The R4D-6S is unfortunately having to have an engine replaced before it returns Stateside. At least they found the fault here and not halfway over the Atlantic!!
The Catalina has also recently had an engine change while away in France carrying out water training…
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The aftermath of Monday night’s 10 minutes’ worth of Saharan rain. 
One quick wash later… and breathe… 
PS the wavy line is the telephone wire reflection…
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Same where I am (wales). 10 mins blast of rain and it looked like yours.
Need to get me a car port! Even if just a temporary sail-type, would keep the worst of it off the car in absence of a garage.
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Yes, worth it.
I’ve got two mazda half covers on mine all the time so the soft top don’t get touched. Just the rest of it.
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Nice 737!
Full flight sim or fixed base?
Any interesting airfields?
Harvesting the barley field beside our house today in the Scottish Borders. The field has been ready for a week or more but I understand there was no storage after the wheat crops were cut.
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Fixed base, Ascent Aviation in Linwood.
Did some local work around Glasgow and Edinburgh as my first time in the 737 sim, then a night time Kai Tak approach and a Funchal departure and rnav approach to 05. All good except my Funchal approach wasn’t exactly stabilised.. 
40 years of PC sim bad habits plus some real time in light singles, and one go in a Robinson R22 which was alarming.
Having been in the A320 sim the physicality and amount of movement required to follow the flight director on the 737 was a surprise, I need to digest that and improve next time..
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A trip to the Borde Hill Gardens today.
The historic house is still lived in by the family, so not open to visitors,
but the gardens are superb with borders
and water features including this Italianate formal pond.
The view from the back looks past cattle resting in the shade in this meadow, across the valley to the distant neighbours and the railway line, bits of train just visible if you know where to look.
This amazing tree (Emmenopterys henryi) is very, very special. It was planted in 1928, flowered for the first time in 2011, and again this week in 2025.
The delicate creamy white flowers are accompanied by large white bracts
I forgot to add the bit of blurb about it.
If you need a nibble or are thirsty the limited selection of food is actually very nice and tasty, and my coffee was excellent.
The loos are clean and new.
And there is loads of parking.
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Nice places to go visit.
I haven’t personally been to Funchal since they made the runway longer on the platforms.
I went there in the 737-200….. when the departure said, as soon as possible after liftoff, perform gear up and right turn before 200”agl…. Was exciting.
The 737 is still a manual plane so the flight controls are connected to the control column in your hands, whereas the A320 is of course a fly by wire (fbw) plane so the manual effort will always be more.
Glad you had a great day. Hong Kong Kai Tak is one to remember 
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I have no idea what you just said but well done anyway. 
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A selection from Normandy over the past couple of weeks 
And finding ourselves on a surprise mini ferry to cross the Seine! “Turn right… and take the ferry” Oh! OK then
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Bit of railway history on a local cycle ride today. Norham Station on the line that used to go from Berwick to Coldstream then Kelso and on to the Waverley route (also a branch off to Alnwick). Appropriate VR post box (though there are many of these around this general area). The fine of forty shillings would have been pretty steep when this was introduced. To think I was 10 when this line finally closed!
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Great photos, love the bike…I have a 14 year old TCR bike. Lining up the tyres to the valve, very precise.
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Like stepping back in time. Wonderful.
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For the last 3 days and evenings we’ve had a constant stream of farm vehicles past our house, good to see. They were working in the fields yesterday afternoon as we took a stroll down to the pub with the grandkids, still working at 10pm last night. As I type this morning 9am they have started again.
Long may it continue, we have been threatened with an housing development across from us, worse maybe to come battery and solar panel installations are at the proposal stage again.
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