27 Feb...

Flying around rain cells. There is good reason for the whites of Mike's eyes!

27 Feb
It was still a struggle to get up. 5 o clock is just not my cup of tea! The usual morning ritual followed – having a pee, washing the face, running hot water, shaving, showering – all in an effort to shed the comatosed state of those that have been deprived of sleep. Still, when I walked into the mess and greeted John there was undenyable effort to keep the eyes wide and bright. Even John looked the part – we were both longing for that sleep!

Every morning we wish for rain. It is not that we do not want to go flying, just that there is this desire to stay in bed longer – well at least till its light. This morning flashes of lightning greeted our eyes from the mess room. Even from the CCTV it was clearly visible without needing to go outside. Of course by now we were up and kind of awake. The feeling of being cheated enters the mind. I could have been sleeping. Then we would not have known it was thundery outside. Ofcourse, but maybe we could have looked first before going through the wake-up ritual. Even that would not have worked. Getting to the deck involves some stairs (effort) and it’s still too dark to see anything. One needed some light to see if the clouds were really threatening or not and by the time you can see that it is good you need to be at the airport to take advantage of the early morning air. Even with the signs of lightning one could not be too sure of its distance – the activity could be far away and flying at the airport quite good. No, the notion of being cheated is well grounded and for a moment it lingers in the mind.

We waited till 6:30. By his time it was light enough to see what’s going on. We walked out on deck and looked around. The sky was filled with CB cells. Big ones. A new one was developing over the airport and I could see the rain falling from its base clearly. The tops were billowing upwards at a healthy rate of knots. It’s an easy call. My bed is so snuggly and comforting…