wild blue yonder
Originally uploaded by prima momma.
Californians love to whoop. They whoop in cinemas, restaurants and when something exciting happens on public transport.
To be honest, I never thought I had one (a whoop) in me. But then I spent yesterday standing on the roof of my apartment, gazing out over San Francisco bay and being assaulted by the US Airforce.
I never thought I liked airshows but this was AWESOME! The sheer majesty of an F-16 fighter performing aerial ballet against one of the worlds most beautiful backdrops got the better of me. And as a fighter jet screamed down the highstreet, up and over my building and barrel-rolled over Golden Gate Bridge, something bubbled up in my stomach and I heard a familiar voice go:
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP WHOOOOOOOOP WHOOOOOOOOOOOOP!
Best of all, noone batted an eyelid, even when I punched the air.
I'm going to have to work hard to maintain my cynical London outlook - all this sunshine is ruining me.
That said, I'm happy to report that the Blue Angels aren't quite as dandy as our Red Arrows. Our boys do the coloured smoke thing better...although that might have something to do with Californian anti-smoking laws. You wouldn't want a jogger getting a lungful of red smoke, even if it was once heart shaped.
As a display of military power, the airshow was awe-inspiring. I can only imagine how terrifying it is to have F-16s circling your city in anger - the noise alone could threaten a clean pair of white pants. Quite at odds with peace-loving San Francisco, then.....and I'm sure they burnt a lot of non-renewable fossil fuels....but a marvellous event nonetheless.
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