Learning to glide / soar in winter

[Oscar]

I am located in Sydney / Australia and wonder what the pros/cons are to do a
glider course in our winter instead of our summer. Weather here is generally
sub-tropic and I guess comparable with South Africa or maybe Spain or
Southern USA. Looks like a much nicer season to be out and about than the 40
degree heat ( and the flies) we get here in midsummer. Spoke to a guy in a
Sydney glider club and he recons winter is just as good as summer for
gliding here.

Any opinions appreciated -- Oscar

[Nick Gilbert]

Oscar,

Not quite true. The summer season is certainly better for soaring in Sydney,
but winter is as good a time as any to learn, possibly better than summer
(no queues for sailplanes, nice & smooth most of the time, more comfortable
temp).

Camden is obviously your closest field, so you have Southern Cross Gliding
Club & Sydney Gliding to choose from.

Otherwise, you could go to Bathurst and do a 1 week course. This would
generally get you up to solo.

Feel free to message me direct, I live in Sydney as well.

Regards,

Nick Gilbert.




"Oscar" > wrote in message
...
>I am located in Sydney / Australia and wonder what the pros/cons are to do
>a
> glider course in our winter instead of our summer. Weather here is
> generally
> sub-tropic and I guess comparable with South Africa or maybe Spain or
> Southern USA. Looks like a much nicer season to be out and about than the
> 40
> degree heat ( and the flies) we get here in midsummer. Spoke to a guy in a
> Sydney glider club and he recons winter is just as good as summer for
> gliding here.
>
> Any opinions appreciated -- Oscar
>
>
>
>

[Bill Gribble]

Nick Gilbert > writes
>but winter is as good a time as any to learn, possibly better than
>summer (no queues for sailplanes, nice & smooth most of the time, more
>comfortable temp).

It's the other side of the world over here, but I learnt to glide across
the winter months last year (started October 03, soled May 04) here in
the UK. Wouldn't say the temperatures were more comfortable in my case
(!) but that aside, no queues, smooth air (when the day was calm) and
range of other weather conditions to experience (when the day was not!)
were hugely beneficial to my learning...

Add to that the fact that the absence of soaring conditions at my home
airfield (in general terms, at least - I did have my first experience of
wave from the site last weekend though I couldn't keep in it ... but
with the 2800' winch launch that got me up there to taste it I did have
a very enjoyable 20 minutes in the air!) during the winter you get lots
and lots of launching, circuit and landing practice. Which is exactly
what you need when first learning.

My advice, from personal experience; learn to fly across the winter and
then reap the rewards and soar through the following summer.

And best of luck ;)


-Bill

--
Bill Gribble

/---------------------------------------\
| http://www.ingenuitytest.co.uk |
| http://www.cotswoldgliding.co.uk |
| http://www.scapegoatsanon.demon.co.uk |
\---------------------------------------/

[Oscar]

Thanks Nick, Bill and Seagull, for your input. Thought I might be on the
right track here to prefer around winter for initial gliding instructions
and your posts confirm it for me. Was thinking to buy an initial package
from Southern Cross Gliding Club. They got starter packs of 5 or 10 flights
for A$350 and A$650. That should be enough to find out if it is for me. What
Seagull mentioned about the "jumping through hoops while we get to know you"
aspect of gliding training - not very appealing. In addition it takes me
nearly 2 hours to get there (and 2 hours back). Plus the club expects
members to be there most of the day and help with the chores to get maybe
one or two 30min flights. -- Have to think about all this .....

Cheers and thanks again for the info -- Oscar



"Oscar" > wrote in message
...
> I am located in Sydney / Australia and wonder what the pros/cons are to do
a
> glider course in our winter instead of our summer. Weather here is
generally
> sub-tropic and I guess comparable with South Africa or maybe Spain or
> Southern USA. Looks like a much nicer season to be out and about than the
40
> degree heat ( and the flies) we get here in midsummer. Spoke to a guy in a
> Sydney glider club and he recons winter is just as good as summer for
> gliding here.
>
> Any opinions appreciated -- Oscar
>
>
>
>

[Bill Gribble]

Again, can't talk of how things are on your side of the world, but over
here similar applies - the club works on a basis of mutual, voluntary
support. But personally, I don't think of it as "help with the chores"
....

