No, I didn't go personally. (Seeing as about 40,000 other people did, I think I'm quite happy about that.) I think this year's was a bit more special because of the Jubilee. They do several flying days each year, shouldn't be too hard to find out the dates on the Net.

<With some trepidation, as when I told you I lived near Duxford you blamed me for the entire fucked up moral culture in the US...>

You might want to pick a date that co-incides with an open day at the Astronomical Institute (so you can go and look at the telescope that discovered Neptune (yeah, I know the French claim that, but trust me on this one...) and all sorts of cool astronomy labs (which obviously today means cutting-edge computer analysis rather than telescopes.)

Of course, if you timed it really carefully you might also get in a visit to the Mullard Radio Astronomy site where they've got the telescope that discovered the first neutron star, the world's first (or at least, a very early) electronically steered radio telescope, absolutely swarms or steerable dishes and instrument shacks (the instrument shacks themselves form a sort of potted history of computing-since-the-50's, of course). Mullard only opens every other year, though.

Or have you decided where to go on holiday this year?

Not you personally Robert, just yer countrymen. Duxford's north of London, which makes you English, yes? Urm... well... nevermind ;)

Don't know where we're going on holiday this year. Ellen wants some place with a beach. Ellen always wants somewhere with a beach.

Unfortunately we're trying to buy a house this year, so any long distance vacations will have to be deferred until after that. But your advice is appreciated, and if we ever managed to make it out there, and you're silly enough to let us know where you live, I'll be sure to buy you a pint!