Sailor99

It was a delight to see the big man again although I was saddened that he is still in pain. In the photo Ben is enjoying an unusual bit of sunshine in the company of two of the Strip Lynchets, Sanja and myself.

During the festival we all stay at a place called Rees Hall which during term time is student accommodation. The breakfasts are good, but the beds are appallingly uncomfortable! So as I lay there at 0300 this morning, with a spring sticking in my back, I was thinking. It's a big old world and as we sit here on opposite sides of the Atlantic separated by a common language. I think we sometimes concentrate on our differences rather than the common ground, or at least I do; not least of late Chinese kites. It seems there are different points of view that are so opposed I suspect we will struggle to find agreement and closure. It's no secret that Ben and my view is not the same, and I was expecting him to pick an argument with me at some point over the weekend. So I was totally disarmed and touched when he gave me a lovely set of custom handles, which are on the sofa besides me now. I wonder if we would be better off concentrating on the common ground: We all love flying kites in good company, and that we should therefore respect and be bigger than our differing points of view? No arguing, no bullying, no rubbing it in, just kite flying? I like to think that was what Mr Dantonio was trying to make me understand with his gift.

We did a bit of a megafly. No record was set (there were 30 or 40 flyers, I didn't count) but IMHO the coordination was the best I have had the honour of taking part in. It all seemed to gel , not least thanks to the leadership of the callers. We had Scottish, Spanish, French, English and probably other nationalities of flyers taking part - again I wasn't noting the nationalities down as it didn't seem to matter. I wonder if any American or Canadian flyers maybe able to join us again next year...........