Sadness & Joy

It saddened me to hear of the second death of a Red Arrow pilot because of an ejector seat accident on the ground at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire. It was particularly poignant even though I never knew the man, but I have an association with the RAF that goes deep. I served for 16 years, and my four sons joined up at a young age. Two of them are still serving, so it goes without saying that we are an Air Force family. I had the luck and privilege to fly in the back seat of a Harrier jump jet, piloted by my son Terry. I retired at 55, and this was a ‘gift’ from the RAF bosses in recognition of the fact that my sons were still serving and I had served myself. I had to understand the ejection seat safety procedures and felt a little nervous going through them immediately before the flight. When I was serving in the RAF I attended a few seat lectures. I also worked with armourers who prepared the seats. The seats are complicated and dangerous, but the arming and disarming while in the cockpit is a very simple procedure. I shudder to think what could have happened to this poor airman, but I hope it was a genuine accident and not pilot error.
On to happier and more prosaic things now. I was pleased to see that the ‘views’ on my blog, on Goodreads, has increased suddenly over the last few posts. From a succession of zero views, I have been really pleased to see a rise from zero, to two, to ten and subsequently to sixteen. If this continues upwards like an arithmetic progression (ever do those at school?), there’s a good chance it will go off the scale. But then I would find myself thinking of that old saying: ‘be careful what you wish for’. Imagine trying to write something sensible and interesting for a shed load of people.
I have been offered a proposition to allow someone who has experience in the field of internet marketing to promote my books. The deal would be no sales, no fee. I’ve got to work out the details yet, but I’m interested. I have actually met the person who has put this offer forward, so she isn’t a stranger in that sense. I also work with her brother as a member of Acclaimed Books. I’m quite excited about having somebody handling my promotion work because I just seem to have a scattergun approach to it, never knowing the best way to go or the best targets to aim for. That’s it then. Wish me luck!