The flying is, of course, what it's all about. But it stands to reason
that if a half-dozen people are needed to put me in the air and drag my
plan back to the launch point when I come down, it's only fair that I
reciprocate and hang around to do the same for them when it's their turn
to fly.

The general rule I work to personally is that if I want to fly on a
given day I either turn up early enough to help get the kit out and set
up, fly and then play ground-crew for the rest of the morning and go
home for lunch, or I turn up at lunch time, fly, then play ground-crew
for the rest of the afternoon and stick around to help pack up and put
the kit away at the end of the day. Seems to work fine like this, and
means that my flying takes up, on average, about half a day a week.
Really not a bad deal.

Of course, on the odd occasion I think the wife won't notice my absence
(or I just feel like pushing my luck!) I hang around the whole day, get
the kit out and put it away, but fly both morning AND afternoon :p

Besides, there are worse things to do on a weekend morning than spend it
with a group of friends playing with gliders. And maybe I was just lucky
and landed on my feet (no pun intended), but I never found any hoops I
had to jump through when I first started (though I missed Seagull's
actual post, so I'm only guessing at the content and meaning). I've
seldom met a more welcoming and accepting group of strangers as when I
first joined my local club. The only entrance criteria appeared to be an
obsession with the weather and gliders and the desire to talk about
little else!

Seriously, if your curiosity has led you as far as to enquire then you
owe it to yourself to give it a go. And though "the club expects members
to be there most of the day" that likely translates to no more than a
half-day in practice, as long as you're not adverse to getting up early
;)

The alternative is, I guess, to spend a lot more money and find a
commercial operation where you can book an instructor, turn up for your
slot, fly and go home. But in my (very biased!) opinion, that's missing
half the fun.

In any case, best of luck, Oscar.


-Bill

Oscar > writes
>Plus the club expects members to be there most of the day and help with
>the chores to get maybe one or two 30min flights. -- Have to think
>about all this .....

--
Bill Gribble

/---------------------------------------\
| http://www.ingenuitytest.co.uk |
| http://www.cotswoldgliding.co.uk |
| http://www.scapegoatsanon.demon.co.uk |
\---------------------------------------/

[Oscar]

Maybe my choice of words "help with the chores" was a bit unfortunate. Guess
I have to get my head around the idea that glider training is quite
different to power instruction, where you turn up 30min before the lesson
starts, do 1 hour of flying, have a bit of a chat, then go home again.
Gliding is conducted in a club atmosphere where full time commitment is
appreciated and indeed expected. Not that I say that this is a bad thing,
just different to what I did in my PPL training.

Also agree with you that I owe it to myself to give it is try, otherwise
I'll be wondering forever if I missed something really special..... If you
guys can do it in England it must be 10 times as good in sunny and hot
Australia :-)

