Recursive Words

I woke at some ridiculous time this morning, squinted at the bedside clock, then collapsed back into a dream I can’t remember until nearly 9am – almost unheard of recently. After a while waiting for my head to boot up, some unseen force pulled me out of bed, and downstairs for a shower – meeting the cats along the way – patiently waiting / demanding to be fed. It never ceases to amaze me that the cats show me exactly where their food is kept every morning, but get in my way en-route – preventing me from getting where they want me to be going.

After feeding the cats – which is obviously the top priority, to prevent them breaking my neck (again, another logic failure – if they break my neck by getting under my feet, how are they going to get fed?) – I had a shower, de-cave-manned myself with a razor, pulled on yesterday’s shirt, picked up my phone, wallet and keys, and left the house.

While walking towards town the sun tried to cook me alive. Not even joking. Having spent the last however many months holed up in the junk room all day, every day, you might say I’m lacking quite a lot of vitamin D.

It’s now heading towards 10am and you find me sitting at a table in the middle of Wetherspoons in town, having just made a small English breakfast disappear. A second coffee is now perched next to the MacBook while servers march back and forth delivering food to tables, and clearing people’s destruction on their return to the endless stream of food leaving the kitchens.

I think I read somewhere that this pub has something like three hundred covers. Sixty staff, rotating – with as many as fifteen on at once during the busiest times. I stay the hell away on Friday and Saturday nights. My middle daughter works here – she was here until close last night – I have yet to hear how the pitched battle went.

I’m really here to decompress a bit. Being largely anonymous among strangers is kind of nice sometimes. Nobody wants anything from you. There’s nothing that needs doing nearby.

Next month I’ll be largely anonymous for an entire weekend – the visit to America is actually happening – for the Flight Simulation Expo in St Paul, Minnesota. After approving the time off with work my other half helped me book the expo tickets, flights, hotel, get ESTA clearance, travel insurance, and join the “Flight Simulation Association” – paying in one direction to save money in others.

The trip is knocking a hole in my finances the size of Jupiter, but I’m reliably informed by the same other half that used to be a chartered accountant, and now “does my books” that this will help my tax bill enormously.

It’s going to be a fun weekend. I doubt my feet will touch the ground throughout the weekend – there are all manner of gatherings happening – networking events – alongside and around the show. I’m also in communication with several of the exhibitors – to help them out if I’m nearby during their classes and presentations.

I was talking to my other half about it – I suppose I’m a bit of a unicorn in many ways – although not a qualified real-world pilot, I know most popular general aviation, commercial, and military aircraft inside-out – everything from flying a Cessna around the back-woods of the US, to operating an A320 in and out of the major European hubs, to taking an SR-71 up to the edge of the stratosphere.

Who knew the SR-71 “Blackbird” – the top-trump in so many people’s childhoods – would be so little fun in reality? An aircraft designed to operate in such a narrow window that flying it is more akin to threading a needle for several hours – while it actively tries to cook you, or rip itself apart.

I grew up near an air force base – and remember leafing endlessly through a huge red aircraft encyclopaedia during my childhood. I still have it – my parents gave me it while visiting with the children years ago. It’s now threadbare, and falling to pieces – but more or less marks the beginning of my story. I’ve never quite been able to part with it – I probably never will.

The funny thing about the whole “flight simulation” thing – it all kind of happened by accident. Yes, I’ve always been interested in aviation – and I’ve messed around with flight simulators in the past – but the whole “content creator” thing was a huge accident. I’m not sure I’ve ever told the story here.

About six years ago I inherited a computer from my Dad. My parents were coming to visit, and brought my Dad’s old computer with them. Given that my computer at the time was on it’s last legs – I affectionately referred to it as “Trigger’s Broom” (a reference to a sitcom in the UK called “Only Fools and Horses” – go look it up) – having a computer that could run games was something of a novelty.

Within weeks I had installed a flight simulator and joined my Dad online with his friends. Since retiring he had somehow got involved with a group online that “flew” the virtual skies a couple of times each week – with one or more of them nominated as “Air Traffic Services” – so they could not only simulate flying, but also the chatter back and forth with controllers. It was all a bit above my head.

This all coincided with a simulator called “X-Plane” becoming popular, and a very accurate replica of the Boeing 737 becoming available for it. I spent weeks learning how to get it into the air in a somewhat appropriate manner, and ended up recording a short video to help walk my Dad’s friends through it – and shared it on YouTube – mostly because it was free.

Although filled with mistakes – you don’t know what you don’t know – the video picked up quite a lot of views, and got the attention of several commercial pilots, who reached out and helped me improve. That’s always been the part of this whole story that has continually surprised me – the willingness of professional pilots to nurture and develop everybody around them. It’s hugely inspiring.

One video led to another, and another, and another – each better than the last. The videos then led to written instructions – PDFs with cliff notes to get a Jumbo Jet from “cold and dark” to “in the air” in a somewhat correct manner.

And then YouTube monetised the account. When you reach a certain number of subscribers, you can earn some of the ad revenue. I forget exactly what the numbers are. To begin with my other half was amused at my little hobby. When the trickle of money started to turn into a torrent, and when the time spent feeding the emerging monster started to eat every evening and weekend though, she started to realise I was getting myself into a fair amount of trouble and needed help – if for no other reason than the tax man turning up.

Thankfully – as I already mentioned – she used to be a chartered accountant. Within days she sorted everything out, and essentially became an employee – a side hustle for her too.

By this time I had written quite a number of the “cliff notes” guides to aircraft. While going over the numbers one weekend, she asked me why I wasn’t charging for them. I argued that I didn’t think they were worth anything. She then looked at the hours I spent working on them, and said I should really think about it. She was right. When people started buying them, I almost fell off my chair.

Along the way – while chipping away at learning this aircraft, or the other aircraft, or pretending to fly here, there, or wherever – several friends have become aware of my hobby/side hustle and wondered if they might do something similar with their own interests. They are always somewhat surprised when I tell them to be careful what they wish for.

Doing something for fun is one thing. Doing that thing to make money is another thing entirely – IF you’re doing it to make money. I’ve never been driven by money – so have escaped what could easily become a slippery slope. That I have a hobby that essentially pays for itself (and then some) has been a huge surprise.

I’ve learned the old saying about “everything in moderation”.

I work with computers all day, every day. Code I have written is embedded in huge corporations and governments all over the place. I quite often pretend to fly aeroplanes on evenings and weekends and share my imagined adventures on YouTube. I also write (this blog), read books, listen to music, watch TV, go to the cinema, do chores, cook, cut the lawn, put the rubbish out, and a hundred other things. I should really go running too – that one keeps falling through the gaps.

I used to also mess around with the social internet – Facebook, Instagram, and so on – they seem to have collapsed in on themselves in recent times though. I was just talking to a friend recently about the demise of Facebook. Who could have guessed that the mighty Facebook would become such a shadow of its former self?

Anyway.

I just realised I’ve been sitting here emptying my head for over an hour. I should really go get on with my day. Places to be. Things to do. Pretend aeroplanes to fly 🙂