Lest We Forget

Yesterday was the 70th anniversary of Operation Chastise or as it is more commonly known the Dambusters.

Due to a family tie to the RAF and a large family interest in World War II aircraft and military history I have also developed an interest in this area.

My main interests are D-Day and the deception operations however I love to see the aircraft flying (both World War II and modern) and specifically the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

The Lancaster Bomber is a very majestic aeroplane, as are the Spitfire and Hurricane that usually accompany it during the Memorial Flight.

Every year my family and I like to visit the air show at RAF Waddington where the Memorial Flight is one of the main attractions (along with the Red Arrows and the Vulcan Bomber - which may soon have to be retired again unless you have a ridiculous amount of money to give to the restoration fund). And yes we will be going again this year.


The Lancaster Bomber doesn't really need a commentary which is why I chose this video from the Dambusters' 65th anniversary. If you don't want to see the short introduction skip ahead to 0.30. 

I was going to post my own photographs of the bomber flying but blogger decided it didn't like them and wouldn't upload them properly. But the video below has a short slide show which you can look at whilst listening to The Dambusters March.

So this is my tribute to 617 Squadron (who are still in operation today - the Tornado jets in the first video are in that squadron) and the Dambusters raid all those years ago.

Teaser Tuesday

Taking part in Teaser Tuesday is easy-peasy. All you have to do is:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Then go to Should Be Reading to add your link to the comments and read other teasers.

 So here are my teasers:

'Now...' He checked his notes. 'Anna, I'm sorry you weren't aware of the full gravity of the situation.'

Page 12, The Loveliest Chocolate Shop In Paris by Jenny Colgan

Random Quote #130

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

 Albert Schweitzer

Imagine Dragons

I was recently on YouTube and discovered that those adverts that are put on before some videos are not just there to annoy us!

Yes they do have a use - I was waiting for some video to start and the advert was for a band. I'd never heard the song they were playing before but it sounded cool.

I had also never heard of the band in question before. But within fifteen minutes of seeing that advert I had Googled them, listened to some more of their songs and ordered their album (yes I could have downloaded it but if I am going to have more than just a couple of songs I like to get the actual physical CD).

As you might have guessed from the title of this post the band is called Imagine Dragons - isn't that a cool name?

And I thought I'd share a couple of my favourite songs.

So first up we have Radioactive... which has a bit of a weird video, to say the least, but is a great song none the less.

And then this next one - On Top Of The World - I find really uplifting and I can listen to it over and over again on a loop.

Enjoy! :)

Teaser Tuesday - I Have Returned

Using the phrase 'I have returned' makes me feel like I should be stood in a doorway wearing a cape with a storm raging outside.

*watches tumble weed blow across blog*

But anyway the A To Z Challenge has finished for this year and so I am once more taking part in Teaser Tuesday.

All you have to do to take part is:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Then go to Should Be Reading and add your link to the comments.

So here are my teasers for the week:

The cabin lights failed as the jet suddenly lurched, then began to free-fall. 
Ash clutched the arms of his seat, his fingers clawing to grip them hard as he found his body almost weightless.

Page 66, Ash by James Herbert

Random Quote #129

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth. 

Alan Wilson Watts

Happy Star Wars Day!

Warning: There is a small amount of swearing in this video.

A To Z 2013 Reflections

One of the purposes of the A To Z Reflections Post is to share what you’ve learnt and who you’ve met on the journey from A to Z.

In which case this post is going to be fairly similar to last year’s reflections post.

This event always shows what a great community there is here in the blogosphere. And how you give everyone the same challenge and they will all complete it differently. OK so some  participants posts will be on the same theme but they’ll still be different. Whether they tell you about something they like, something they don’t, write a story, a poem or draw us a picture.

My theme this year was to go to my dictionary and for each letter post the definition of the first word I came to that I didn’t know the definition of. In some cases I had heard the word before but didn’t know what it meant. In others I had never heard of the word let alone knew what it meant.

So I’ve learnt a few new words and hopefully taught some other people new words as well.

My favourite of which was probably Jacaranda as a Jacaranda is a beautiful purple blossomed tree - a tree in my favourite colour! Just unfortunate that they are difficult to grow in the UK.

And another similarity between this year’s challenge and last year’s – I have already thought of a theme for next year. Although my theme for next year will require a little more work than just going to a dictionary, which is why I’m starting my list now.

I managed to visit 274 blogs from the participants list during the challenge (well it was actually slightly more but the odd link here and there has been removed).

I hope to visit a lot more (hopefully all of them). I would probably have visited more but I decided (in my infinite wisdom) to take part in Camp NaNoWriMo during April as well as the A To Z Challenge. Click here to see the participants list so you can go visit some blogs too.

And click here to go and add you link to the Reflections post list or just read some other reflections posts.

Z is For Zephyr

Here we are - the 30th April and the last  post in this year's A To Z challenge.

And it's one of those tough letters again - Z.

zephyr (zef-fer) n a soft gentle breeze [Greek zephuros the west wind]

I can see me using this word in summer (as long as we actually get some decent weather in the UK).

Now I know I said that this was the last post in this year's challenge, which is true, however from 3rd May you'll be able to sign up for the A To Z Reflections post.

You can write the post whenever you want but the linky list will only be available for a week after 3rd May. Click here for more details.

Y is For Yarborough

Welcome to the penultimate post in this year's A To Z challenge - the letter Y

And today's previouslu unknown word is:

yarborough n bridge, whist a hand in which no card is higher than nine [supposedly after the second earl of Yarborough, said to have bet a thousand to one against its occurrence]

There is a very good reason why I didn't know this word... I've never played bridge or whist in my life.

See you tomorrow for the last post in this year's challenge.