David's Diary: Friday, July 6, 2001

Paper Airplanes in Hyde Park

Since we have been pushing hard to see the sights in London and everyone really needed a break, we decided to take the day off. I had an early morning breakfast meeting with Clive Oldfield, a long-time distributor of Robelle (my former company). Clive and I had a nice breakfast, then a walk around Hyde Park. That gave me some ideas for how to entertain the kids in the afternoon.

Kevin and Jocelyn had got the book "The World Record Paper Air Plane Book" by Ken Blackburn and Jeff Lammers for Christmas. Ken Blackburn holds the Guinness World Record for paper airplane time aloft with a flight of 18.80 seconds. The book includes numerous examples of paper airplanes complete with colorful tear-out sheets that include fold lines. We built a paper airplane for each of us and we left Karalee to have the entire apartment to herself, while we went off to test our creations.

We had lots of fun trying out the various airplanes. It was quite tricky to find the right launch speed for each type of airplane. I had the best luck with the "World Record Paper Airplane". When flown well, I could get it to stay aloft for eight or nine seconds (with the help of a wind). This is a far cry from Ken Blackburn's 18.80 second record which was achieved indoors without the help of any wind.

The Serpentine in Hyde Park

After we had enough of flying paper airplanes, we went for a walk in Hyde and Kensington Parks. The Serpentine is a small lake that covers both parks. The lake was created in 1730 by Queen Caroline by having the underground Westbourne river dammed. The lake is a focal point for the park and is famous for its New Year's Day swims. Hyde park was originally created by King Henry VIII where it was used as a private hunting ground. It was not open to the public until the beginning of the 17th century.