RIAT 2018

Hi guys sorry for the slightly delayed blog/review of RIAT 2018, I've been making the most of the nice weather and spending every evening in the run with Esme . 

Oh lucky me!

I went to the air tattoo for the first time last year and my blog RIAT 2017 explains the airshow and it's set up. 

Knowing how much fun I had last year I spent nearly the whole year building up to the show, watching as many videos as possible on YouTube from air tattoos past and generally videos people have uploaded from airshows thus far this season. In fact I even went as far as to write a preview.

My week of plane geeking started off in style when I finally cracked and booked the day off to go and watch the RAF 100 flypast in London. I'd umm-ed and ahh-ed about going but my mind was made up when the mention was made of 22 Typhoons in formation! I'm so glad that I did go as it really was a once in a lifetime experience to see that many planes above London. The light wasn't great but I did manage a couple of snaps -

Waiting for the train

Pumas & Chinooks

Tornados!

The RAF's new F35s

An amazing formation of 22 Typhoons!

Check out my (incredibly wobbly) video here

We headed up to Fairford on the Thursday, we stayed at the same campsite as last year at Townsend Farm. It was so much better than it was last year, the loos were cleaned throughout the day and the water supply constantly topped up and overall just far better organised.

As with last year the campsite is right under the flightpath of the aircraft coming in to land so you get a fantastic view. 

Ready to geek

One of the first aircraft we saw was this gorgeous Hunter

So excited that we had two Tornados run in over us

Just after we'd got set up the Red Arrows very kindly did their PDA!

 

We also had PDAs from the A400M, Canadian F18, SU27 and the Frecce Tricolori

Some other interesting arrivals - 

RAF E1D Sentry

USAF F-15

RAF Voyager

We were also treated to a sunset Spitfire flypast

A few more arrivals and PDAs are here -

The fairy light game was upped this year ....

On Friday we headed off into the showground

Re-creating last year's Tornado fan-girling!

This year's Friday display was extended to an 8 hour day (it's normally 6 hours with Saturday & Sunday stretching to 8) as part of the Air Tattoo's RAF 100 celebrations. There had been a flypast planned in the same vein as the London one earlier that week. Unfortunately the weather put paid to it. 

Bloody rain

 Thankfully the rest of show went ahead as planned, despite the rain

A Swiss Airforce Flypast

The French Navy sent these two Rafales

The A400M fresh from it's part in the London flypast

F35

Shooting for the stars

The Reds on top form as always

The Solo Turk was one of the highlights of the weekend - the guy is an absolute nutcase, I've never seen an F-16 thrown about like that before. 

The rain earlier on turned the light a glowing colour which added an extra layer to the final displays of the afternoon

 Frecce Tricolori

Osprey

SU27

After the show finished I had a wander around the static displays, the static line is over 5 miles long so I barely scratched the surface.

USAF B1 Lancer

USAF KC135

One of the visitors that had travelled the furthest was this Kawasaki C-2 from Japan

I was also delighted to find a stall in the vintage village selling gorgoeus plane-print skirts and dresses. Sadly the dresses had sold out but I managed to grab a couple of tops (one with a Lancaster-print collar), I've since found them on ETSY at ButtoninRetro and ordered the skirt to match my top.

Soooo pretty, my skirt and top are far right

 Some of the highlights from Friday's show -

We were treated to a beautiful sunset to round off the day. 

As with last year we spent the Saturday lounging around the caravan watching the show, one does feel rather spoiled when the planes come and fly over you rather than you trekking across a field to them!

The flypast went ahead on Saturday with these 9 Typhoons

The reforming of 617 'Dambusters' squadron was also celebrated by a formation flypast of a Lancaster, Tornado & F35. 

The USAF example of the F35 took part in a flypast of it's own in formation with a Mustang and Spitfire.

Speaking of warbirds, the Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight showed off their Trenchard Formation of Dakota, Lancaster, Spitfires & Hurricanes

 

Saturday also allowed me to achieve a life-long ambition of seeing a B2 Stealth Bomber (there was a flypast on the Sunday last year so we missed it) and all I can tell you is that it is not of this world. If there's evidence of alien technology being reverse engineered then that surely is it!

Alien spacecraft with 2 x F15s

The sunshine of Saturday helped the decorations of the aircraft take centre stage.

French Rafale

Peek-a-boo from a Mirage

SU27

My favourite colour scheme this year was the Canadian Air Force F-18

A nice close pass!

A few of the aircraft flying on Saturday -

Once again the Air Tattoo was an absolutely fantastic experience and put me in geek heaven for three days. The nagging campaign for going next year starts now!

Love Jen

XxxX

Ps A massive thank you to Chris, my neighbours and Helen for Esme-sitting and general Esme-spoiling if these photos are anything to go by .....

Mental Illness Costs Me Once Again

We had an e-mail at work today to confirm that the staff in the hospital with finally be getting their much-deserved pay rise and backdated pay (until April 2018). After god knows how many years of wages being frozen the staff are finally getting their reward.

