An even bigger shame is that Genghis’s mob are unable to put the Gin’n’Tonic set right.
Probably because "my mob" (not that I'm at all convinced I have one), are too damned busy doing "stuff" to even contemplate the existence of what people here are calling the G&T set. They're the sort of people who love to put on black tie and enjoy a posh aviators dinner - but it will have been in their diary for 9 months, with a significant proportion still not making because something more important (and obviously, aviation related) has come up.
May I offer a thought of somebody far older (well dead for that matter) and wiser than me...
Originally Posted by Theodore Roosevelt
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
(From a speech "Citizenship in a Republic", Sorbonne, Paris, 23 April 1910)
Piltdown - you imply an aviation passion, but that time and funds and a non-aviation profession are too tight to engage in the way you'd wish. Can I suggest that you consider taking out Affiliate Membership of the Royal Aeronautical Society? Apart from a half decent magazine once a month, it does make easier access to a very large network of talks and events - many of them free - around the country (world!) about just about every aspect of aviation and aerospace you can imagine. Or if that is still too much, locate and join your local branch: there's likely to be a lecture programme, maybe the odd "professional" visit, and certainly opportunities to meet a few people we can all learn from.
G