Ha! That'll teach it!

Got that tricky song mastered.  Ha!  I met it face to face and wrestled it to the ground.  It still needs polishing and arranging, but the bones are there, and it's at a point where I know it has stuck, so is worth working on.

*That's* a relief!

The Lancaster.

I read Rick's commentary about seeing a Lancaster going overhead this weekend, and it stirred up a lot of feelings.

You see, it isn't just "a Lancaster" - it's *the* Lancaster.  There are only two airworthy Lanc.s left in the world, and one of them is a mailplane in Canada.  Here in Lincolnshire we have "The Pride of Lincoln" who flies with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (alongside Spitfires and a Hurricane amongst others), and "Just Jane" - the Lancaster who doesn't fly - she just taxi's at the East Kirkby Aviation Heritage Centre.

I didn't really get it when I moved to Lincolnshire.  The war was a long time before I was born, and I can't say that I have a particular fondness for machines of any kind, let alone airplanes.  But after a while, you come to recognise the earthy throb of the Lancaster, and the higher pitch of the Spitfires as they accompany her.  You realise that the sound and the history is indelibly linked to the earth and history of this place.

I remember Mum and Dad visiting, not long after we'd moved here, and taking them up Steep Hill in Lincoln.  Halfway up, just where there is a convenient bench to rest, we had stopped to catch our breath and I heard the throbbing that meant the Lanc. was coming.  What surprised Mum and Dad was the fact that everyone else in Uphill Lincoln recognised the same thing, and everyone stopped and turned towards the noise.  Men took off their hats, women held their breath and children waved.  As she went overhead, every head turned, and for one glorious moment a Lancaster and two Spitfires were framed against the backdrop of Lincoln Cathedral again.  It was 2002, but it could have been 1944 quite easily.

It's good to live in Bomber County.