Cheers, Oscar



"Bill Gribble" > wrote in
message .. .
> Again, can't talk of how things are on your side of the world, but over
> here similar applies - the club works on a basis of mutual, voluntary
> support. But personally, I don't think of it as "help with the chores"
> ...
>
> The flying is, of course, what it's all about. But it stands to reason
> that if a half-dozen people are needed to put me in the air and drag my
> plan back to the launch point when I come down, it's only fair that I
> reciprocate and hang around to do the same for them when it's their turn
> to fly.
>
> The general rule I work to personally is that if I want to fly on a
> given day I either turn up early enough to help get the kit out and set
> up, fly and then play ground-crew for the rest of the morning and go
> home for lunch, or I turn up at lunch time, fly, then play ground-crew
> for the rest of the afternoon and stick around to help pack up and put
> the kit away at the end of the day. Seems to work fine like this, and
> means that my flying takes up, on average, about half a day a week.
> Really not a bad deal.
>
> Of course, on the odd occasion I think the wife won't notice my absence
> (or I just feel like pushing my luck!) I hang around the whole day, get
> the kit out and put it away, but fly both morning AND afternoon :p
>
> Besides, there are worse things to do on a weekend morning than spend it
> with a group of friends playing with gliders. And maybe I was just lucky
> and landed on my feet (no pun intended), but I never found any hoops I
> had to jump through when I first started (though I missed Seagull's
> actual post, so I'm only guessing at the content and meaning). I've
> seldom met a more welcoming and accepting group of strangers as when I
> first joined my local club. The only entrance criteria appeared to be an
> obsession with the weather and gliders and the desire to talk about
> little else!
>
> Seriously, if your curiosity has led you as far as to enquire then you
> owe it to yourself to give it a go. And though "the club expects members
> to be there most of the day" that likely translates to no more than a
> half-day in practice, as long as you're not adverse to getting up early
> ;)
>
> The alternative is, I guess, to spend a lot more money and find a
> commercial operation where you can book an instructor, turn up for your
> slot, fly and go home. But in my (very biased!) opinion, that's missing
> half the fun.
>
> In any case, best of luck, Oscar.
>
>
> -Bill
>
> Oscar > writes
> >Plus the club expects members to be there most of the day and help with
> >the chores to get maybe one or two 30min flights. -- Have to think
> >about all this .....
>
> --
> Bill Gribble
>
> /---------------------------------------\
> | http://www.ingenuitytest.co.uk |
> | http://www.cotswoldgliding.co.uk |
> | http://www.scapegoatsanon.demon.co.uk |
> \---------------------------------------/

[F.L. Whiteley]

You can do this scheduling bit at a commercial operation and even at some
clubs, book and fly, but why? In most clubs, you can help with the ground
operations, eaves drop on instructor/student discussions, watch circuit
after circuit, observe and learn, listen to candide pilot discussions, help
rig and de-rig a variety of gliders, go on retrieves, make new friends, go
out to dinner, soar and fly at every opportunity, and get some extra flying
in the front or back of some member's nice two seater. If you show that
sort of enthusiasm, it will come back to you also. If you join a club and
remain a stranger, you'll not be happy with it, but it's not entirely the
club's fault, is it? Sometimes people say their first impression of a club
is a cold shoulder. That's too bad, as I know most, but not all, members of
our club are welcoming, but it's also a two-way street. You have a power
ticket, good, we'll let you get the next round thank you very much. Now
it's time to learn to soar and leave those limitations behind. Being in Oz
just makes it easier.

