Navy Days

On the 5th of September I went to Navy Days day at the Plymouth Navel Base. It was all rather interesting actually. There were 14 vessels on display, including 2 subs which I didn't go to see, and lots of people, lots of walking and lots of fun.

It was one of the few times I've actually wished I had kids, as any child had a kind of 'access all areas' pass. They were allowed to climb all over the vehicles and pretend to shoot the guns and ask all sorts of silly questions and get smiled at - and any adult with them got the same treatment. I wasn't brave enough to be silly in front of all these men in Uniform so was envious of the parents who could be. The navy boys were incredibly patient with the questions too and very interactive with anyone who asked. It was really impressive how helpful they all were actually. I guess it was a kind of holiday for them.

I'm not a mechanical person, but the ships were very interesting. It was quite amazing the difference between the biggest and smallest of them. The smaller ones were virtual obstacle courses and quite fun to try to navigate. In the larger ships you felt remarkably like you were inside an office building that just happened to be able to move.

The active displays were very cool too! Flyby's of course, and some helicopters doing some quite hair-raising passes, but the best was a mock capture of a pirate ship (a tug!) complete with a jolly roger flying on the mast. The navy boys 'captured' the vessel by zooming round it in fast little boats (exchanging audible gun fire!) and then dropping a team onto it by helicopter. Very impressive.

People watching was just as interesting. I watched two very different girls on different vessels doing exactly the same thing; trying their damndest to attach two commando boys to their purse strings. Very amusing!

So yes, an excellent day. Of course I did chose the one day of the two that it rained, but you can't let a little weather stop you! GTHBA.