I’ll be there on the Saturday, first time for me.

How crowded does the event get, is traffic and parking bad?

If you’re coming in from Birmingham, come off the A14 at Godmanchester at the Royston turn off going through Papworth, take the Royston by-pass and you’ll come to the airshow on the A505 from a westerly direction.
Take the first entrance on the right hand side, the ticket booths can be a bit of a pain sometimes, they weren’t even open when we arrived for the BBMF do last year.
I think it’s the best place to park, you are on the airfield and close to the Landwarfare hall and the ‘Tankbank’, one of the best places to watch the show. You also have the advantage of being able to nip back to the car pretty easily for anything you’ve forgotten or wish to keep in there while you walk around. You may even find yourself parked in a spot where you can comfortably watch the show from the car, I once ended up on the fence and we opened the sun roof and there you go, good for any Aged P’s you may take with you as well.
Getting out from there isn’t too bad either, as long as you turn left and retrace your route, which incidentally is quite pleasant, traffic free and avoids the nasty snarl ups where the M11 joins the A14.
I would advise you to walk around and leave late though, but I’ve never had much trouble getting out, I live in completely the other direction but always cut through the back lanes and head for Saffron Walden.
If you park on the left hand side, ie: in the old admin buildings area, while an interesting place, it’s a bit of trek over the Bailey bridge into the airfield, I’ve also found it a bit of a pain to get out of as well.
As for arrival time, I would seriously suggest no later than 9:00, but if you are one of our ‘Friends’ who wishes to put up a windbreak and chairs on the crowdline, no later than 8:00, I always like to get there early anyway, it has a special atmosphere before the crowds arrive, particularly on a saturday when things are fresh and stuff is still arriving, sorry, forgot, no Daks I presume.
The thing is, everything is variable, if it’s a stunning day, the non keen types may arrive in droves, who knows, lets not forget what happened at the Spitfire anniversary event, I was lucky, I went really early and got in OK, some friends of mine arrived at 10 ish and got no where near the airfield and went home, even vets had problems getting in that day, alot of it depends on the publicity dished out by our local TV stations, I reckon they’ll make a meal out of Liberty Belle, it could be busy, don’t take the risk and get there as early as you can.
I shall still go early, despite having access to the TFC enclosure, if youv’e never been before, I think it’s the greatest airshow, possibly worldwide, and very emotive too, especially when you have the opportunity to meet the old boys who flew these beasts in combat. Forget the moaners who complain about the P-51/Spitfire tailchase, if you’ve never seen it, it’s a treat, I could watch it every day.
Enjoy your visit, you’ll never forget it.

Send Mugabe a new suit for a start, he might lighten up then.

The last time I was in Braintree (hopefully it was the last time:D) it was bad for the blood pressure…period! With apologies to any offended of Braintree, of course!!

Now, now, it’s not that bad, I’m off up into town on me bike and I might be tempted to put a copy of this posting on me crossbar.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23903572-661,00.html

I did notice your posting the other day, yes, you are a bit of a ghoul, being the first with the epitaphs.
Cricket seems to be a dying force over here, I doubt whether many people on here know much about it. Personally, I love it and I think that Glenn Mcgrath is/was one of the greatest bowlers of all time and always a joy to watch, he has a great attitude too.
It’s so tragic for this to happen to him and his family, I’ve seen the same situation occur with my best friend, and other people that I know.
However famous and wealthy you are, it don’t make any difference, you look on that link and see this happy smiling family, it makes it worse to think what they’ve gone through.
What more can I say, my only comment is that my mate and his kids had to put up with his wifes illness for so long, it became routine in a way. I think that in the end, her death opened up a real life for them, terrible though it is to say that.
All the best to Glenn and his kids, they all must have had such a traumatic time.

In this months “Britain at War” magazine is an article by Robert Mitchell called “The Folly of The Few”. This is just a heads up, posted without further comment. I have little doubt that further comment might well be forthcoming when said article is read and digested.

Details at:

http://www.britain-at-war-magazine.com

…or available from most bigger W H Smith stores, I think.

It looks an interesting magazine, pity I didn’t look on here before I went into town, try parking in Braintree after 9:00 on a saturday and it’s not good for the blood pressure.
Has anyone read it yet, is it worth it, does it tell us things we don’t know, I judge from Tangmeres mood that it may be a little contraversial.
I think I’ll get out the old pushbike and chain it to W H Smiths doorway and hope they have a copy, just in case they haven’t, is the sunken warship HMS Exeter.

Why does France still have control of land in South America? The people of Guiana should have their own country, not be owned by one thousands of miles across the ocean. I can’t believe that here in the 21st century, some European countries still have colonies, or as they are called, “overseas regions”.

Isn’t this in order to maintain the prison on Devils Island.
On a good day you can see the felons in chains shuffling past the ferry when you arrive in Calais, beats Guantanamo Bay hands down, you can’t hide books and mats up your backside with those nasty French Gendarmes about.