"Oscar" > wrote in message
...
> Maybe my choice of words "help with the chores" was a bit unfortunate.
Guess
> I have to get my head around the idea that glider training is quite
> different to power instruction, where you turn up 30min before the lesson
> starts, do 1 hour of flying, have a bit of a chat, then go home again.
> Gliding is conducted in a club atmosphere where full time commitment is
> appreciated and indeed expected. Not that I say that this is a bad thing,
> just different to what I did in my PPL training.
>
> Also agree with you that I owe it to myself to give it is try, otherwise
> I'll be wondering forever if I missed something really special..... If you
> guys can do it in England it must be 10 times as good in sunny and hot
> Australia :-)
>
> Cheers, Oscar
>
>
>
> "Bill Gribble" > wrote in
> message .. .
> > Again, can't talk of how things are on your side of the world, but over
> > here similar applies - the club works on a basis of mutual, voluntary
> > support. But personally, I don't think of it as "help with the chores"
> > ...
> >
> > The flying is, of course, what it's all about. But it stands to reason
> > that if a half-dozen people are needed to put me in the air and drag my
> > plan back to the launch point when I come down, it's only fair that I
> > reciprocate and hang around to do the same for them when it's their turn
> > to fly.
> >
> > The general rule I work to personally is that if I want to fly on a
> > given day I either turn up early enough to help get the kit out and set
> > up, fly and then play ground-crew for the rest of the morning and go
> > home for lunch, or I turn up at lunch time, fly, then play ground-crew
> > for the rest of the afternoon and stick around to help pack up and put
> > the kit away at the end of the day. Seems to work fine like this, and
> > means that my flying takes up, on average, about half a day a week.
> > Really not a bad deal.
> >
> > Of course, on the odd occasion I think the wife won't notice my absence
> > (or I just feel like pushing my luck!) I hang around the whole day, get
> > the kit out and put it away, but fly both morning AND afternoon :p
> >
> > Besides, there are worse things to do on a weekend morning than spend it
> > with a group of friends playing with gliders. And maybe I was just lucky
> > and landed on my feet (no pun intended), but I never found any hoops I
> > had to jump through when I first started (though I missed Seagull's
> > actual post, so I'm only guessing at the content and meaning). I've
> > seldom met a more welcoming and accepting group of strangers as when I
> > first joined my local club. The only entrance criteria appeared to be an
> > obsession with the weather and gliders and the desire to talk about
> > little else!
> >
> > Seriously, if your curiosity has led you as far as to enquire then you
> > owe it to yourself to give it a go. And though "the club expects members
> > to be there most of the day" that likely translates to no more than a
> > half-day in practice, as long as you're not adverse to getting up early
> > ;)
> >
> > The alternative is, I guess, to spend a lot more money and find a
> > commercial operation where you can book an instructor, turn up for your
> > slot, fly and go home. But in my (very biased!) opinion, that's missing
> > half the fun.
> >
> > In any case, best of luck, Oscar.
> >
> >
> > -Bill
> >
> > Oscar > writes
> > >Plus the club expects members to be there most of the day and help with
> > >the chores to get maybe one or two 30min flights. -- Have to think
> > >about all this .....
> >
> > --
> > Bill Gribble
> >
> > /---------------------------------------\
> > | http://www.ingenuitytest.co.uk |
> > | http://www.cotswoldgliding.co.uk |
> > | http://www.scapegoatsanon.demon.co.uk |
> > \---------------------------------------/
>
>

[Bill Gribble]

Oscar > writes
>Also agree with you that I owe it to myself to give it is try,
>otherwise I'll be wondering forever if I missed something really
>special..... If you guys can do it in England it must be 10 times as
>good in sunny and hot Australia :-)

Typical! Try and give a guy a bit of friendly advice and he turns around
and kicks you right where it hurts! On a more serious note, however, I
understand the soaring conditions are indeed a //little// more
favourable in your neck of the woods at the right time of year :p Maybe
once I convince the kids to grow up and move out I'll then be able to
convince the wife to take a holiday "Down-under" with me and I'll try
them for myself. Well, we can live and hope!

Winter is good to learn and a good club environment is absolutely the
best place to do it. Try them both first. If either turns out not to
suit you then you can always try the alternatives later ;)

But best of luck which ever way you go. At the end of the day, it's only
the soaring that counts.

--
Bill Gribble
| http://www.ingenuitytest.co.uk
| http://www.cotswoldgliding.co.uk
| http://www.scapegoatsanon.demon.co.uk

[F.L. Whiteley]

No sense of humor apparently. I personally have and had a great time
socializing with my peers.

Frank


"seagull" > wrote in message
...
> On Tue, 18 Jan 2005 16:29:52 -0700, "F.L. Whiteley"
> > wrote:
>
> >You have a power ticket, good, we'll let you get the next round thank you
very much. Now
> >it's time to learn to soar and leave those limitations behind.
>
> This is just the sort of culturally entrenched Neanderthalism to which
> I refer, and you'll wish you'd avoid when you encounter it at the
> field Oscar.
>
> One of the many reasons paying a premium to train at Sportavia et al
> is worth every 'penny'. Bypass the ******s & maximise your progress
> instead of the bull****.
>
> http://www.sportavia.com.au/

[F.L. Whiteley]

I will also add that socializing is just another form of hangar flying.
Such exchanges with a few sage and safe pilots is an important part of
developing an attitude towards safety in your flying activities that will
serve you well into the future. Some may not share too much until you get
to know them a little better. There are some very interesting tales out
there that are rarely shared. Having fun and enjoyment along the way is
simply a plus. Some of the more difficult pilot attitudes seen over the
years wear an ATP like a shield. Clubs can be helpful or hurdles, true,
choose wisely.

