Childhood Dreams
As we speak, my grandmother is still screaming at the top of her lungs about how around 3pm everyday the birds are flying over the skies with their afterburners in full throttle. Yes, its that time of the year again when Air Force Day is beckoning. 1st September this year i heard promises to be a better show than the last one.
I can still remember my childhood days when my dad would bring me to his office to watch the then superheroes of our age - Hunters & Skyhawks take off. If you blindfolded me 10 years ago & asked me to guess which plane was it, i would have guessed it correctly much to your amazement. Those were the days when i would wait every week for my Dad to give me another 50 plus stickers so that i can put into my Panini Daring Man & Modern Machines sticker album… much to the irritation of my friends who tried desperately to want to exchange with me to complete their albums. My teachers & ask me would i want to be a Major like my dad & be a flyboy or a minor since i always looked to have more of a career as a roadsweeper. Everytime i get free tickets to go in behind the barrier & mingle with all the pilots during airshows & there was nothing i couldnt answer when you ask me about fighter jets. You could ask me the difference between a F-14 Tomcat or Tigershark & i could tell you without batting an eyelid. Playing flight simulator games in the hardest sorties was a breeze & many thought that i would be like my dad & end up a pilot.
That was then… everything went downhill from there when i had to wear specs. You had to 20/20 vision & even though some said you could wear specs up to a certain degree, i wouldnt be able to fly because of my eyesight. I wouldnt be a commercial pilot or join the youth flying club & wear contact lenses because it just wasnt glamorous enough. I wanted to pull Gs & feel the rush of the blood getting into my head when i am sitting in the cockpit. The days of old… Oh well, i can just sit here & dream… or watch the planes go by during the Air Show at Paya Lebar Airbase on Sept 1st. Anyone interested to join me?
