Sorry Mum
My dear Mother (Gawd love 'er) is to blame for this nugget of ignorance, or perhaps just plain stupidity.

I was 15 years old with my parents at a place called Masada next to the Dead Sea in Israel. The Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth. Masada sits on a flat mountain top, and is only reachable by cable-car or a particularly gifted yet rather stupid donkey.

We're standing atop the ruins of the ancient fortress looking out over the Dead Sea when two fighter jets come into view. They rumble along the sky line until one veers off and heads in our direction. Remember the height difference here... we were pretty much level with the aircraft.

It screams towards us, getting closer and closer until we all think it's curtains. The pilot then banks away at the last second and leaves our ears ringing and the air crackling as anyone who's ever been to a military airshow will know.

Nobody can speak. Everyone is in a daze ... until my Mother taps me on the shoulder and says ...

"Did you see that?"
(declan_m, Fri 7 Jan 2005, 14:55, Reply)