When I was based in USA Region 11 there were few club options, so I flew
only from commercial operations. One I found very predatory and expensive.
Others were quite reasonable. The region has an umbrella organization
called PASCO, www.pacificsoaring.org, that conducted safety seminars, wave
camps, meetings, and provided a newsletter, Westwind, that filled that void
to a reasonable extent. There's nothing wrong with training at a commercial
operation if it better suits your temprement, time schedule, and so on. For
me, if there was no social compliment, I wouldn't be there. My own club
actually does schedule instructor/glider time and there's no delay in
student progress as long as they book in weekly or every two weeks. If
there's member interest, we ramp up course weeks April-September so that the
rating can be knocked off quite quickly.

Frank

"seagull" > wrote in message
...
> On Tue, 18 Jan 2005 16:29:52 -0700, "F.L. Whiteley"
> > wrote:
>
> >You have a power ticket, good, we'll let you get the next round thank you
very much. Now
> >it's time to learn to soar and leave those limitations behind.
>
> This is just the sort of culturally entrenched Neanderthalism to which
> I refer, and you'll wish you'd avoid when you encounter it at the
> field Oscar.
>
> One of the many reasons paying a premium to train at Sportavia et al
> is worth every 'penny'. Bypass the ******s & maximise your progress
> instead of the bull****.
>
> http://www.sportavia.com.au/

[Mark James Boyd]

I've seen social, and less social approches to both types
of instruction (power and gliders). Both work, but the
less social student pilots have a somewhat less rich
experience. And they tend to need more instruction.

I don't think this is BAD, just different. Some people want
to fly, but aren't into the BBQ so much. Hey, if that's what
they're most comfortable, I think that's ok too...

In article >,
Oscar > wrote:
>Maybe my choice of words "help with the chores" was a bit unfortunate. Guess
>I have to get my head around the idea that glider training is quite
>different to power instruction, where you turn up 30min before the lesson
>starts, do 1 hour of flying, have a bit of a chat, then go home again.
>Gliding is conducted in a club atmosphere where full time commitment is
>appreciated and indeed expected. Not that I say that this is a bad thing,
>just different to what I did in my PPL training.
>
>Also agree with you that I owe it to myself to give it is try, otherwise
>I'll be wondering forever if I missed something really special..... If you
>guys can do it in England it must be 10 times as good in sunny and hot
>Australia :-)
>
>Cheers, Oscar
>
>
>
>"Bill Gribble" > wrote in
>message .. .
>> Again, can't talk of how things are on your side of the world, but over
>> here similar applies - the club works on a basis of mutual, voluntary
>> support. But personally, I don't think of it as "help with the chores"
>> ...
>>
>> The flying is, of course, what it's all about. But it stands to reason
>> that if a half-dozen people are needed to put me in the air and drag my
>> plan back to the launch point when I come down, it's only fair that I
>> reciprocate and hang around to do the same for them when it's their turn
>> to fly.
>>
>> The general rule I work to personally is that if I want to fly on a
>> given day I either turn up early enough to help get the kit out and set
>> up, fly and then play ground-crew for the rest of the morning and go
>> home for lunch, or I turn up at lunch time, fly, then play ground-crew
>> for the rest of the afternoon and stick around to help pack up and put
>> the kit away at the end of the day. Seems to work fine like this, and
>> means that my flying takes up, on average, about half a day a week.
>> Really not a bad deal.
>>
>> Of course, on the odd occasion I think the wife won't notice my absence
>> (or I just feel like pushing my luck!) I hang around the whole day, get
>> the kit out and put it away, but fly both morning AND afternoon :p
>>
>> Besides, there are worse things to do on a weekend morning than spend it
>> with a group of friends playing with gliders. And maybe I was just lucky
>> and landed on my feet (no pun intended), but I never found any hoops I
>> had to jump through when I first started (though I missed Seagull's
>> actual post, so I'm only guessing at the content and meaning). I've
>> seldom met a more welcoming and accepting group of strangers as when I
>> first joined my local club. The only entrance criteria appeared to be an
>> obsession with the weather and gliders and the desire to talk about
>> little else!
>>
>> Seriously, if your curiosity has led you as far as to enquire then you
>> owe it to yourself to give it a go. And though "the club expects members
>> to be there most of the day" that likely translates to no more than a
>> half-day in practice, as long as you're not adverse to getting up early
>> ;)
>>
>> The alternative is, I guess, to spend a lot more money and find a
>> commercial operation where you can book an instructor, turn up for your
>> slot, fly and go home. But in my (very biased!) opinion, that's missing
>> half the fun.
>>
>> In any case, best of luck, Oscar.
>>
>>
>> -Bill
>>
>> Oscar > writes
>> >Plus the club expects members to be there most of the day and help with
>> >the chores to get maybe one or two 30min flights. -- Have to think
>> >about all this .....
>>
>> --
>> Bill Gribble
>>
>> /---------------------------------------\
>> | http://www.ingenuitytest.co.uk |
>> | http://www.cotswoldgliding.co.uk |
>> | http://www.scapegoatsanon.demon.co.uk |
>> \---------------------------------------/
>
>


