and the traces of the love we had in places

The aircraft take off pretty dang regularly outside our office. 

We are sitting about 300 yards from the runway,... but it's Prestwick and 100 years away from the Prestwick Airport my friend and I frequented in the 70's.

We used to cycle down to the airport, along the A78, - It's still the A78 but I wouldn't take my bike on it.   We'd stop for a break at the layby near Hobsland Farm, drink our tupperware cup of juice and eat our chocolate and then head on down. 

No major roundabouts or traffic then.    We'd park our bikes on the corner of the terminal building - Sometimes we'd see my "uncle Jim" who was a policeman, sometimes on duty there.  He'd keep a loose eye on our bikes for us. 

Then in was inside and up to the viewing platform. We were wee - we were only 10 or 11,and we'd push our way to the front, making sure we were closest to the biggest plane spotting geek - the guy with the massive radio and and the big notebook.

Standing next to him -we could hear courtesy of his radio, the voices of the pilots and the Air Traffic Controller. We knew which planes were coming in, where they were coming from and what they were chatting about to Air Traffic. 

There was a constant stream of planes - from all over the world.  Transatlantic planes, Planes from london.  We could look and watch, see the people in their "travelling clothes" walking out to the planes ready for take off.

We could dream, and imagine about where they were going and where they had been.  We could spend all day there.,and then it would be a long cycle home (obv. not that long, because I cycle the same route today albeit on a cycle path and not the main road).

Little did we know that soon, the planes would stop and become a rare sight instead of a constant.  

Nowadays, the arrival of something other than one of Ryanair's four flights or Cargo Freight generates a little flurry of photographers and spotters, and me of course, I gaze out of the window, and dream of the destinations.




Tooli : message of the day "Mum I'm at Anzac Day with Sailors"  
She's her mother's daughter alright!