So started this morning early as I wanted to get about four hours in before we set off. We headed off to Staverton and arrived at about half twelve. Ben had already fuelled the aircraft and we were pretty much only one gallon away from busting the max weight limit. Jamie was very surprised at just how damn small the thing was. He was more surprised when he had to cram himself in it. To say you get intimate with your passenger is an understatement. Went through all the startup checks, did the radio call and we picked up. He wasn’t overly keen on that bit, its a very strange phenomenon if you hadn’t experienced it hundreds of times before. We went down the taxi way and took off directly to the south. He then said, ‘This is really cool’. So I think I won him over. The journey to Lucknam Park was pleasant and uneventful. Visibility was a bit crap to be honest, a bit hazy and some low cloud. But on approach to Colerne the sun was out and it was a very straightforward straight in landing. I stopped on the helipad and a golf buggy came to pick us up. We had a lovely poncy lunch at the brasserie. Crab starter to share and then I had the fish of the day (Hake). I mentioned it was Jamie’s birthday and a lovely platter of toasted marshmallows arrived. We got a buggy back to the chopper and took off directly to the south. Due to a NOTAM we were restricted on our route back, so I headed over to the estuary and tracked back up the M5. Landed back at Gloucester and drove back to Bristol. I think it was a successful day.

Walked to the gym, did Pump, walked home, picked up a paper. Met Phil down at the Holly Trinity Church and took out a mystic gym. Now I have an appointment with Alan Sugar.

Work continued to be very dull. Just cracked on with it. I have tomorrow afternoon booked off, but at the end of today I’ve already done over a full weeks hours. Walked Sasha, weather was okay I guess. Went for a run this evening. Did some more work. Printed out some approach charts for Lucknam Park, even printed out the radio frequencies. Just need to wait for winds now. Could be an interesting flight, were going to be right on the fuel limits. Still the weather looks good to crash into a mountain.

Busy day, mainly taken with an SDK update. Weather was a bit all over the place. Took Sasha out in the rain, then it got very warm and finally ended wet again. Worked into the evening and then went out for a run. Knocked roughly thirty seconds a mile off, so it’s coming down. Need to do a flight plan for Friday, have done the weight and balance calcs now, not truly happy about the amount of fuel I can take, but it’s not like you are going to hit traffic at 1,800 feet. Weather looking good for the journey, all booked in for lunch. Looking forward to it.

Work was fine, if somewhat dull, lots of memory tracing. Weather was cold, really very chilly. The sun came out eventually though and I started to walk Sasha. Got just down the road and my 10Km egg hatched. Finally. It was a Chansey. So that’s it then, I now have enough to evolve all one and forty two in the UK Pokedex. I have just under 130Km still to walk and that will take me to 1,000Km walked. Then I finish, the end is finally in site and whats more it’s finally achievable.

Work was mostly fine, can’t complain, if a little dull. Also a bit annoying I had to trace a load of bugs which I never really had time for. Sun was out, nice lunchtime dog walk. Walked to the gym, did Combat. Did a full evenings work. Been keeping an eye on the weather on Friday. It’s gone from dull, to light cloud and now to heavy rain. It’ll probably be snow by tomorrow. I’m going to leave it until Thursday to make the call I think. The weekend doesn’t look too clever either.

Felt far better today than yesterday, head completely clear. Had breakfast and coffee, then mowed the front lawn. Took Sasha out. Made my lunch and drove to Staverton. When I arrived Sid was just about to go out on his solo nav, so that cocked up all the timings by far. I still had to do a check flight as it had been an age since I’ve been out in the 22. Sharon and Iain were in the aviator, Sharon was on the wine. We did a hot swap when Sid came back in, so I did a few circuits and PFL’s with Ben. I picked up my passenger. She only had two requests, one was to see into the centre of GCHQ and the other was to see a rock formation known as ‘The Devils Chimney’. Thankfully as the wind direction meant they were using 04, I managed to take off to the south via 22, which meant we went pretty much right over the top of the GCHQ doughnut. We then did an anti-clockwise orbit of Cheltenham and over the rock formation. Nice flight, I’d forgotten a bit how much fun the 22 is compared to the 44. The 22 is a sensitive little beast, completely unforgiving, you have to be alter at all times. The 44 is like driving an old couch, sluggish in maneuvers but mighty powerful. It was good to get an hour in the 22, I missed it. All set for Friday…..

Started this morning with a massive migraine, so didn’t appreciate the bloody phone ringing, both the house one and the mobile. To be honest I couldn’t see a bloody thing until about 2PM. I don’t get them very often but when I do they knock me out cold. Took elephant pills and went back to bed. Had a light lunch and then felt absolutely fine, it’s just the way they go. Walked Sasha and headed into town for a bit. It’s actually a long time since I’ve just walked round the shops. I’ve got less than 200Km to go now on Pokemon Go.

Now. If you send me an SMS text message I will not get a notify. This is because I get about twenty a day and they are all spam. If however you have an iPhone I get an iMessage. These I do get a notify for. I bet you never realised this did you? Go through your contacts on messenger, the ones with an iPhone come up as iMessage. Anyway, what this means is that anyone who sends me a message from an iPhone I will look at, if you don’t have an iPhone any SMS message will just get dumped on a list with three thousand others. However, I do go through that list from time to time. Here is a recent dump of messages, I’ve altered them a little bit for comic effect:

“Tim, I’m having a problem with my milk, can you call me please.”

“I’ve called the dairy. They say they have checked the cow and it’s fine, so the problem is at my end. You know I’m lost without my milk.”

“I’ve checked the bottle and it’s fine. I don’t know what’s wrong. I’m stuck in this house and I don’t have any usable milk.”

“Sheila says that if she doesn’t have the appropriate milk content then she turns into a turnip. She spends over a hundred quid a week on groceries you know.”

“Pam uses a walker you know, but she has milk. She also watches Country File, I’ve never understood her fetish with John Craven.”

“You may need to come up and transfer the milk from one fridge to the other.”

“There’s an awful lot of equity left in this house, you could build your own dairy.”

“Do you have any receipts for milk you have bought in the past? I can submit an expense claim and claim back all the milk I’ve ever used.”

“If I don’t get my calcium you know, I could fall over and break a hip joint.”

“Your sister has popped in and checked the container, she says it’s fine. I’ve rung up again and they are sending a farmer around Monday.”

“Should I buy my own cow?”

“Can you lend my 70 quid to pay my credit card interest?”

This ladies and gentleman is why I disable SMS notifications.

Work was fine, if a little dull. Its very much got much colder. Walked Sasha. The Pokemon trackers have all been screwed over again. I must admit I’m getting somewhat bored of it now, potentially I have 141 in the Pokedex. I think I’m going to walk the 1,000Km and then call it a day. It’s been fun, but another couple of weeks I think I’ll be there. Walked to the gym, did Pump. Now fairly busy weekend.

Today felt cold. Well actually lunchtime was quite nice, walked Sasha in the sun. But by early evening when I went out for a run it was bitterly cold. Work was fine if somewhat stressful. Technically I only have about two hours to do tomorrow but it will turn into a shitload of overtime as normal. Got a fun weekend lined up. Venture into town on Saturday I think and then a bit of flying on Sunday. Got my next tattoo appointment in November, that should be the last one.

Work was fine. Voice phone line has been fixed. Cable has been rerouted via cabinet twenty-four. Can’t order fibre on it yet as the system hasn’t been fully updated. Nice day, if somewhat chilly. Walked Sasha and hatched a Lapras. Then this evening we went to the local for a calvary and hatched another one. So that’s three in three days. Just the Chansey now to get.