On flying a kite alone

It was lovely and windy yesterday. I hadn't flown my Christmas kite for ages, so, waking up and seeing the trees moving, and without any precipitation, I decided it would be a good day. I wasn't sure how easy it would be to launch it on my own (always previously having had a happy helper to hold it up for me), but the instructions informed me that I could lay the kite on the floor, extend the lines, and gently pull on both of them to coax the kite up into the sky. It's the kind of kite that doesn't have any sticks to stiffen it, but is made up of pockets which fill with air, allowing the kite to fly.

Arriving at the green, I ascertained the wind direction, removed the kite from its handy pouch, and laid it out in order to attach the wires. I had to place my jacket on top of the kite to prevent it from blowing away whilst I unwound the lines to full length. Which left me, a few minutes later, standing at the far side of the field, lines extended and attached to wrist loops - and my fleece on top of the kite, preventing it from taking off. So I ran forwards, keeping my arms as far apart as I could to stop the two lines from tangling. Removed jacket from kite. Ran back to other side of field to extend kite lines again - by which time the wind had caught one side of the kite and blown it over. I tried pulling on the lines, at first gently, and then with a little more vigour. But alas! From this new, upside-down position there was no coaxing the kite into the air. Once again I ran forwards with arms wide apart, righted the kite, and ran back across the field... this time I felt the wind tugging at the kite before I'd even got halfway. And sure enough, by the time I had the lines fully extended, the kite had once again blown upside down, and halfway across the field...

Repeat. Repeat again. And by this time, as you can imagine, I was beginning to feel what might be generously described as mild irritation at the situation. Suffice to say that before too long I was literally jumping up and down in annoyance.

At one point I did manage to bring the kite up into the sky. Whereupon, the wind immediately dropping, the kite did a graceful loop and crashed straight back down to earth.