Page 25 - Demo

23I spent the Christmas 1966 break at home, amongst other things attending a dance at the Spittal. Returning to Cranwell on the 2ndJanuary, I was bemused to find that a day or two later we were back on a train to Scotland to go on a winter survival exercise in what turned out to be - Glenshee. It was totally surreal to be camping and shivering in January in a five-man tent in deep snow in the car-park of the hotel where just a few days previously I had been for drinks and, as a friend later termed it, %u201cjock-dancing%u201d.The surrealism was to be further heightened. The standard RAF kit being pretty useless for sub-zero temperatures, a number of us had bought cagoules (then newly on the UK market), as extra weather protection. Azzy Sudairy had bought one but his diminutive frame was dwarfed by one which was several sizes too big. The bottom of a cagoule normally reaches mid-thigh but Azzy%u2019s model reached just above his ankles. He had not seen snow before. The sense of the unreal reached its zenith with the spectacle of a penguin-like Azzy on out-of-control skis hurtling down a slope unable to stop %u2013 emitting a stream of what I can only presume were Arabic curses. Never before had those auld Scottish Hills been exposed to the like.And all this a few minutes from my Scottish home. Yes, I call that surreal. David ForsythGlenshee RevisitedAfter a night on that Scottish hilltop (3502Ft AMSL if my schoolboy atlas can be believed) the sight of Mugrin in his pup tent was something to behold. He hadn%u2019t secured the entrance %u201csock%u201d tightly enough, and because the wind had changed direction overnight his sleeping bag was in a small snowdrift. Add to that his attempts to thaw his boots out with matches and a very expensive cigarette lighter and you have a never to be forgotten sight. Incidentally, on any exercise he could always manage to replace the contents of a 24 hr