--

------------+
Mark J. Boyd

[Oscar]

"Bill Gribble" > wrote in
message .. .
> Oscar > writes
> >Also agree with you that I owe it to myself to give it is try,
> >otherwise I'll be wondering forever if I missed something really
> >special..... If you guys can do it in England it must be 10 times as
> >good in sunny and hot Australia :-)
>
> Typical! Try and give a guy a bit of friendly advice and he turns around
> and kicks you right where it hurts!

Sorry mate, but here in Oz we are conditioned to stick it to the Poms at
every opportunity - nothing personal - just a reflex action. :-)) (and I'm
not even born here). Actually one of the things that draws me to soaring are
pictures I saw of gliders flying in the Alps - simply magic. Would love to
do that one day, even as a passenger. Nothing like this here in Oz, only
something you guys can do in Europe. So sunshine is not everything.


On a more serious note, however, I
> understand the soaring conditions are indeed a //little// more
> favourable in your neck of the woods at the right time of year :p Maybe
> once I convince the kids to grow up and move out I'll then be able to
> convince the wife to take a holiday "Down-under" with me and I'll try
> them for myself. Well, we can live and hope!
>
> Winter is good to learn and a good club environment is absolutely the
> best place to do it. Try them both first. If either turns out not to
> suit you then you can always try the alternatives later ;)

Have come to the same conclusion .... now anybody got an idea what to tell
the wife why I need to have the next 20-30 Saturdays off? Somebody suggested
to bribe her with $200 every weekend and point her to the nearest shopping
mall ... Any cheaper suggestions?

>
> But best of luck which ever way you go. At the end of the day, it's only
> the soaring that counts.
>
> --
> Bill Gribble
> | http://www.ingenuitytest.co.uk
> | http://www.cotswoldgliding.co.uk
> | http://www.scapegoatsanon.demon.co.uk

[John Giddy]

On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 06:53:33 GMT, Oscar wrote:

> "Bill Gribble" > wrote in
> message .. .
>> Oscar > writes
>>>Also agree with you that I owe it to myself to give it is try,
>>>otherwise I'll be wondering forever if I missed something really
>>>special..... If you guys can do it in England it must be 10 times as
>>>good in sunny and hot Australia :-)
>>
>> Typical! Try and give a guy a bit of friendly advice and he turns around
>> and kicks you right where it hurts!
>
> Sorry mate, but here in Oz we are conditioned to stick it to the Poms at
> every opportunity - nothing personal - just a reflex action. :-)) (and I'm
> not even born here). Actually one of the things that draws me to soaring are
> pictures I saw of gliders flying in the Alps - simply magic. Would love to
> do that one day, even as a passenger. Nothing like this here in Oz, only
> something you guys can do in Europe. So sunshine is not everything.
>
>
> On a more serious note, however, I
>> understand the soaring conditions are indeed a //little// more
>> favourable in your neck of the woods at the right time of year :p Maybe
>> once I convince the kids to grow up and move out I'll then be able to
>> convince the wife to take a holiday "Down-under" with me and I'll try
>> them for myself. Well, we can live and hope!
>>
>> Winter is good to learn and a good club environment is absolutely the
>> best place to do it. Try them both first. If either turns out not to
>> suit you then you can always try the alternatives later ;)
>
> Have come to the same conclusion .... now anybody got an idea what to tell
> the wife why I need to have the next 20-30 Saturdays off? Somebody suggested
> to bribe her with $200 every weekend and point her to the nearest shopping
> mall ... Any cheaper suggestions?

