"Gooood Morning from Up, Up and Away. Thanks for getting up twice this week at four am. The baloon takes off today!!"Fantastic I thought until I realised at four in the morning my eyes could not focus on the smallprint map with directions to the take off site. Dont panic. Ok panic a wee bit. Then I remembered the emergency number and a calm baloon pilots voice said .... its just past the butchers near Macdonalds.
We congregated in the supermarket car park. The three pilots let off a party baloon into the sky. Whats going on? Well this is how they decide which launch site to use as they have no control of the baloon in the air as it goes where the wind takes it.
The journey was magical after we all unpacked the baloon and twenty of us squeezed into the wicker basket. Yes they still use wicker baskets. For the next hour we soared at three and a half thousand feet. The whole thing felt so famliar as I've seen various baloon flights on the tv over the years so this was a lontime dream for me.
Finally we landed in a farmers field and the first thing on our pilots mind was would the farmer be fiendly as the baloons never know where they land. Tradition dictates the farmer receives a bottle of champagne on arrival which dates back to the first ever french baloon flight where the farmers pumelled the baloonists on landing back in last century as they had no idea who or what had arrived. Any aliens reading this I'd suggest you tel the farmers first before you land or take champagne.
We then packed up the baloon which is where the cow pats (cows revenge for being startled) kicked in but everyone soon forgot the inconveinience after we all received our share of the champagne.
Slightly time confused I'd already fitted in a good day by ten am and had a wee kip before touring Christchurch's city centre and another visit to the botanical gardens.
Tomorrow I go swimming with dolphins well provided they are feeling sociable.......
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