Saturday April 11^th 2009. Launch -25 days.

Still no news. It seems that even the most workaholics have got the message… this is our last significant opportunity for a break before launch. Last night I sent of my monthly section for The Astronomer magazine, just before the deadline. Got the confirmation that it had been received and imported into the magazine okay and they ignored my email completely.

The weather was better today so it was the shop circuit in the morning (drycleaner, bus pass and convenience store) and the cinema and dinner in the evening. And a good walk to the cinema and back from the bus station, rather than public transport, which was a good idea because my healthy turkeyburger with salad was followed by a rather less healthy enormous chocolate ice cream concoction. Very dangerous stop on the way back in a shop with a big DVD section. The result was adding 4 DVDs to my collection, including “Reach for the Sky” – it’s a wonderful story, of the life of the famous legless Battle of Britain ace Douglas Bader and goes with the book that I have had for many years. Just before he died Douglas Bader appeared on the BBC’s “Pro-Celebrity Golf” where a personality would play 9 holes of golf on a famous course alongside a top-flight professional. The BBC’s commentator, Peter Allis, himself no mean pro before taking up commentating, remarked that Douglas Bader looked very ill and finally, half way through the round Bader had to give up: what they did not know at the time was that he had had a major heart attack and was never to recover and die a few weeks later. It was typical of Douglas Bader that not even a serious medical problem would stop him from trying to complete his duty, on this occasion fort the cameras.

That film went straight on the DVD when I got home. Wonderful flying scenes (despite some very obvious studio sets and back projection in some of the scenes).