My very first powered flight (not counting passenger flying) was a joyride in a Jackaroo at Thruxton; 60 minutes of total bliss and I can still remember every minute of it, although not exactly when, or who the pilot was. Probably in 1960/61. I had a gliding Silver C (Lasham), but this was exciting and different. It launched me into a career in the aviation industry now fast approaching its, and/or my end.
I blame that b****y Jackaroo for the fact that I spent last Tuesday in a large room in Germany, with 175 other victims, undergoing death by Powerpoint as low-quality European officials turn aviation safety into an ever-tightening spiral of over-complicated, self-defeating bureaucracy, each Regulation produced to correct the errors of its predecessors, and each one more badly thought through, and more badly drafted than the last.
PS Please ignore the above, sorry for the drift. I'll have a strong drink now to make it better.