VE Day Flypast

My friend Alison and I drove a short distance to just the other side of the A12, where my study of the published air maps indicated that the VE Day flypast should track directly overhead on its route to Buckingham Palace from East Anglia. My main blip shows the beautiful countryside and horizon from which the aircraft would appear. We were not disappointed, apart from the Lancaster heading up the procession which flew a slightly different track from the rest and which we saw going over the far side of an adjacent field. The rest did indeed fly right over the top of us, and I include a couple of shots of the final two groups in Extras - Rivet Joint flanked by two F-35 Lightnings and the Red Arrows Hawk T1’s with four Typhoons. The photos, taken on my iphone against a background of very dark clouds, do not do any justice to the experience whatsoever. In real life the aircraft felt very close to us.

After that excitement, we headed off to Perrywoods Garden Centre for a latte and cake. Preferring to live life with a positive attitude, I liked the message chalked on the board in the coffee shop (see Extras). I had a choice of three different Biscoff biscuit-based confections, and went for the Biscoff Roulade which was made of meringue, lots of solidly-whipped cream and a Biscoff biscuit on the top. It was h-u-g-e and I felt rather bilious for several hours after downing it. Alison had a delicious almond and blackcurrant gateau, also fairly enormous, which she couldn’t finish. We then had a leisurely wander around looking for water feature ideas and admiring the gorgeous plants on offer, including the stunning red Hibiscus in Extras.

I was out again in the evening for our monthly Tiptree book club, which was great fun as always, making it a very long day.