The latest Electric Moth, a regular email update from the de Havilland Moth Club in the UK, included the following invitation, something that is nearly as irresistible as it is British:

Tiger Moths at Cambridge
Saturday 26 January will be the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the first Tiger Moth with Marshalls at Cambridge Airport. It is believed to be a unique record that a Tiger Moth has been based on site continuously since January 1938. Terry Holloway, Group Support Executive, has issued the following invitation:

"If any Tiger Moths would like to fly in to Cambridge Airport on the morning of Saturday 26 January 2008 we would be delighted to provide a bowl of soup and to take some photographs for posterity which we will distribute to the world’s media."

I can’t begin to express how much I’d actually love to go.

If I could talk some of (my fellow) Tiger Boys into loaning me an airplane (because why not?), starting in Guelph, ON, would give me a nice head start, as opposed to flying from here at home. Flying during daylight, I figure I could make it from Guelph to Cambridge in about 5 days, with approximately 89 stops for petrol, one way, setting aside the cold and wet bit in the middle.

There is, of course, a very real possibility that the trip could end in tragedy – the soup could be cream of mushroom.

Such are the risks we aviators, jaunty daredevils and captains of the clouds, must consider any time we slip the surly bonds.