Biggles and blotto in Blenheim

I’d explained to Lyn that our busy day meant we needed to be on our way by 9:00 am to fit in the day’s activities. I provided scrambled eggs courtesy of McDonalds to facilitate this difficult task, and lo, we were moving by 9:15, a creditable result.

At Omaka, Peter Jackson (he of Lord of the Rings), has contributed his personal collection of artefacts to an aviation museum. To a lad brought up on Biggles the collection of aircraft and artefacts on display was bliss. Surprisingly, Lyn enjoyed it too. I lost her and looked frantically for her everywhere, only to discover her studying Eddie Rickenbacker’s flying suit. We even got a good coffee and friand, complete with a bonus aircraft-shaped lolly.

Lyn was most touched by the 5000 crocheted poppies in remembrance of the centenary of the Armistice.

I liked the Battle of Britain pilots’ hut: the squadron’s flight order on the blackboard, newspaper, cups of tea and playing cards left abandoned, radio playing...

We bought supplies for lunch and then were collected from the hotel for our Marlborough wine tour. We were a group of 6 plus our driver and guide, Nic. We visited stunning cellar doors and yarned with a Dutch flower farmer and his daughter, and two Russians from Sydney, he was a computer guy and she was a surgeon (she found it impossible to get work in Australia with Russian qualifications).

We will have a quiet night in.