pegasus1

They are all at the florists buying red roses and booking up the best restaurants anyway!

Hey Slim, really,really pleased for you!!! I have only just picked up this thread but I bet you are still smiling! Sorry to have missed the moment and now the weather is looking good I expect to see you overhead very soon

Arh bless them Dan - I think they are having a "memory lane moment"

Hi Norman - very good graphics! You know I said I had hurt my neck, well it was slightly more than I originally thought and I have just come out of hospital with a fractured vertebre. Unbeknown to me I had bled internally in my neck and we had a blood clot scare - very scarey infact! Pleased to report I am back and well although stuck in the most unfasionable neck wear. Can't come out to play for another 8 to 9 weeks............did say I was a fair weather flier!!

Hey Simon - whats the weather looking like in 9 weeks time?!!!

Have a fab time wee man!!! Enjoy the sun - I have just had a severe weather warning e-mailed to me from the Environmental Agency. The ongoing out look is quite frankly........ c**p!

Hey All. I appologise for not being around but I have already fallen into the fair weather group and I have another sport to keep me entertained at this time of the year. Those of you still going up to the combes field will already know that I have had to put a few sheep out there until I bring them back in for lambing in a couple of months. The field is plenty big enough so you will not affect them but please keep both gates shut. I fully appreciate this has already been happening and I thank you all. Cheers guys!

Well almost in the news! On the BBC News wedsite today under Northern Ireland they are running a series of photographs taken by a paramotorist......caught my eye anyway!

Better than us - all had 'flu. Ho Ho Bloody Ho...........

Hey Norman I am e-mailing an appeal off to the Farmers Web for suitable ground as soon as I log out and will keep you posted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv2u3PnQeDI&rel=1 Something off track but festive fun........!

Hey Guys Small plea- is it possible to limit the flights over the village please, especially at the weekends? It would save me getting my ear chewed every time I am in the Church, pub, shop, school etc ( get the picture?!) I know it is rather difficult given the location of the field with regards to the houses but I think they had their fair share in the summer and are rather sensitive. Thanks in advance for you consideration. Enjoy the site - sorry about the lines SLiM. (I broke a tooth on a sarsen stone in the field ground handling in the summer - if that makes you feel any better!) Thanks again everyone!

Shame the lot staying with me have to be up at 5.30am on Sunday to help milk the cows really.............! That field again? No worries sheep and cows should be off for the winter.

Hey Togsie A little while ago TerryW offered me a wing he had for sale. Wrong time for me to buy, but I think he still has it. Not sure if it is the right one for you but thought you might be interrested. Hes a nice bloke who looks after his kit and Simon knows him.

Hey Lawrence, Welcome on board! I would recomend the Lambourn Club to you personally as it really is not that far out of Newbury. Simon Westmore is the instructor there and he is reliable, very safety conscious, supportive and enthusiastic. Its a friendly club too - places still available for the Xmas party in the Rose and Crown pub in Ashbury (about 30mins from you) so come and meet everyone...

Boys and their toys - was convinced it was trousers and not a jacket!!! (Have you flogged one to Santa yet? Must be cold doing his round!) Electic trousers or jackets, I am staying with my ground handling until that warm air gets here sorry...... although the temptation is always there.....bet the countryside covered in frost or snow looks amazing.....

Right Lads, don't get too technical on me here as I am only a girlie, but I would like to know if we can quieten our motors. Is it possible to fit baffles in the exhaust or use a 4 stroke engine which I would presume would give more torque, be more reliable and overall be quieter? This might already be in existance or a really simple answer as to why not, but I just wanted to know. Electric engines are in production although very expensive I have read. I find the motor extremely noisey personally and having just got back from the pub, it appears so do most of the locals!!!

Hey Simon I am curiouus to know if you are still wearing the electric trousers for flying in the cold?? If so, can you adapt them for fairy lights to add a festive flair for flying before the Xmas party.........

Hey Whitters, Can I add a warm welcome too. You Air Ambulance boys are doing a fabulous job. I have had the unfortunate chance to use the service you offer and several of my friends too. A bugger really - always wanted to fly in a helicopter and can not remember a damn thing about it!!! I am sure you have put the tip2tip gang at ease with the promise of your presence!

Brilliant Dan!

Thanks Paddy for your reply. I am being a wimp and staying on the ground until the warmth returns. I have now stollen a rather lovely Micro motor off another Lambourn Club member which is suited for me and am keen see the summer return to be able to play. Simon and his electric trousers now rule the sky here! (Talking of which if you read this Simon, you were right, that strobe was a military distress signal so I probably will not be using it after all!!)

Hi Woody Welcome. Although its a distance for you, I would really recomend Simon. Hes safe, patient and knows a fair bit! Its a good friendly club too. You always get a genuine hello when you arrive and plenty of advice and support. Worth the trip with some excellent landscape to fly over.

93 - thanks guys, soooo satisfying to blast the little bugger with a 12!!

The great thing about people is how different everyone is. Everyone has something that gives them the drive and determination to do something different. You will always have those who do and those who don't. I have always been into extreme sports and am someone who will have a go at anything but my being here actually came from a complete and utter fear of flying. I had a rather unnerving experience flying in Russia, from Moscow to St. Petersberg, prior to which I had regularily flown around the world. My next flight was booked to Miami.... the medics took me off in Detroit. I was grounded. I have someone else very close to me who is also grounded by being locked in a battle with cancer for the last 3 years. She is young and should be having the best years of her life. Instead everyday is a battle and only her determination keeps her going. Watching her go through everything she does makes you think f***k it life is not a rehersal. I was offered the chance to skydive for charity. People sponsored me a great deal of money to even go up in the plane let alone jump out of it. I took on my fear for her and everyone in the same situation. I had a great instructor who ignored my uncontrollable shakes and put his trust in me not to let him fall like a stone from 13000ft when the time came. It was amazing!! There is nothing like turning you fear into sheer exhilaration. Its a real buzz. Static lines followed then a decision to fly a plane. Gliders seemed a reasonable option has they have no engine to go wrong. I loved flying them and all was great until chance allowed me to have a go in a microlite. Engine power and size ment a far greater scope for flight control and the freedom of flight was wonderful. Funny how things happen, but chance also ment I met a man familiar to you all, who needed a sight for his paramotor club. We have a farm on the Downs. My fear is always present but out weighed now by my total fasination with flight. I want to paramotor to prove to myself I can fly with only a canvas chair, a fan and a kite. I want to be able to control all aspects of that flight and to play in a 3D space. I want to see to topography of the land, the colours of the seasons, ancient workings...and perhaps a little spy on the neighbours if the will takes me. It seems as close to the perfect form of 'free flight' a bird pocesses that we can really achieve on a budget. Fear is something good as it keeps you in check, gives you the fight to beat it and by God it is great when you do! I now spend my time taking on more challenges to raise more money for a very deserving cause and get a great deal out of it myself as well as meeting some fantastic people. I want to be a dotty granny with an interresting tale to tell, after all, life is not a rehersal is it?

'tis a beauty alright, but I am really sorry Simon I have had to be roped in at school - will be looking out of the window and day dreaming of flying...