Today, we can see the hills and we must be grateful for small improvements.
A bit of mist creates beautiful images but when it hangs around it feels claustrophobic, though this is nothing like the fog I remember from my early childhood in London.
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It clung to every surface with its cold damp fingers, muffling sounds and challenging you to find your way.
It was like battling to get out from under a smelly wet blanket. It made me wheeze.
Perhaps I would not remember it so well if I had not re-encountered fog years later, in my airline days.
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Fog was a word we didn’t want to hear, or any other type of bad weather.
There was a list of bad news words:
Strike/mechanical defect/short-shipped baggage.
We were experts at the latter but the one I personally detested was Oversales.
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(Last night’s full moon!)
As stressful as my job sometimes was, when I contemplated retirement I could not imagine being “ex-BA”. I would lose my identity, become a nobody.
Then my spine collapsed and I was forced to take long term sick leave pending surgery.
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It was unlikely I would return but I could not face goodbyes and fuss, so I just left as if I was going on days off.
It was cowardly, but it spared me the emotional turmoil . By the time I had recovered from surgery, I had moved on to fostering cats.
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Looking back, what I remember is the many tough times that my co-workers came through as a team.
When they were challenged, they were the best and they were always generous with their time in support of a good cause.
It felt good to be part of that team.
Raising funds for an orphanage in Dhaka
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And there was this extraordinary aeroplane…
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My move to Seattle insulated me to a degree, from the horror and shock of 9/11 and also from the aftermath of the Air France Concorde crash. I was fortunate in that.
I got to see this aeroplane in her final flight, approaching past Mount Rainier and landing at Boeing Field on November 5th, 2003.
That was an emotional moment.
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It wasn’t at all the glamour of Concorde that appealed to me. It may have been mostly the very wealthy who flew on her, but not exclusively.
British Airways operated many “round-the-bay” charters, flights that her many fans could afford. They were very popular and always full.
Because of her fast flight time she often carried “SOS” shipments, usually human kidneys for transplant.
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Because she came mostly to New York, we got to know the people who crewed this beautiful aeroplane and they were the nicest, most down to earth and fun group of people you could ever hope to meet.
Such are the great memories evoked by the sight of fog!
Thank you, Carolyn, for your lovely memories! I always feel a touch of mystery when faced with a foggy day. Your found raising is commendable and no doubt, was greatly appreciated by the children on the other side of the world. No good deed is ever wasted.
Joanna
Fog
“… I asked him whether there was a great fire anywhere? For the streets were so full of dense brown smoke that scarcely anything was to be seen. ‘Oh, dear no, Miss,’ he said, ‘this is a London particular.’ I had never heard of such a thing. ‘A fog, Miss,’ said the young gentleman.”
-Bleak House
Thanks for the Concorde anecdotes and memories.
I remember looking around Concorde in a hangar as a ‘tourist thing’. I was amazed by how small it was inside, but it must have been amazing to fly at such speed in comparative luxury.
The fogs (smog really) of my youth in London are a vivid memory, but the thick fogs of my retirement in Norfolk are far more dangerous to drive in. I see fog now, I don’t go out in a car. Full stop.
(In case I miss you, Happy New Year!) x
Best wishes, Pete.
Stunning photo of the full moon Carolyn! Your stories of the people who worked with you and also those of the Concorde are special … great memories to look back on.