Short Fall

I’ve mentioned that the weather is crap at the moment. Now it’s become colder and crappier. While out for my lunchtime walk I noticed the sky getting darker and cloudier. “Hmm,” I thought “this really looks like a winter sky.” In reply the heavens opened and it started to rain. I barely had time to curse my luck before I realised that the rain had a bit of a bite to it.

I was caught in a hailstorm. The weather gods seemingly oblivious to my calls that “weather shouldn’t be sharp and pointy.”

Flying wise the stupidly short Fall season means that I need to start thinking about winterising my flying kit. I carry basic winter stuff in my flight bag; gloves, toque and fleece as well as handwarmers.  I’ll be starting to do the “shoe shuffle” soon, whereby I wear my winter walking boots down there and change into my sneakers at the last possible moment. I have a nasty habit of leaving my walking boots in the school. I probably should stow them in the plane. If I ever brought it down in a field, my sneakers ain’t gonna cut it in the snow, that’s for sure.

I also need to face the fact that I may not get my cross country in before the snows seriously hit up north.  I’ll be disappointed but it’s not as if there isn’t other stuff I could be getting on with. I can spend the winter getting up to flight test standards on everything else I need and maybe pick up the distance flying in the spring.

Or we could be in for a mild winter. So hard to tell.