Today had a bit of a rough start. I fell A over T before even reaching ground school. Then the next two hours were spent working through a question set, which was enjoyable but also monotonous. After this Ben, Paul, Steve and I had elected to grab a coffee/tea before returning for some extra tuition from Du Toit. On the way came my second impact with the ground, this one decided to linger all day long in my left leg. By the time I hit the floor the second time, I was really pissed off and bored with falling over!

Luckily the next hour or so went well. I managed to hammer out a few things which I had misunderstood. A decent lunch preceded me and Paul catching a lift with Neale into town, but not to the bar this time. Instead we bought a few bits and pieces. Upon returning, we found Rae - who had just taken her PoF test. We were all really pleased when she gave the thumbs up, a great encouragement to the rest of us.

As it happens, I did check earlier with the secretary about our SPLs. She said that a message had been left with the appropriate CAA personnel. Square root of nothing achieved so far then. The longer we go without our SPLs, the less damned chance we have in passing the tests.

I went to Ops for my flying slot and after a spell waiting, Echo-Echo-Golf appeared with Andrew and Ben inside. While Ben received his de-brief, I pre-flighted the aircraft as best I could. Then Andrew joined me in the aircraft. After starting and making a hash of the radio calls, I taxied to the runway. This was Andrew's last flight at 43 for three weeks. I took off and climbed. We routed to the West Coast sector in glorious sunshine with very little turbulence. Everything is far easier without turbulence, even I was pleased with my control of the aircraft. We practiced turning, climbing, descending and levelling off, as well as a stall and a few circuit practices along the beach. The circuit stuff in particular was challenging but I enjoyed it. Andrew thought he'd saw a Whale, but unfortunately we couldn't find it after turning around.

We turned for home and I guided the aircraft around the real circuit this time. On the final approach I trimmed the aircraft skywards, so that rounding-out wouldn't be as difficult as it was the last time that I tried to land. There was a slight crosswind which I battled against. Luckily I got it down well and lost speed. It was by no means the smoothest of landings, but it didn't bounce/balloon and was my first proper landing with just my control. In the grand scheme of things, not that much. But definitely a personal tick in the box. I immediately asked Andrew if it was any good; luckily he said it was fine. I'm quite pleased to finally nail that one.

During the de-brief, Andrew seemed pleased with my performance. He introduced me to Daniel Larkin; who is to be my instructor from now on because Andrew is going on holiday... to England! Andrew suggested to Daniel that I am ready for circuits, but that we go for a flight outside first to get to know each other and my level of ability. Daniel agreed and then went. We finished off the de-brief and wished each other the best of luck. Hopefully our paths will cross again, Andrew is a good bloke.

After a half-decent dinner the usual suspects went to the bar, while Rae bought the round for her test success. We had a few giggles before it all died down and people peeled off. I stayed and chatted to the barman of the night, Jean'dre, about him being a cadet at 43 and how Port Alfred lacks any social distractions, amongst over things of course.

We're already halfway through the third week. Time is travelling very (too) quickly!