![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic4-9ftG1vTpGPm3k3FnaaMj7ZyJfinltu-4TqQrGVTAUrPxLVJ3AewsCgV_9jkcK41sV8xQDNMYYk3YzVHJNhDNuvi7v4DKBfuXxsPo9r6Y4N83SwkMRrC5MgfnN3RstVdhYAifeWr7YH/s400/DSCF3903-1.jpg)
Uncle Michael was a loadmaster in the RAF. He wanted to be a pilot really, but his eyesight wasn't good enough ...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc2fu_aXqwtPIf-xAbbtUvEj_92w7PQMyCuFO-54nfwlk5ZzYmtthheyHqNH7Ckre9fzWCkfZjR77D-aMuueD87-2uNB6RtZ6wslKSRWir9ZWIT6_5yiD4aPyB11MGL1cZDB-9MbjxJbuZ/s400/DSCF3898-1.jpg)
... so he built and flew his own plane. When I was little I remember there were parts of it stored - or being worked on - in his mother's (my granny's) garage in Lincolnshire.
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I have flown with him once, in a shared ownership powered glider of his. I have a (pre-digital) photo in a box somewhere...
He's retired from flying now - no more crash landings!
After the lunch we went back to his house to watch the Grand National (a sweepstake had been organised to keep the interest up), and after that a few of us walked down to the canal.
From the bridge we turned left to go upstream. Just beyond the work boat was nb Gospel Belle...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqrNFCLiFL9Dz4zmvz7BSSuS_i9aV-zrn-ZX-3OYhmrUw533qeEgTH-omtdvCBKYLMLisCiNoXLHZPSGghibjqc_mN52erD28GTDnR9G0izWv-Yk9nTx4a5158iW8gAk8zGHavKuKKY6AR/s400/DSCF3910.jpg)
... the boat of our friends Peter and Lin (others in the party were impressed that we could find boaters we knew on a random bit of canal!)
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Peter and Lin work for Canal Ministries, which is allied to the Boaters' Christian Fellowship.
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After church the next day Jan and I went back for coffee on Gospel Belle; after lunch we helped them up a couple of locks and said goodbye.
1 comment:
Now that is one fantastic cake! Love it!
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