Carter's Column

Our USA Honeymoon was a simply amazing journey, with many memorable locations along the way. In October of 2019 my wife and I embarked on a month-long adventure to the United States of America, our delayed honeymoon after 4 and a half years of marriage. We packed so much into that month it hardly seems believable, and what will follow on this blog entry are just things that relate to a man I have been a fan of since my early childhood; Michael Jackson. You may not believe this given the number of MJ items I'm about to write about, but the vast majority of our activities in the USA had absolutely nothing to do with Michael Jackson. Given what will follow, hopefully that illustrates just how much we did! We visited (in order) Dallas, Washington DC, New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Solvang and Neverland Ranch, Los Angeles and Disneyland. We didn't do anything related to MJ in Dallas, so I'll head straight into Washington DC and the surrounding areas. Also, around t...

It sounds so easy, doesn't it; "Do what makes you happy" But somewhere in the chain you get overtaken by the need to pay bills or to do something else. Flying, being a pilot, being around aircraft is something I have wanted to do since I was 11 years old. I was fortunate to work at a flying school at Exeter (and sometimes Plymouth) for 4 years, having done a week of work experience in the same building for the school that was there before. So landing a job aged 18 in seemingly the perfect environment to achieve the goal of becoming a pilot, why didn't it happen for the kid who'd only ever imagined that one vocation? I can't put my finger on a single reason. Coming to Australia twice for cricket? Too much focus on cricket? Too much focus on other things? Honestly there can't be a single answer but my last flight in the UK towards my pilot's licence was in May 2008. I didn't take another training flight until May 2019. A lot happened in between, th...

Crap puns to start this article? I don't  see  why not. I recently had laser eye surgery, and have had many people ask me about it and what it involves, how the recovery is going and many other questions so I thought I would put it into writing (not braille) for you here so that you don't go into it blind. OK, that's enough.  Get on with it. The morning after my surgery under the effects of lots of medication. Back in the days when I used to play cricket and take it somewhat seriously I decided to have a season abroad in Australia to make myself a better player. When I got back to England the improvement was there for the first half of the season, and then I went on the sort of streak that makes me wonder how I didn't give the game up then and there; SEVEN ducks in a row, three of which were Golden (For those of you who don't know about cricket, a duck is when you are out without scoring, a golden duck is when you are out from the first delivery you face). I...

I don't remember a time when I wasn't aware of cricket, when the game didn't have some kind of spell over me. I remember English summers in a small Oxfordshire village watching the local team play and wishing I was allowed to, but also being afraid of a "real" leather cricket ball. A home-made block of wood that my father drilled stump holes into would be used on the street with a tennis ball and whosoever happened to be around and wanted to play would dictate my cricket until we moved to Devon, where I took up the real sport. Unbelievable to be bowling in the nets with Shane Warne just before the World Cup Semi Final in 2015 at the SCG. There is absolutely no doubt that the game of cricket has given me the life I have today. I have been fortunate to play with and against some excellent cricketers, international cricketers and to train with international teams alongside people I'd only ever seen on TV. I have so many happy memories of cricket that it...

With my Grandfather on the flight deck of Concorde Alpha Charlie, G-BOAC at Manchester Airport. This aircraft was the "Flagship of the Flagships". LOOKING BACK AT WHAT SHOULD BE THE FUTURE For 27 years you could take off from London at 11:00am local time and land in New York at 9:30am local time. You could have breakfast in London, lunch in New York and (theoretically but hardly practically) be back in London for dinner. You could cross the Atlantic ocean in a little over 3 and a half hours while sipping champagne, eating caviar and mixing with people you had only ever seen photographs of in tabloid newspapers and magazines. As of October 2003 the same journey takes 7 or 8 hours depending on the Jetstream and you are eating standard airline food whilst mixing with 300 holidaymakers on your way across the pond. From 1976 until 2003 you had another option, although the possession of deep pockets or copious amounts of luck were required to do so, but you could have done...