But obviously with any good news comes a catch. I work on the TWS (Temporary Workforce) which makes me a temp as my hours aren’t guaranteed, I’m lucky in that I have hours in the Secretarial Admin 4 days a week. However despite working 30 hours a week I’ll get neither a pay rise or any backdated pay (to be honest I wasn’t expecting any backdated pay). The lack of a pay rise really stings though.

I’m not going to sit here and rant about my lack of pay rise, it is what it is, what’s really upset me is that yet again my health has put me at a disadvantage.

The reason that I work the way I do is because my mental illnesses interrupt my working life so much, making a full-time job impossible. Even if I was to apply for a ‘proper’ job I’d be immediately disqualified by the amount of sickness I’ve had in previous jobs and this one. I hate that my stupid brain is causing me to earn less than what I believe I should be entitled to, I work damn hard for 8 hours a day through really bad brain episodes but still lose out.

I hate that my mental illness is affecting my life so negatively financially once more. I earn a pittance as it is and it’s a good week when I have more than £10 left over after bills and food shopping for ‘me’. I know many of you will be thinking “Why doesn’t she stop complaining and go and work in Tesco?” well let me put it to you this way, any kind of job adjustment sends me into a spiral of fear and OCD and my personality disorder goes haywire. Do you seriously not think I’d have pursued my journalism dream if my health only let me?

But no as per normal I’m stuck in the mud of my stupid brain.

Love Jen

XxxX

RIAT 2018 Preview

The Royal International Air Tattoo has finally come around again. On Thursday Mum, Dad and me will be heading up to RAF Fairford for 3 days of geek heaven. Last year was the first time I went, you can read my blog about it here.

Rather than re-hash last year's blog I thought I would preview some of the aircraft I'll be seeing this week.

Belgian Airforce F-16

The BAF F-16 was one of the highlights of last year's airshow season for me. It stole the show at Eastbourne with it's flares and noise!

At RIAT Fri 14th July 2017

Stealing the show at Airbourne

Canadian Airforce CF-18 Demonstration Team

I haven't seen an F-18 for years so I'm excited to re-acquaint myself with one!

I found this video of the display on YouTube -

The Boeing F-18 display at Farnborough Airshow 2012

A400M

The A400M 'Atlas' has been a staple at the larger airshows the last few years. It's incredibly maneuverable for it's huge size and has an impressively short stop and take off.

A sharp wingover on the Saturday of the show

Norwegian Vampire Display

The Norwegian Vampires are a beautiful example of the 1950s jet era. Vampires are one of the first planes I remember seeing at an airshow so they're quite special to me.

The team over the sea at Airbourne 2015

Czech Gripen

The Gripen display was really impressive last year, I hadn't seen one since the early 00's and it was as good as I remembered!

Hopefully the Gripen will have a slightly bluer sky to perform against this year!

French Couteau Delta

The Couteau Delta fly two Mirage 2000s and put on a really good tactical display. I used to see Mirages all the time during family holidays to France - hopefully they'll bring some Mediterranean weather with them!

On the Friday of last year's show

The Mirage also produce a 'sonic shock' during their high speed passes which are pretty awesome!

Rafale Display

The French air force also bought their Rafale display to last year's show. They painted it in a lovely colour scheme which managed to shine even through some typical British airshow weather!

Landing over the top of us!

Italian Air Force Frecce Tricolori 

The Frecce Tricolori are world famous for their exciting displays and I'm so glad to be finally seeing them!

The team performing at RIAT 2014

Italian Air Force Spartan

I always really enjoy seeing a Spartan display, it's so maneuverable and energetic. 

Spartan last year

Ukrainian SU27 Flanker

The Flanker was a late addition to last year's line-up and reminded me why I loved them so much. It put on a thunderous display and we were lucky to have it rehearse on the Thursday right over our campsite!

One noisy camping neighbour I won't complain about!

RAF Red Arrows

Last year the Red Arrows opened the show with a flypast alongside the USAF Thunderbirds. I'm really excited to see them for the first time this year!

The Reds & The Thunderbirds

Holding Wings!

Landing next to us

RAF BBMF

Last year at the show the BBMF celebrated the 60th anniversary of their formation with a display from their Lancaster, Spitfires and Hurricane. This photo is from the Saturday of the show as they were passing low over our campsite.

Typhoon

A few different countries are sending Typhoons this year so I'm really excited to see how the different displays compare to each other!

One of my new favourite airshow moments is nearly getting landed on by a Typhoon on the way into the showground.

F35 Lightning II

One of the aircraft I'm most looking foward to seeing is the F35 the RAF's newest fighter aircraft and is due to take part in the RAF 100 Flypast this week. These shots are from Farnborough 2016 when the F35 made it's UK airshow debut. 

Demonstrating it's hover ability

CV22 Osprey

The Osprey is really cool, it's a turboprop that can shift between foward flight to hovering. It's been massively successful in theatres such as Afghanistan. I enjoyed it's display last year. 

At last year's show

The aircraft I've previewed are just a small percentage of all the planes to see both in the air and on the ground. This year I'm going to make the effort to stay after the show finishes (We're going into the showground on Friday) and have a good look around the static park - at the very least it'll get my steps up for the day!

I'm looking foward to reporting back.

