A couple of Christmas Ideas

I'm back home, after a pleasant trip were I somehow managed to score upgrades to business class for each and every leg!  I did lose all my sim cards somewhere in my travels; my Canadian, Italian, Tanzanian, Moroccan, Kenyan and Romanian sim cards were all in a small pouch I somehow misplaced.  C'est la vie.  Since I won't be involved in helicopter related activities while home for the holidays, I thought I'd post some Christmas ideas for guys, in case you ladies were wondering....

Fine single malt Scotch!  There's quite a selection out there, from the strong smoky and peaty Ardbeg, the rich and lustrous Lagavulin, or the pleasant, smooth and spicey Glenmorangie Nector D'Or.  If I could have only one Scotch, it would be the Lagavulin, but they all have something to offer.  They'd probably go well with a cigar but I made myself sick while sitting in a garden in Cuba, reading Hemingway, sipping Cuba Libres, and doing my best to enjoy a Cohiba.   I was green less than half way through and couldn't shake it for the rest of the day.  My first and last cigar.  So....Scotch yes, cigar optional.

Another great gift idea is old time shaving supplies, readily available online.  I've been shaving with electric for decades but recently made a swap back to blades.  I found out that two, three and four blades have nothing on the old double bladed safety razor my Dad used, other than heavy marketing spousing their neccesity, and I found these heavy quality Ikon razors a pleasure to shave with.  I picked up a shorter one for travel, as well as a home and travel version of badger hair shaving brushes and real soaps.  Pretty cool.  If you've really got some cash to burn, I've got a Norco Sight Carbon on order as well....

I can't imagine anyone not wanting one of these beasts under their tree come Christmas morning....

Dunottar Castle

Dunottar Castle, in Stonehaven, Scotland.  Outfitted in Patagonia Gore-tex as opposed to a wool kilt, but if I had one I may just be tempted to wear it......

Super Puma systems and limitations, night clubbing, single malt scotch distilleries, and ancient castles....we have been enjoying ourselves, even if the days are long.  It seems that every restaurant in Aberdeen has the same menu; a few burgers, fish and chips, pork bellys, steak and eggs, mac and cheese, gammon...but we've found a few Thai and Italian spots for some variety, and the beer is cold most everywhere.   My body is craving some green so perhaps a salad tonight.  Our hotel is attached to the biggest mall in Aberdeen, and being a week to Christmas, it's packed from opening to closing with shoppers.  I generally avoid malls like the plague for all of December but I don't have much choice.

We are almost finished the ground school portion of our AS332L2 course, and to be honest, there are very few differences when compared to the AS332L/L1 variants that I am decidedly well versed in, so I am kind of bored, but heck, I'm getting paid and visiting castles.  Got a shot of my next steed from an engineer buddy....big iron.....woo hoo!  Base Manager headaches like reading through contracts, preparing operations documents and work VISAs and a myriad of other distractions has already begun.  Home on the weekend for the holidays!  Looking forward to it.

Bump Caps

Here we are looking rather silly in our "bump caps" at the Aberdeen, Scotland hangar, day one of our AS332L2 course.  I'm sure the safety dudes would have a conniption fit if they knew one guy took his "bump cap" off then promptly smacked his head.  No blood, no paperwork...

We've settled into grey and gloomy Aberdeen, rainy, windy and cold but equally alive and bustling with Christmas shoppers and festive lights, and everyone on course agrees, these are some of the friendliest people we've ever met.  We had no idea Scots were such an amicable lot, but the smiling and pleasant locals more than make up for the dreary weather.  Maybe that's why everyone is so cool?

My days are spent pouring over systems and limitations, and reconnecting cerebral links to Super Puma systems knowledge tucked away into remote recesses of my brain, ostensibly to make room in my addled head for the AW139, but being back on Pumas has my brain firing off synapsis at an alarming rate and it's coming back, slowly but surely.  Everything is so well thought out in the AW139, designed from the ground up with integration and modern simplicity in mind, and it works, but almost too well.  The AW139 is not a challenging bird to fly, as it is one very smart aircraft.  Enter the AS332L2.  This is a pilot's helicopter...big and complicated and cumbersome and requiring some pretty serious headspace for full understanding.  Even as I sat in the old girl for the first time, very similar to the Super Pumas I've flown for better than two thousand hours, but with first generation glass flight displays, and many modern enhancements, I felt like a pilot.  I was looking forward to the challenge, to take these girls out to some deep water rigs far far offshore.  Super Pumas are just seriously cool aircraft.....

Then....Friday night in Aberdeen, what kind of trouble can one find?  Overflow from company Christmas parties serving free alcohol spilled into the damp streets, drunk and over dressed Scots filled every bar, pub and night club, stumbling down the streets, happy, laughing, and old ancient stone churches turned into Gothic night clubs with spider webs and skulls on the walls.  I am really starting to like Aberdeen......