Having wind

My alarm went off at 4am and after the initial "what on earth is that?" confusion I got up to phone the hot air ballooning hotline. A recorded message with a Bristolian accent told me the flight was on. We were a go.

A rush job of getting ready was followed by the drive to the carpark of a suburban mall where a stream of cars arrived and parked up. It was still very dark. It all felt very clandestine.

A few minutes later two busses, each towing a trailer carrying a big basket, turned up. At least we were in the right place.

What followed reminded me of that American film about people chasing tornados starring that bloke who played the president in that other film. We would drive twenty minutes or so and then pull over to let the drivers and balloon pilots inflate and let fly a small yellow balloon to judge wind direction. The company has ten sites spread over Canterbury so that they can get everything right and cover all eventualities.

One eventuality that they couldn't cover was the southerly front coming in earlier than expected and making wind conditions incredibly eratic. So two and a half hours after being told the flight was on, the same Bristolian accent informed us that we wouldn't be flying after all. Safety has to come first. I can understand that. It's still disappointing though.

Now, where's that phone number for re-booking?