Hello,
Changeable
weather today: some sunshine some light showers and some heavier rain.
The only aerobatic life at the airport remains the two Hungarian
aircraft. The Zlin 50 was airborne practising 1 and 1/2 flicks when I
dropped in about 3pm.It is now 16.15 local time
and I heard from Julian a short while ago. He is in Finland and now on
his last leg to Joensuu. He is expecting to be here at 18.00, so I'll go
back to the airport to see what
happens
around then. Steve Madle is due on a schedule at 19.50. The judging
pair, Graham and Steve G, together with the first duty Team Manager are
all expected Wednesday or possibly even later. So things are slowly
coming together.
So your intrepid correspondent has had a day out and
about in the forests, meadows and lakes. The Koli National Park is 70km
north of here and boasts Ukko-Koli, the highest point in Karelia.
However, this is only about 350m ASL and only 220m-odd above the lake.
Still, standing atop the bump gives a pleasingly different perspective
on the forests, meadows and lakes that that achievable from inside a
Peugeot 206, so its worth the climb. Quite a short climb, though, as the
road goes nearly to the top anyway.
The
rest of the Park combines hiking trails with windy gravel roads that
obviously make great rally stages at other times of the year. Luckily
for me, there were no souped-up Skodas or Scooby-Doos coming head-on
round hairpin bends today, so a gentle potter-on-wheels
was possible.
The mosquitoes had a bad day, despite a very good
effort on their part. They took heavy casualties without any of them
seemingly able to deliver a serious wound. Mind you, I was wearing heavy
jeans and a long sleeved rugby shirt buttoned up at the neck. A liberal
coating of nerve agent on the backs of the ears and they have no subtle
places left to land. They are very vulnerable when they attack the back
of your hand.
A
number of butterflies came out to play, and one or two posed nicely for
the camera. So although this email cannot be accompanied by any
interesting pictures of aerobatic aeroplanes in Finland, here is another
sort of flying machine.
Now then. Here's a weird thing. Anyone know what it
is? If this was Poland, it would probably be breakfast, but as this is
Finland...
Toodle Pip
Alan PS ... six landings, ten hours - Julian is still able to smile!
More news tomorrow I expect. Now for a well deserved beer. |
