I live roughly a mile downriver from Battersea Heliport, which is London's only commercial heliport. In the last 3 years I've become moderately adept at identifying the helicopters that come in and out of it - quite a few, usually private aircraft, or traffic-spotting ones.

In the last two months or so, I've started seeing fucking great Chinooks going in and out of the heliport. Military ones (does anyone else own Chinooks?). Several of them every day.

Last night, I got up around midnight to kick the cat, and realised that there was a helicopter outside. Normally, you don't hear them after 11-ish at night. This one was either a small craft hovering right outside my window, or it was a fucking great Chinook hovering somewhere above my neighbourhood. I'm guessing the latter. And it stayed there for about twenty minutes.

As I was walking to Battersea bridge this morning, I saw another Chinook flying away from the heliport, towards the city.

The thought of us going to war doesn't worry me so much, but if it does happen I would have rather the military was in training right now... Instead they're busy fighting fires in lieu of the striking fire brigade.

Of course, the appearance of military aircraft at the heliport might not have anything to do with the rumours of war at all.