and were an incredible joy to mix with. The carers let them enjoy their time, we had all day so we did the same, never snatching a hand away from anything delicate, these machines were supposedly Marine proof. 
I’m on the far side of the cockpit, still adjusting to the environment, hence the frown; most of the frown was due to me playing with these wonderful characters yet still wearing a pistol in a shoulder holster. 
It is difficult to imagine the emotions that went through my little brain and body, but I remember their thanks and hugs, their laughter and giggles. The whole day did me an awful lot of good. I learned, they learned. The carers and parents were so grateful that I became embarrassed, this was a privilege and remains that way in my memory. 
There is only one race, the Human race.