No, thank you Ormeside! That's just the job, and in giving us such interesting detail of life at, and away from, Terrell you enable a better grasp of your life then which sounds quite enviable!
Yet again you illustrate the kindness of strangers, and in particular American ones. I think that this is an experience that unites all generations of the RAF when they have encountered our cousins' hospitality. It certainly chimes with mine, as a Flt Cdt visiting their Military Colleges and major cities, and as an MRT pilot in the Far East. Whether at Colorado, New York, Tachikawa, Clark Field or Hickam, they only had to hear the accent and you were spoilt to a 'T', or a San Mig, or tickets to a ball game, or half a hundred other treats. Return matches were invariably along the lines of Formal Dinners and death defyng (in their eyes) trips along ridiculously narrow and winding country roads on a pub crawl, but of course I now thoroughly decry such irresponsible behavior!
This is more important than policy, or agreements, or understandings, because it is about the true feelings of a people, rather than the official and artificial posturings of governments. Never mind if you were in civvies or RAF uniform, or even US issue kit, you received that impromptu hospitality because you were British, young, and a long way from home. It cannot be overstated in its importance, because that is the true 'special relationship' that we have with this warm hearted and generous nation.
