Had the nightmares too. Not surprisingly since I grew up at a time when Reagan was hellbent of turning the cold war hot.

It kind off puts September 11 somewhat in perspective.

I had a look at the bunker website, and there's another bunker in Essex. But that one is closing down for good, towards the end of the year.

So readers down south should grab the chance while they can.

Everything is fodder for the nostalgia machine. Hell, there are Romanians trying to get funding for a Vlad the Impaler theme park. I think satire is dead.

When I lived in Liverpool in the late 70's early 80's I used to hear a plane crawling across the sky at about 2am most nights..probably the post or something.. but anyway the thought was there that maybe, just maybe.. I think our generation lived under a mass psychosis whereby nobody wanted to think about it but everybody had the nightmares instead.

Well, seeing as how Space Command periodically take a missile, trucks it to Vandenburg, swaps its warhead for a test telemetry package and fires it at Kwajalein Atoll, these things are getting 'used' now and again. And as I understand it, the solid propellant in the stages has a fixed life and needs to be removed and replaced every decade or so, so I suppose it makes sense to take the opportunity to use a more benign formulation if one is available.

But yes, the overall effect is highly ironic.

I guess the pessimist/cynic says "Since they are going to get launched and kill millions, who cares if they use environmentally friendly fuels".

The optimist says "these things aren't going to get launched, and since we're going to have to deal with the fuels anyway (test launches, disposal, etc.) this is a good thing, indeed.

I'm an optimist. And I look forward to a day when we don't have these things.

I want to see a Cold War Memorial Flight. This should be a good start.