Travelwise:
Angry about missing the coach to Swindon at Heathrow on Thursday due to it leaving even before the time it was expected to arrive, Thankfully the lady at the National Express desk arranged a seat at the next coach, which was only 1.5 hours later.
Friday:
Upon driving through the gate, the shuttlebus was directed towards Showground reception instead of the yellow entrance. It was not earlier than after the dogsearch that the driver and volunteers figured out something was wrong. Then a follow-me motor took us to the right spot. Then there was the new spot for yellow. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DBH, keep it where it was this year, don´t move it back to its former position. I don´t know what the reason was for its repositioning but the new spot worked. It was a lot shorter walk into the showground, and you didn´t have the very long queue, as you could directly join the line you wished for for the ticket- and security checks. Checks itself were as random every year, with very little crowds (being the first from that bus reaching the gate, and nobody else there at that point), I expected to get the full experience, but was only wanded. It was not until Sunday that my photobag was X-rayed. If that was a real threat it would have exploded during one of the earlier showdays
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Further I enjoyed this day until the flypast was due, but not so much as other Fridays in the recent past. It just missed that relaxed Friday feeling, a bit of teasers for the real weekend. Then that weather...
[nonserious]When did it became clear that there was a possibility it would endanger the flypast? In the past (the o´Hagan commentary days) there was a song called Mr. Blue sky that broke all clouds away as soon as it was played over the PA. Was it too late to even consider trying to do that trick to save the flypast?[/nonserious] Strange also to hear from Ben that it was clearing already when the first lightning strikes (no, the natural thing, nothing to do with the F-35) could be heard. Apparently, British weather is much different from continental weather.
Saturday
Nice to meet one of the people from ATC in the lift of the hotel. We had a nice chat about the flypast that never was, the possibility of it trying again during the other days, launching it from Fairford itself to give some flexibility, but also about if RIAT should do RAF jubilees again. The RAF pulled out the week before the show in ’98, there is enough said about ’08 (although I never knew it was a very close call to cancel the flypast for the Queen that year also) and flypastgate this year.
Then there was that announcement about a special flypast at 4 o’clock, and for a short while I thought “Oh, was that lightning yesterday the spirit of Paul Bowen striking into RIAT and the RAF to try again?”, but it appeared to be the B-2.
Best display I’ve ever seen from the BBMF.
Sunday
The third full showday and to be honest, for me this one was too much. Also disappointed that the Canadians had already packed up their helicopter when the sun was at its best for that spot.
Why was that Jet Provost made victim of that RAF 100 sticker?
Overall
Loved it until I fell asleep during Sunday afternoon. Three full days is too much. It has now been tried, and it didn’t work. The best thing there was related to RAF 100 was the 617 squadron bit, but was RAF 100 needed to stage it? A bit in the display as “farewell Tornado, Welcome Lightning” with the Lancaster thrown in as the founding aircraft type of the first squadron might even have worked better.
Might that just be a little bit of an egocentric view...? 
