Geoffrey

 

An unusual round stamp on a Christmas card from my oldest friend Geoffrey. I met Geoff the Chef while working at ACS Gatwick, then he moved in as our lodger. He then moved to Bermuda and finally to Cape Porpoise, Kennebunkport, Maine, from where this stamp was sent. 

 With Geoff in Kennebunkport

Geoffrey just after he'd left the safety of being my lodger, newly arrived on the island of Bermuda. 

Ship of the desert

 

One of two memorable camel encounters. This was on one of my short trips to India. In Rajasthan, we stopped at this beautiful hotel. It was one of the Heritage collection we'd been staying in, which were old Maharaja palaces, rich in history and full of character. In the evening they arranged this trip which involved a camel with a trailer upon which was a mattress on. We laid down, staring up at the stars while the dromedary towed us into the desert where we stopped for tea. A magical experience.

The second camel encounter was during our Red Sea dive holiday. We went out into the Sinai Desert on a really touristy evening trip. I should have hated everything about this but I loved it. Sitting by a fire, in the peaceful desert, then they made us ride the wretched things

Thriller to Manilla

 

A first-day cover. I had no intention of collecting these when this all started but some are too interesting to miss. And just how much excitement can one piece of paper evoke? This little envelope was one of 110,000 items onboard 'China Clipper' registration NC14716 – a Martin M-130 four-engine flying boat, when it completed the first airmail cargo flight across the Pacific Ocean from Alameda, California to Manila after travelling via Honolulu, Midway Island, Wake Island, and Guam. It was the first commercial flight across the Pacific and marked the dawn of a new era of flight. The aircraft later crashed on approach to Trinidad! Historynet has a great write up on the flight and its treacherous start. 

I flew to Manila once, in January 2014, on one of my ‘top ten Virgin Atlantic moments’. Flying with just three other passengers on an empty Airbus A340, we were headed down there for heavy maintenance, but also delivering aid for Typhoon victims. It was a crazy trip that included dwarf wrestling, a street called ‘The Axis of Evil’ and a trip home via Tokyo. 

China Clipper sets off from San Francisco with my stamp onboard

On the ground in Manilla

80s aircraft

 

Now, this was my era at Gatwick. The late 80s. Here we have a BAC 1-11 and a Handley Page Herald. I definitely worked on the Herald. The BAC 1-11 was the first aircraft I ever flew on (Laker Airways) pictured below, getting off after landing home from Majorca. Wearing a very 70s blue velvet jacket. With my mum and a souvenir sombrero hat.

The stamp is from Jersey. We only went there once, on Dan Air standby, to visit the Gerald Durrell zoo. For Sue, the main attraction was to see the critically endangered St Lucia Parrot (bottom photo)

Moonmen

 

This was a phase I went through! One day, while searching for an American flag to use in a PowerPoint deck, I stumbled across a website that described, in great detail, the process of putting the stars and stripes on the moon. I decided there and then, as I do, that I wanted to meet someone who had walked on the moon. The next few years were spent tracking down the Apollo astronauts. These old men had the most incredible story to tell of their part in mans greatest ever adventure. These are the guys I got to see talk:

Apollo 8 - Frank Borman, William A. Anders, James A. Lovell Jr

Apollo 11 - Neil Armstrong*, Buzz Aldrin*

Apollo 12 - Alan L. Bean*, Richard F. Gordon Jr

Apollo 13 - James A. Lovell Jr., Fred W. Haise Jr

Apollo 15 - Alfred Worden

Apollo 16 - Charlie Duke*

*walked on moon

 A photo I took of Neil Armstrong in 2006

The equator

Nanyuki, in Kenya. On the equator and on route to one of our most spectacular holidays where we saw, for the first time, wild dogs. We stayed at Sosian Ranch in Laikipia before heading down to Mombassa for a chill by the coast. The airport at Laikipia is particularly cool. I flew there in the copilot seat of a Cessna Caravan from Wilson Airport Nairobi. Real bush flying with a picture postcard cafe at the airstrip.