Entice her to the glider field too, and get her hooked, then you won't
have any more trouble...
John G.

[Bill Gribble]

Oscar > writes
>Have come to the same conclusion .... now anybody got an idea what to
>tell the wife why I need to have the next 20-30 Saturdays off? Somebody
>suggested to bribe her with $200 every weekend and point her to the
>nearest shopping mall ... Any cheaper suggestions?

For my part I make sure I get up before her, tip-toe out the door trying
not to wake her, and on those occasions when I think she might notice my
prolonged absence from the usual chaos of my household on a Saturday
morning, try and make it back shortly after lunch with stories of
selfless self-sacrifice of how the conditions in the morning were really
lousy, didn't get anything in the air till gone 11 and though it really
did look like the day was about to blossom in the afternoon you really
wanted to come home and spend the time with her.

Never make it sound like you spent the morning enjoying yourself, and on
the odd occasion across the afternoon stare poignantly at the sky when
she thinks you think she's not looking just to drive home what a
terrific afternoon it could have been and look what you willingly gave
up to be at home with her instead.

Of course, on those days where the afternoon really does bloom, I just
switch the mobile off, blame the battery, and claim ignorance along the
lines of "I didn't realise the time!". Easier to say sorry than to ask
permission. She, in her turn, grabs the credit card and our teenage
daughter and goes off up town to get her own back on my wallet. Would be
cheaper to pay her in dollars :p

Naturally, all of this is written with tongue firmly-in-cheek.

--
Bill Gribble
| http://www.ingenuitytest.co.uk
| http://www.cotswoldgliding.co.uk
| http://www.scapegoatsanon.demon.co.uk

[root]

Oscar wrote:
>
> .... now anybody got an idea what to tell the wife why I need to
> have the next 20-30 Saturdays off? ....

If you try it and get hooked, the answer will be obvious: because
you need to fly, in the same way as you need to eat and drink.

[Nyal Williams]

At 20:00 27 January 2005, Root wrote:
>Oscar wrote:
>>
>> .... now anybody got an idea what to tell the wife
>>why I need to
>> have the next 20-30 Saturdays off? ....
>
>If you try it and get hooked, the answer will be obvious:
>because
>you need to fly, in the same way as you need to eat
>and drink.

Tell her she needs a hobby -- painting, writing poetry,
gardening (not shopping <grin>)

[Roger Worden]

You'll probably get lots of humorous responses... here's a true one.

I made a commitment to continue to do those "honey-do" items that used to
consume my Saturdays, but do most of them in the evenings. I simply do NOT
watch TV in the evenings - I get stuff done instead! Other than yard work,
this works out pretty well. But my bushes are getting rather shaggy...

>
> Have come to the same conclusion .... now anybody got an idea what to tell
> the wife why I need to have the next 20-30 Saturdays off? Somebody
suggested
> to bribe her with $200 every weekend and point her to the nearest shopping
> mall ... Any cheaper suggestions?

[Albert Gold]

C Koenig wrote:
> How about... Honey, lets go to the airfield and take lessons...
>
> Go get a hobby indeed! Next poster will say give HER a honey-do list!
> ;o)
>

When I first took up soaring in the 1960's my then wife concurrently
took up horseback riding. Come Saturday mornings, I'd head for the
airport, and she'd head for the stables. Expensive, but effective for
all involved. When we split it wasn't because of AIDS (Aviation Induced
Divorce Syndrome).

Al