Ladies and Gentlemen the moment has arrived, the hunt for Halloween is officially on!
I really enjoyed posting my Halloween blogs last year and I'm excited to start this year's series in July! I technically made my first Halloween purchase a few weeks back when I was picking up some supplies from my favourite witchy website Moonchild Spiritual Emporium and came across this lovely cauldron candle (what is a witch without her cauldron after all?) which smells amazing!
The other day found me innocently browsing the TK Maxx website to see if they had updated their Halloween section and found it was full of fun things so today I visited my local store to see what I could find .......
These pet bowls are adorable and I got one each for Eos and Norman and also a smaller one as I feel ready to have bunnies again soonish.
I need to get my future bunnies into Halloween immediately!
There was more to be found further into the home section, unfortunately 2022 has seen the return of those bloody Halloween Gnomes ...
I really liked the summery, blue pumpkins (summer is still my favourite season) at the end of the video but they didn't have prices on either of them and I didn't want to be stung at the checkout.
I got this cute fella
And this haunted house snow globe that will look perfect next to my haunted house I got from The Range a couple of years ago that makes up my Haunted Shelf (you can see it and my other room decorations in this blog)
The shelf
The kitchenware was pretty good -
This jar will be perfect for my witch cupboard
Our store also had some really nice furnishings this year!
There are a couple of cushions that I saw online I'm holding out for appearing in our store, I got this throw over the fleecy skull one as it felt a bit more 'year round' (Halloween is a lifestyle not a day afterall) but I could be tempted into a return visit .....
I rounded off my basket with this lovely smelling candle
I'm chuffed with my purchases from the first code orange of the year and looking forward to many more over the next couple of months!
Love Jen
XxxX
Ps This blog is of course being typed on my Halloween-stickered laptop!
It's almost time! After 2 years of rollovers and waiting (cheers Covid) this time next week Dad and I will be at The Royal International Air Tattoo aka RIAT.
As most of you will know I've been to RIAT before back in 2017 and 2018 and I thought it might be nice to share with you the aircraft I'm most looking forward to seeing. You can find the full flying line-up here.
Here are just a few of the aircraft I'm most looking forward to seeing either in the air or on static display -
Belgian F16
The Belgian F16 is always a fantastic display, these photos are from display pilot 'Gizmo's' 2017 RIAT display and the video below is from his display at Airbourne the same year.
Airbus Beluga-
I've only ever seen a Beluga at very high altitude which made it impossible to see it's distinctive nose that gives it it's name.
Republic Of Korea Black Eagles
The Black Eagles are Korea's national display team. I saw one of their single jets way back in 2012 at Farnborough.
In action at Farnborough
I found this video on YouTube that shows their great formations.
Czech & Hungarian Hinds
These are great looking helicopters and I'm looking forward to seeing one for the first time this year, plus there was one in Top Gun:Maverick!
Swedish Air Force Historic Flight Draken & Viggen
Unfortunately these are only on static at RIAT due to rules about vintage jets only being allowed to fly over the sea but I'm hoping that they might arrive on the Thursday after Dad and I get there. They are amazing looking planes!
Viggen
Draken
Italian Airforce Frecce Tricolori & Spartan
I've always really enjoyed the Spartan ever since I first saw it at Farnborough 2010, it's incredibly manoeuvrable for a fairly large aircraft. These photos are from RIAT 2017.
I'd wanted to see the Frecce Tricolori for the longest time and they were well worth the wait!
NATO E1D Sentry
The RAF is retiring their Sentry fleet and the remaining airframes now belong to NATO. This photo is of an RAF Sentry from RIAT 2018 and footage of one taking part in the RAF 100 flypast.
Hungarian & Swedish Gripens
Gripens are always enjoyable and I feel they sometimes get overshadowed by their 4th Generation Fighter cousins the Typhoon and Rafale. They're agile and fast and always put on a good show. This is the Swedish example from RIAT 2017.
Swiss & Spanish F18s
I'm extra excited to see both the F18s this year since the aircraft type was the star of Top Gun: Maverick! Expect quotes to be excessively used. These photos and video are of the Swiss F18 in 2018.
USAF B52, E4 Nightwatch, CV22 Osprey & U2
I've seen B52 flypasts a few times and they never fail to impress with their size, this year one is performing a flypast on the Saturday and Sunday.
The Nightwatch is an adapted Boeing 747 (the world's first 'jumbo jet') used for military control and command.
We saw the static display U2 arriving at RIAT 2017 from a distance. My favourite YouTube channel bobsurgranny has a great video of it's arrival.
The CV22 Osprey is always super cool, it's tilt rotor has a very distinctive sound. This photo is from the 2017 show.
The Austrian Air Force will be performing a role demo of two of their Typhoons 'intercepting' an enemy aircraft. Judging by the below YouTube video it looks like a great demonstration.
Royal Air Force
And now for the home team! These are the RAF aircraft I'm most looking forward to-
Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight - This photo is from the 2018 show when the team debuted their 'Trenchard Formation'. I actually prefer watching them from the campsite because the aircraft end up flying over the top of us as they split to perform their individual parts .
Chinook - I'm looking forward to the first 'wocka wocka' of the year from this crazily agile helicopter. This photo is from 2017.
