Started this morning with coffee and a phone call to a fellow pilot who was worried about his telephony exam. Walked Sasha and then drove up to Staverton. Long day today. Started at midday with a one hour session on the R44. This time it was with Ben, and we’ve done a hell of a lot of flying together. Did some confined areas, some engine off’s, all good. Had lunch and it was straight back out again for another hour. More of the same, all good stuff. It was a fun way to blow just over a grand in an afternoon, but once you have the type rating, it’s yours for life. Providing you do an LPC every year you can fly the thing until you are just a distant memory. Met Steve on exit, still worried about his telephony test. He sent me a text later to say all was good and he passed no problem. I have a feeling that Steve and I will be doing a lot of flying together in the R44 to keep the costs down. We met on the away trip to Padstow, he’s a dentist. He promised not to ask me if I could get a Playstation at a discount and I promised not to show him my teeth, so we kind of hit it off. I have a feeling we will both be doing our tests on the same day. Drove back home, had a short break and picked up the dog poo. Then drove to Ashton Court in Long Ashton, was on the quest for some Mankey’s. It was a good call, all the required were caught on what can only be described as a truly beautiful afternoon and early evening. Drove home, got petrol and had my first bath in a couple of weeks as my tattoo is now healed. We’ve missed Sasha’s birthday yet again, she is now six. The most pain in the ass and intelligent dog in the world, god I will miss her when she’s gone. A nice day and a nice weekend. I know that sounds rotten because Jamie is not here, but to be honest apart from the evenings we would have probably just done are own thing for the rest of the time anyway. I think that’s the secret of the success of our relationship, we are there for each other, but we also not there for each other, long may it continue.