up, up and away

This weekend sees my home town host the Wales International air show.  It’s a huge event with around 250,000 spectators gathering to watch the displays.

As I hear the jets screaming overhead, my mind is drawn to my first ever air show (and one of my first memories) when I was about 4 or 5 years old.  It was held at the airport on the Gower peninsula and my Dad took me.  We didn’t have a car at the time so this meant a couple of bus journeys to get there and back.

So, what are my memories of the event?  The excitement at seeing all the huge aircraft?  The acrobatics of the Red Arrows and a parachute display team?  The chest crushing noise of my favourite plane - the English Electric Lightening – as it circled the event at supersonic speeds?  The massive crowds?  My first ever taste of Coca Cola?

Yes.  But they are all dwarfed by the journey home and the re-appearance of my fish and chip lunch all over my poor old Dad.  Of course, the blame centred on that fizzy drink I had sampled for the first and (thanks to the experience) only time.

So, this afternoon as I sit in my garden within earshot of the planes flying over Swansea Bay, I’ll remember the time I went to the air show, my Dad, and the God-awful taste of Coca Cola.