What we did on the hottest day of the year
We’ve had a heatwave here in the UK this week, and I think everyone pretty much reacted in the same way: after months of complaining about the British summer, nobody could cope with the heat when it did arrive in full force! For me, the hottest day of the year started by rescuing two beautiful Red Admiral butterflies from the clubhouse at the airfield. I’ve seen quite a few butterflies this year, of so many different species, but in the last week I’ve rescued three Red Admirals. They really are glorious.
It was too hot to work in the clubhouse, so I set up the laptop under the parasol at one of the picnic benches outside, which gave me a nice view of Lee and Jonathan flying in and out doing their instructing work. It was fine first thing in the morning, but then that got too hot as well, and I ended up with sunburn on my arm and leg despite being in the shade. The perils of a British heatwave!
As you can see, it was a busy day for the flying club, with no fewer than four aircraft parked up on the apron! In between my own work, I did what I could to support the proceedings by greeting visitors and making sure Lee drank plenty of cold water, wore a hat etc.
Towards the end of the afternoon we had to fly the Robin over to Croft Farm for a quick fix at the maintenance hangar there. It only takes about five minutes by air to get there in the Robin, which was just as well, because it was really hot in the cockpit. I sat in the shade while the maintenance chaps got to work fixing the canopy clasp, which had been broken by the people who’d borrowed the aircraft last week.
This was the view of Bredon Hill on the way home.
It was still over 30 degrees by the time we got back to our own airfield around 6pm, and we still had to put all the aircraft away and run round getting everything packed up for the evening. By the time we’d done that, we were even more exhausted and hot and bothered than we had been already. Craving air conditioning and energy, we ended up in McDonald’s in Stratford, which turned out to be a great decision, as it was blissfully cool in there and we were tired and starving. McDonald’s burgers and a cold coke and milkshake just totally hit the spot. The new McDonald’s in Stratford is right by the canal, and when we came out we encountered this lovely little family of swans! The other parent was there too, but out of the picture.
We’ve just got back from a couple of days in London, so I have lots more blog posts lined up for the coming days. Stay tuned!