Something in the Air

I try not to stare at aircraft in the sky. I'm always afraid that I'll force them to crash by some hidden psychic powers. But I did watch in amazement today as an Apache helicopter performed perilous-looking manoeuvres over the town of Saxmundham, ducking and diving, weaving and spinning. I can scarcely believe they are allowed to fly like this over residential areas, though one once flew so low over my garden that I could see a spot on the end of the pilot's nose. It didn't crash despite my close scrutiny, but the aircraft I watched not two hours later did. It was a microlight flying through clear blue skies towards Hugo and I as we took our evening walk through the fields. The sun from the west bounced off its fuselage, and we stopped to watch as it neared. I even waved, it was such a pleasing sight. Not 50 yards away from us it suddenly emitted a very loud bang, and a large piece of metal fell away from it and landed in the field next to us. It must have been the main engine, because it became very much quieter and began to lose height. The pilot steered it around in the direction from which it had come, and disappeared behind the trees on the edge of the field. Was that me, I wondered, heart thumping, but we were as far away from being able to follow it as we could be, trapped in our field by a thorny hedge and then a very wide ditch. We had no choice but to continue on home, when I got straight in the car to find it. It was further away than I had expected, right at the edge of a field where two men from a support car were already trying to fix it. "Is everything OK?" I called across. "I saw it come down." Clearly the pilot was not hurt as the three of them were chatting as they fiddled under the bonnet. "It's fine," they said cheerily. "Thanks for asking." Blimey. That was scarey. I'm sure it was nothing to do with me but I'm keeping my eyes on the ground in future when I hear overhead activity.

After such a lovely day the clear skies made the evening a bit chilly, so it was with great pleasure that I lit the first fire of the autumn. I forgot to have the chimney swept but I think it will keep for another year. Gosh, it does make the sitting room cosy. Too cosy perhaps as I've ended up with a headache. But I'll get used to it again, temper the heat a bit. A woodburner is a very economical way warming a room, most effective.

Last night while I read in bed before turning the lights out I heard a noise from the kitchen and went down to explore. Nothing seemed to be amiss, but when I went to check on Hugo I saw that he had my recorder in bed with him. My recorder, which had been on the table. Funny boy. I'm going to keep a tally.