It’s usually all around us, unless we are out in space, or under water. But then water is really just a special kind of thick air. AIR
So how can there NOT be something in the air?
There are so many things in the air. First there are the gases that we believe are the normal constituents of air. Then there all the things that plants and the sheer movement of the Earth’s air put into the air. Pollen, dust, water vapour and who knows what else? Anything that annoys our lungs we deem shouldn’t be there.
Then we ourselves put stuff in the air. Smoke, other gasses. Those certainly do annoy our lungs.
All of those things are pretty small, so often we can’t SEE them there, we just know from our watery eyes, stuffed noses, sore throats that they are there.
For me the most amazing things we put in the air are the ‘heavier than air’ objects. That they stay up there is always a thing of magic. Please don’t come out with all the scientific reasons, I KNOW it’s magic.
Filling the envelope of a balloon with air. You use a fan, and just blow air into it as someone holds it open. So you KNOW it’s just air.
Then the burner, heating the air you put in there. That’s scary. Obviously adding flame into the business is part of the magic. Those flickering, leaping roaring flames that shoot feet away from the burner, can’t be a part of scientific rationale, they have to be part of some magic invocation.
Slowly that envelope begins to take on a life of its own. It wobbles, depending on the breezes around it. Then it starts to wake and lift itself off the ground. People hang on to the rope that allows them to guide its wakefulness until it is standing erect, gently moving above its basket.
You scramble in (hard for us shorties) and wait for the real magic to begin.
More roaring flames. Now way above my head, thankfully.
Slowly the balloon rises, swaying a little. The Earth recedes, there’s nothing below the basket but, that’s right – AIR.
We’re something in the air!
PS all the pics are off the web, all of mine got ruined in a flood
Viewfromtheside's Blog 
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I loved this, Sidey!
thanks adee
Exhilarating post, Sidey, thank you so much! Is there anything more glorious than one of these majestic balloons, with their thousands of years of history, travelling almost silently through the air?
they aren’t that silent, the burners are on quite a lot and they roar
We went for a hot air balloon ride over Palm Springs once. The “view from the side” wowed us . . . but the real shock came from how noisy (and hot!) it is to be in the basket when the burners are turned on.
When we landed, we crashed. And tipped over, with passengers tumbling from basket to field. No injuries sustained.
What a rush.
Thanks, Sidey
I tried in Dalas when I had a few spare days, but everyone was getting ready for a big balloon meet up north. I have also fklown in East Africa and in Australia
The landings can be a bit tricky, sometimes bruising, and very occasionally something broken. I’ve never falled out, but I have been squashed sometimes.