May 2014 – Chirurgean

T 0 – A 4 am start – bleary eyed to start. Porridge for the journey.

Then the bus to MPA

3 ½ hour wait for the RAF to load 91 pax – beyond reason.

2 hour stopover in Ascension – to refuel and check the a/c (RyanAir can do this in 20 mins)

Bumpy flight for the first 3 hours of the 8hr 40 min northern leg

Spring in England – so green and leafy – there are trees

Smooth drive home – though roadworks with average speed cameras annoying – especially when the hire car does not have cruise control

T+30 – I arrive home

Old low light, North Shields — Old Low Light, North Shields

You cannot be Sirius!

Or the dog star.

A beautiful day here in Stanley; a clock calm.

In the morning sky to the east, a bright shining star — Venus.

This night, cold, clear and calm. High in the SE sky, an orange star. It must be Mars. Sky guide concurred with me. The more I looked, the more stars appeared. Sirius, the dog star was to the south. Another bright star twinkled — Canopus¹ — how appropriate

an out of date pre Dreadnought battleship that was beached in Stanley harbour and fired the first shots of the Battle of the Falklands in 1914.

With the distance to their objective steadily decreasing, the German captains were unaware that they were being tracked by Canopus’ guns and at 0920hrs, as the two cruisers rounded Wolf’s Rock in order to engage the wireless station, the ageing battleship’s forward turret belched flame. At a range of around 11,000 yards the two 12in. shells raced towards their target, ultimately falling short. It was enough. Turning sharply to the south-east the raiders raised their battle ensigns and prepared for action, followed by another two shells from Canopus. The elderly warship might have been considered too much of a liability in an engagement at sea, but her participation in the opening phase of the battle of the Falkland Islands had diverted the enemy from his course and had almost certainly given Sturdee the warning and time necessary to get his ships to sea.”

Excerpt From: Michael McNally. “Coronel and Falklands 1914 (Campaign).” Osprey Publishing, 2012 ↩

The long way home

You cannot be Sirius!