Dawn Patrol

Well the excitement over Poppy’s 14th birthday is just beginning to fade.  She remains as elegant as ever.

Meanwhile all Biggles fans will rejoice in Mr Hagedorn’s escape when his plane crashed at Dundee Golf Course Recalling one of Captain WE Johns’ adventures about James Bigglesworth, Mr Hagedorn said: “There’s a story where Biggles has his engine shot up over enemy lines.

“He tries to get back to the airfield and doesn’t quite make it and ends up with no height over a wood.

plane

Firefighters used a long ladder to reach the stranded pilot

“What he does is he flies into the wood, and, as he flies into the wood, he pulls the stick back to pancake onto trees – and I just did that. I just stalled into the tree.”

Well done, Sir.  And all of us who get through the day by tuning into one or other of our fantasy worlds salute you.  Today I’ve been in ‘pale and drawn from too many dawn patrols’ mode – oil-stained flying jacket – looking down on the trenches and reflecting, ‘Poor bloody infantry.’

I also for some reason visited Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons today.  Peace and order – Captain John and Mate Susan camping with the children on Wild Cat Island – mother rowing across with long steady strokes.

And whatever you do, Dougal, don’t mention Bishop Brennan’s son!

It was a long day.