If asked, and, if you blog long enough it's the kind of thing that might come up, I think I'd say that the most beautiful words in the English language are these:
"I wanna fly my biplane, low over Swaffham"
It's from On Reaching The Wensum by Half Man Half Biscuit.
I don't know why I like it so much. It's partly that it's unexpectedly romantic, it's partly the emergence of the tune from dischord, it's partly the use of a small town in Norfolk. But it's partly the image of a plane, just above you.
It was going through my head all day at the RNAS Culdrose Air Day, though, of course, I don't have any actual pictures of a biplane.
It's that feeling - a plane, low, over the countryside. Close to you, yet very far and very fast away.
At one point the commentator, telling us about one of the planes, one with an all-around transparent canopy, described it as a "splendid touring aircract". Anne and I both noticed that, smiled at that thought. That would be a lovely way to see the country.
