I am the grit in the gears, the missing bolt, I am the poker of sticks into spokes.
I like to know how things work, but sometimes when I take them apart and rebuild them, I have a few pieces left over.
I am a man, so I tend to leave reading the instructions until after it goes wrong.
And like all men I have a comprehensive mental map of the world and never need to ask directions.
I never get lost, only sometimes I'm late, or end up in the wrong place entirely.
It's what we do.
Sunday, 16 September 2012
So, it's the fourties, and it's the future and we'll all have flying cars!
You skate close to the wind, my friend. One day those women will catch up with you and have their revenge. On the whole, it's wiser to treat them as wonders of nature than to poke fun, unless you can run very fast. I can no longer run very fast, in fact, I never could, so I would never dare to imply what you implied here.
And no. It was a man, a decorated aviator, holder of the DFC, daredevil of the pacific war. Reuben Snodgrass was his name (really, it was), and he crashed because.... Because the car and the plane were constructed as two units. The car had a silly little underpowered engine to keep it light, and resembled a car in every way. The wing/aero-engine/tail unit were detachable, and you would, it was planned, drive your car to the airfield, bolt the wing on, and fly to a distant airfield, where you would unbolt it all again and drive into town in your un-aeroplane type car. And as such, the two units had separate sets of instruments, one for driving and one for flying. Reuben checked the fuel gauge, and registered it as a-ok for his flight. Unfortunately, the car engine had plenty of fuel, but the aviation one had not. By the time the propeller stopped, he'd figured out that there was another dial, saying "empty". Too late. They rebuilt it, and flew again, as the Mark II, but a year later the project was scrapped.
Woman driver.....?
ReplyDeleteYou skate close to the wind, my friend. One day those women will catch up with you and have their revenge. On the whole, it's wiser to treat them as wonders of nature than to poke fun, unless you can run very fast.
DeleteI can no longer run very fast, in fact, I never could, so I would never dare to imply what you implied here.
And no. It was a man, a decorated aviator, holder of the DFC, daredevil of the pacific war. Reuben Snodgrass was his name (really, it was), and he crashed because....
Because the car and the plane were constructed as two units. The car had a silly little underpowered engine to keep it light, and resembled a car in every way. The wing/aero-engine/tail unit were detachable, and you would, it was planned, drive your car to the airfield, bolt the wing on, and fly to a distant airfield, where you would unbolt it all again and drive into town in your un-aeroplane type car.
And as such, the two units had separate sets of instruments, one for driving and one for flying.
Reuben checked the fuel gauge, and registered it as a-ok for his flight. Unfortunately, the car engine had plenty of fuel, but the aviation one had not. By the time the propeller stopped, he'd figured out that there was another dial, saying "empty". Too late.
They rebuilt it, and flew again, as the Mark II, but a year later the project was scrapped.