F35 Lightning II - The RAF's F35 is going to make a couple of flypasts at the weekend of the show along with a couple on static display.
Taking part in the 2018 show 617 Squadron flypast with the Lancaster and Tornado
Taking part in the Platinum Jubilee flypast earlier this year with a Voyager and 2 Typhoons
This is the USAF example of the F35 at RIAT 2018
Poseidon - The RAF is celebrating the arrival of their Poseidon patrol aircraft with one flying in formation with the Red Arrows to open the show on Friday. This photo is one arriving at the 2017 show.
Typhoon - I've still yet to see the Typhoon close up in it's 'Blackjack' paintwork, it flew over us at the Platinum Jubilee (see the photo of the F35s above) and I've seen it from a long way away when it was doing this photoshoot off of Beachy Head at the end of last summer.
The last time I saw it at RIAT was when it had it's 'RAF 100' paintwork.
Red Arrows - Last but not least! You all know how much of a Reds fangirl I am (just ask my right arm ...) so I'm always going to look forward to them!
Opening the show in 2017 with the USAF Thunderbirds
I had a sneak preview of this year's display routine at Goodwood Festival Of Speed (you can read about it here).
The next blog you'll get from me will probably the the review of the weekend's proceedings, here's hoping for nice weather and no cancellations!
Love Jen
XxxX
Ps You can see my YouTube playlist for all my RIAT videos here
Hi guys I thought I'd drop some photos from my recent days out and a short trip away to Cambridge (not the most successful it turns out).
Starting off with a couple of weekends ago I went to my first airshow of the season proper at Duxford and unfortunately due to my stupid anxiety and mood the trip didn't go as well as I hoped. In my defence it all started to go wrong once I got to London Liverpool Street Station only to find my train to Cambridge had been cancelled so I had to get back across London to Kings Cross to get a different train.
Kings Cross is pretty but not fun when you're stressed, plus I didn't even get to go to Platform 9 and 3/4!
The journey to Cambridge was thankfully uneventful, when I arrived I had planned to be a tourist and go to the museums and have a general wander around before checking into the hotel but it was so hot (34 degrees!) that I just headed straight to the hotel for a cold shower and a nap. The room was nice enough, just the right size for a solo traveller (and her Unicorn) staying the one night.
Someone spent their afternoon admiring themself in the mirror
I ventured back out in the early evening (it was still boiling at 30 degrees 😰) as I'd booked a ticket to see Top Gun: Maverick yet again (I'm up to 4 viewings now!). The cinema was just around the corner from the hotel and part of a lesuire complex (it also scored points for having a licensed bar so I could enjoy a G&T before the film!).
The Five Guys was really nice
When I headed to the shuttle bus to take me to the airshow from Cambridge Station the weather couldn't have been more of a contrast, it was chilly and gloomy which was a real shock considering the day before's temperatures!
Tea and a Bacon sarnie were the first order of the day
It appeared that I wasn't the only one caught out by the chilly weather as all the hoodies in the gift shop sold out with the only similar products being the Christmas jumpers in the end of season sale. There's nothing odder than seeing people walking around in jumpers with a Christmas Spitfire on them in June 😂
My old favourite the Tornado
Note the Non-Christmas Spitfire hoodie
The day didn't get much better from there as unfortunately my stupid mental health lead me to do the unthinkable and leave the show half way through. I'm still so cross with myself but I did manage to snap a couple of photos and get some videos.
The Red Arrows weren't displaying but did give us a flypast.
'Contrary Mary' the Mustang
MIG 15 & Vampire
Strikemasters
The Wildcat watches over the Vampire
Rich Goodwin was fantastic as always in his Muscle BiPlane
Here are some other highlights from the day-
Thankfully the weather was far better for Chris, Dad's & my trip to Goodwood Festival Of Speed the following weekend.
I blogged about our day out last year (check it out here) and this year followed much the same pattern so rather than re-write it again please skip straight to some pretty pictures 😂
This year's centrepiece celebrated BMW
We started the day correctly with beer and Pimms -
Here are some of the cars we saw -
Senna 💓💓💓💓💓
As with last year the F1 Medical and Safety cars were there -
I fully endorse Pre-Red Arrows naps
The Red Arrows put on a great display, it was cloudy so it was their 'flat' rather than 'rolling' or 'high' displays.
The final instalment of my trio of trips came when Dad and I went to Headcorn Battle Of Britain Airshow. We were immediately onto a winner as it was sunny unlike last year when it was cancelled due to rain and low cloud making it impossible for aircraft to get off the ground safely. All they managed last year was a 'ground parade' of aircraft.
Obviously I was wearing my hat deliberately off centre ....
This year the aircraft glinted beautifully in the sunshine as you can see!
The Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight Hurricane
Dakota
We had a Battle Of Britain Dogfight -
Harvards
The music from 633 Squadron went perfectly with the Spitfire pair -
The beautiful B17 Flying Fortress 'Sally B'
Some more highlights are in my YouTube video -
Next up is the 'big one' which is RIAT Dad and I will be heading up for 4 days of plane geek heaven (check out my previous 2017 and 2018 blogs) so prepare yourselves for the geekiest blog in years!
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