White rabbits

White rabbits

I was reading something by David Sedaris last night and he mentioned that someone had told him that saying ‘white rabbits’ on waking on the first day of the month would ensure good luck throughout the ensuing period. I have known this superstition for years and always try to remember to say it (though, of course, I am not in the least superstitious!) but I didn’t know where it originated or that it was universal.

Actually, on looking it up, Wikipedia informed me:

"Rabbit rabbit rabbit" is a superstition found in Britain and North America wherein a person says or repeats the words "rabbit", "rabbits" and/or "white rabbits" aloud upon waking on the first day of a month, to ensure good luck for the rest of it.

Then I investigated a little further and found this:

Apparently it was a common belief among RAF bomber aircrew during WW2 that saying "white rabbits" the very first thing upon waking would protect oneself.

Another source claimed:

During World War II, British fighter pilots were known to say “white rabbits” for luck every day—not just the first day of the month. Other variations of this superstition include saying “rabbit” three times in a row rather than just two.

Now I was engaged in finding more:

In the United States the tradition appears especially well known in northern New England although, like all folklore, determining its exact area of distribution is difficult. The superstition may be related to the broader belief in the rabbit or hare being a "lucky" animal, as exhibited in the practice of carrying a rabbit's foot for luck. Rabbits have not always been thought of as lucky, however. In the 19th century, for example, fishermen would not say the word while at sea; in South Devon, to see a white rabbit in one's village when a person was very ill was regarded as a sure sign that the person was about to die.

President Roosevelt, no less, admitted to observing the custom and would not dream of not doing so.

The following extension to the superstition seems a little foolhardy to me:

"...it must be 'White Rabbit' ... but you must also say 'Brown Rabbit' at night and walk downstairs backwards." Reported in a small survey that took place in Exeter, Devon in 1972.

However, I have added my own idiosyncrasy to the procedure: I have to say ‘Grey hares, grey hares, grey hares’ on the last night of the month before I go to sleep. It’s tragic, really . . .

 I bet you’re all longing for January 1^st now, so that you can respect the tradition and guarantee your portion of good fortune!

 

 

 

  

Simulation

Simulation or ‘How to become a Pilot or a Racing/rally driver

RAF  GR4Tornados (image courtesy of RAF)

simulation

·         imitation of a situation or process.

·         the action of pretending; deception.

·         the production of a computer model of something, especially for the purpose of study.

Barry’s study is a testament to all things ‘gadgety’. Actually, it’s not just his study. Much of the rest of the house has been given over to electronics. In my dreams I have a beautiful home, with ‘a place for everything and everything in its place’. It’s never going to happen but as we keep telling ourselves, ‘It’s a home, not a show place.’ True, very true.

Of course, the animals don’t help, not that they’re untidy, just that they track in mud and shed fur/hair. They also rearrange the furniture. That is not a conscious thing. I wouldn’t like anyone to run away with the idea that working parties of cats and dogs stand together, paws to lips, musing whether the sofa would look better ‘there’ or ‘there’ and should we be on trend and have some ‘shabby chic’ to give the place a little more character? We have the shabby, all right, just not the chic and I don’t suppose it’s a trend any longer anyway.

However, I have gone off at a tangent and what I really wanted to talk about was simulation, hence the title. One of Barry’s friends, who used to fly Tornados, has a flight simulator and his son learnt to fly on it and is now, at 21, a fully-qualified crack pilot. Perhaps ‘crack’ is not the correct adjective. I shouldn’t imagine the use of ‘crack’ improves a pilot’s performance. Anyway, Barry has a rather sophisticated simulation set-up in his study. Frankie, who is 5 and obsessed with cars, loves to play Formula 1 and is developing useful skills. He and Barry share an enjoyable half hour or so most days travelling the world’s racing circuits.   I can hear the roar of the engines and Barry’s exhortations half a house away. One night, after Frankie had gone to bed, Barry decided to play at ‘driving’ himself and to his astonishment discovered that Frankie’s performance far outweighed his. Callum, 20, also likes spending time polishing his skills.

The flight simulator is a little trickier. I can barely achieve lift-off and my crashes are spectacular. It is fun to ‘see’ the world through the cockpit window and is as close as I will ever get to flying a plane. Apparently, airline pilots use simulators to refresh their memories of landing strips in various parts of the world, or to acquaint themselves with unfamiliar destinations. It is an amazing piece of technology, if slightly dizzying. There is talk of going into space . . .

 

RAF GR4 Tornado (image courtesy of RAF)

The Tornado GR4 is a two-seat, all-weather, day/night attack and reconnaissance aircraft. It has been in service with the RAF for more than 30 years, but a combination of major upgrade programmes and numerous continual enhancements has kept the aircraft amongst the forefront of all attack aircraft.

