This is the Message Centre for LMScott
HIGH FLYERS.
LMScott Started conversation Apr 12, 2005
The Blitz of 1944, had been quite bad in Manchester and Liverpool, and it was quite common to see a German plane trapped in the beam of a searchlight at night. Even so they seemed to drone on and on forever, none of them appeared to be affected by the ack- ack gunfire or the barrage balloons and cables below them.
Following one such night, my best friend Colin and I were on the Moor enjoying another perfect day, having no thoughts at all concerning the war, or anything else for that matter that was not directly in our line of vision. We were exceedingly busy doing nothing, except enjoying another beautiful winter’s day. Then we saw it, what a sight to behold, a real barrage balloon and it was loose, only partially inflated the tail being crumpled and flat and it was dragging a wire cable behind it.
It was enormous, and despite its neglected appearance, the Silver monster was bobbing merrily along the ground propelled by a fresh cold breeze. One impetuous youth cried out, “ We’ll have that. “ I decline to take credit for that stupid remark but we both jumped up and grabbed the cable.
The balloon obliged, and lifted us both deceptively in a very gentle manner about ten feet or so in the air and then across a small gully for about fifty yards. But then fear, discretion, or just plain old common sense prevailed, and I yelled out, “ Let go.” Colin was very strong for his size and his age, quite capable of holding his own weight for ten minutes or so.
He was very reluctant to let go of his prize but he did, his face was a picture swiftly changing from adrenaline rich elation to pure fear. In the blink of an eye, a sudden gust of air or a thermal had taken charge and whipped our wonderful new flying machine away, up into the clear Blue Sky.
Then we watched as it soared sedately across the Rossendale Valley at about four hundred feet, with the very tall chimney of Ross Mill smoking away far below it. We both sat down on the grass and not a word was spoken for some considerable time, I presume that my own face was somewhere about the same colour as his, a bit like fresh putty. I really do not know about Colin, but I never told anyone about our wonderful flying machine, perhaps someone would have wanted to know why we were not at school.
Cheers H.
Key: Complain about this post
HIGH FLYERS.
More Conversations for LMScott
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."