Love Jen

XxxX

Sunsets & Fairy Lights

Evening all, I hope the weekend has been good

to you!

I just wanted to post a couple of fun photos from this evening's beautiful sunset and a few other bits and bobs.

First off I'd like to share that I have finally lost a full 3 stone. I'm still having quite conflicted feelings about whether I'm losing weight for the 'right' reasons (Are there right reasons?) as I described in a previous blog.

I am however refusing to give up cheese!

I've also been trying to give 'my space' a bit of a make-over, ok tidy up, so that my room really feels like the sanctuary it should be and not the death trap that it is when I'm tripping over magazines, cables and the odd sewing box! So I did what every sensible person would do and bought a cactus!

The Richardson women have a slightly embarrassing habit of killing plants and flowers but I thought a cactus should surely be hardy enough to live with me ... right? I'm also looking into using crystals to help my general well being, to see if they can also help the energy of my room. I've purchased 3 stones so far, a quartz which is going to travel in my purse with me to work that will relieve stress and anxiety. I also have amethyst for mood balancing and a malachite to help soothe my 'female issue's. I'll report back on how they help.

The Amethyst & Malachite - pretty and functional!

Speaking of pretty I wanted to show you guys Dad's latest, obsession, I mean project of filling bottles with fairy lights. I think they look utterly gorgeous! 

I particularly like this one in the garden -

To round off the blog here, as promised, are some photos of the gorgeous sunset this evening.

Panoramic View

 

And of course, the England flag! Go on lads!

Love Jen

XxxX

Thank you 30STM

With all the Tomo drama happening at the moment I wanted to share the new 30STM video and the words from Jared that came on an email announcing it.

I just want to thank Mars for caring about their fans and highlighting the fight against mental illness that so many of us face.

Check it out below -

Ps if you haven't heard it then have a listen. It's a great song!

Rescue Me is a song about pain, a song about empowerment, a song about faith, and a song about freedom.

Freedom from the wreckage of your past. Freedom from the bondage of self. And freedom to embrace all the promises that life has to offer. 

It’s also a song about the brutal war so many of us wage against fear, depression and anxiety in the hope that we might, one day, live a life filled with happiness and dreams. 

Pain does not discriminate. It can affect us all. In our bodies. Our hearts. Our minds. And often, when that pain is emotional or mental, we are afraid to speak up.

None of us are “ok” all the time. And there shouldn't be a stigma when we aren’t. Both my brother and I have had our own intense personal battles and it has, and continues to be, life changing. I try to remember that just past the darkest days await the brightest and most rewarding moments. And that change is always right around the corner. 

I want to thank everyone for being so brave, selfless and vulnerable in this video. The emotion and honesty shared impacted me greatly and I hope it does that same for you all. I am very proud and grateful to have worked with one of my heroes - the master filmmaker and director Mark Romanek. It’s the first time in 13 years I haven’t directed our videos. It was a gift to have him carry the weight so graciously and deliver something so profoundly simple and beautiful. 

If you think someone in your life needs help, ask them if they’re ok and make sure they they know you’re there for them. And keep showing up. Help however you can. 

If you are hurting, you can get through this. Tell someone you trust. And please make sure you ask for help.

For more information or to seek help for you or someone you know, check out the following organizations:

Treatment Advocacy Center -- http://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/
Change Direction -- https://www.changedirection.org/
Crisis Text Line -- https://www.crisistextline.org/
Suicide Prevention Lifeline -- https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
World Federation for Mental Health -- https://wfmh.global/

#RescueMe

https://youtu.be/yEWb6bsd5lo

Is there a feminist way to lose weight?

As some of you my know since the start of the year I’ve been making a real effort to clean up my diet and exercise more. I came to the conclusion that at 30 (now 31 :s) I needed to take better care of myself and was fed up pf feeling fat and lazy when the girls in the office talked about their diet and fitness regimes. So I installed the My Fitness Pal app on my phone set at a 1260 calorie limit a day and bought a cheap 2^nd hand fit bit (cheers Karen). So far I’ve lost 2st8 going from 109K in January to 90.6kg thus far.

The question that’s been bothering me is “Is there a feminist way to lose weight?”. Whilst I initially got started by purely wanting to become healthier after my knees, hips and back started aching whenever I hoisted myself out of my chair. Now I’m also focusing on losing weight to look “thinner and prettier” as is my favourite phrase. It concerns me that it’s against my Body Positive beliefs and also a concern that I’m pandering to society’s strict beauty standards.

I constantly rant about the impossible image that as women we are expected to adhere to, have I unwittingly fallen into the cycle of body fascism? I now want to lose the weight to ‘look good’ rather than look after myself and daydream about becoming as thin as I want back in 2011 (I got down from a size 18/20 in Autumn 2010 to a size 12 but Nov 2011) until I promptly piled it all back on when I changed job …… Thus feeling disgusting.

I think the only thing to do is keep reminding myself that it’s my insides and skeleton that counts rather than trying to look attractive.

Plus I’ll finally be able to get into the dinosaur print dungaree dress that I’ve been lusting after from Minimum Mouse!

Love Jen

XxxX