Still one of the very few aircraft in the world that is able to operate at low level, day or night and in poor weather, the Tornado is now equipped with a modern precision-guided weapons suite and world-class reconnaissance sensors such as the Reconnaissance Airborne Pod for Tornado (RAPTOR). The aircraft also carries the Litening III Advanced Targeting Pod, which is used in both attack and reconnaissance roles.

(From the Royal Air Force website https://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/tornado.cfm)

Discover the facts before you react . . .

Two British traffic patrol officers from North Berwick were involved in an unusual incident while checking for speeding motorists on the A1 Great North Road. One of the officers used a hand-held radar device to check the speed of a vehicle approaching over the crest of a hill, and was surprised when the speed was recorded at over 300 mph. Their radar suddenly stopped working and the officers were not able to reset it.
Just then a deafening roar over the treetops revealed that the radar had in fact latched on to a NATO Tornado fighter which was engaged in a low-flying exercise over the Border district, approaching from the North Sea.
At police headquarters the chief constable fired off a stiff complaint to the RAF Liaison office.
Back came the reply in true laconic RAF style:
"Thank you for your message, which allows us to complete the file on this incident. You may be interested to know that the tactical computer in the Tornado had detected the presence of, and subsequently locked onto, your hostile radar equipment and automatically sent a jamming signal back to it. Furthermore, an air-to-ground missile aboard the fully-armed aircraft had also automatically locked onto your equipment. Fortunately the pilot flying the Tornado recognized the situation for what it was, quickly responded to the missile systems alert status, and was able to override the automated defence system before the missile was launched and your hostile radar installation was destroyed.
Good Day..."

Chinook helicopters

What's the first thing you do when you buy a new car? Maybe you're an organised owner and sit down with the handbook/s and diligently read all the information therein. Perhaps you take it for a long drive, testing its capacity for speed, braking efficiency, safety, fuel consumption, noise, comfort, desirability in the eyes of other motorists. Do you look under the bonnet and calculate whether you can carry out all necessary servicing? Conceivably you give it a thorough valeting to validate your ownership. Would you consider removing the engine and replacing it with another from a different make and model? That seems unlikely as you would then have many other puzzles to solve.

However, that is precisely what the Ministry of Defence did in 1995 when ordering eight Special Operation Mk3 Chinook helicopters from US manufacturer Boeing. The MoD specified engines which would be built in UK, presumably to provide employment in a Member of Parliament's constituency. Access to security codes to test airworthiness was not included in the contract to which UK officials agreed.

In 2001, six years later, when the Chinooks were delivered they did not meet airworthiness standards, being considered safe only to fly not more than 500 feet from the ground in good visibility. They were then put into storage hangars.

A year later, in 2002, less complex Mk2 Chinooks were equipped for night flying but the infra-red computer screens had to be upgraded as the original screens partially obscured vision, making them less safe to fly. The upgrade cost £32.3 million.

Two years after this, in 2004, the MoD declared that in order to make the 'new' helicopters airworthy by 2008 it would spend £215 million on a high-level upgrade. Organising the contract took far longer than expected and it was soon abundantly clear that the Chinooks would not be ready to fly until 2011.

In 2007 the upgrade was cancelled because the MoD said it would take too long. That decision cost £17.25 million for the work already completed. The MoD decided on a cheaper option with a new night vision system. This was estimated at a cost of £53 million. This has since risen to £112 million with an unknown sum for night vision equipment.

The MoD confidently stated that it would have one of the eight Chinooks operational by 2009 with the other seven ready by 2010. It is now the seventh month of 2009 and no 'new' Chinooks are yet in service.

The RAF's 48 Chinooks are ageing; some are in poor condition and are being used to provide spare parts to keep others in the air in Afghanistan. There are currently ten deployed in Afghanistan(February 2009)

When or perhaps if the eight Mk3 Chinooks, now all 'reverted' to Mk2/2a to make them available more quickly, finally take to the air the whole procurement fiasco will have cost more than £422 million. In all probability it will cost more than £500 million. It seems that they may not now see service in Afghanistan but will be used in training aircrew.

In the meantime, in-service RAF Chinooks will fly more hours, new rotor blades have been fitted to Sea King helicopters and six Danish Air Force Merlins have been bought and are being converted.

And still the Government insists that the Military are better equipped than they have ever been –they don't seem to realise that's not at all the same as saying they are 'best equipped' which is what all the friends and relations of serving personnel desperately want to hear.

Today eight more bodies were repatriated to the UK. There was, as usual, no coverage of casualties in the media. They will be supported by charity.

Information gathered from David Hencke's article of 4^th June 2008 in The Guardian; BBC News diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams, 4^th June 2008; Sky News defence correspondent Geoff Meade, 24^th February 2009; Wikipedia