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With rock salt accumulating beneath the car, we shot off to Schuylerville to get it washed.
It’s a small town on the Hudson River.
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The car’s underside is protected, but rock salt is terribly corrosive. Car washes must do well at this time of year, when they are the only way to get a vehicle cleaned.
As we went through the wash, the sound of the brushes and water jets reminded me of the roar of Concorde engines.
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Other than music, of course, I don’t like human noise, with one exception.
Concorde.
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Although…
There was also the VC10. I loved the unique whine of her engines and she was a beautiful aeroplane.
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This one, registration G-ASGD, had a name:
Canopus.
The brightest star in the southern constellation of Carina and the second-brightest star in the night sky.
Traditionally, only one aircraft was named and it was often used for Royal flights.
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Modern aircraft do not inspire me, but I liked many of the old generation, the VC10 in particular and Concorde was special, not for the so-called glamour, but for the magnificent machine that she was.
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The crew who flew her were special too. I’d expected that they would be stuffy and self-important, but they were quite the opposite . You couldn’t meet a nicer, more entertaining group.
I was involved with Concorde for many years and it is possible that the roar of her engines at close range caused the permanent ringing in my ears.
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When I was very young, I wanted to learn to fly but I had no means of taking lessons. In truth, I’m not sure I would have succeeded, given the range of instruments to coordinate.
I wanted to be an actress too, which I’d also have been useless at.
Both ideas seem strange to me now.
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But even though I couldn’t be a pilot, I did like flying, preferably not in a cramped middle seat in economy class.
My favourite place to fly was not in business or first class, but on the flight deck which I was fortunate enough to do a number of times.
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Working for an airline, I travelled not nearly as much as I would have liked, but as often as I could and in the days of narrow-bodied aircraft, it seemed a harmless thing to do.
Visiting other countries and cultures was fascinating and tremendously satisfying.
My friend Tim got me into adventure cruising on tiny ships that could sail to remote places. It was wonderful.
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But it was when I started taking these journeys that I began to have doubts about the industry I worked in.
It was all very well when narrow-bodied aircraft transported comparatively small numbers of people around the world.
But the advent of the jumbo-jet saw an explosion of tourism and it was like the genie out of the bottle. There was no going back to simpler times.
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These little vessels made very little impact but they led the way for much larger ships.
It is ironic how both of these ships met their end. The Society Explorer, here at Paulett Island, sank in Antarctica and the World Discoverer ran aground in the Solomon Islands.
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Larger ships and planes bring vast numbers of travellers, many of them with little care for the environment or for the disruption they bring to local people in the places they visit.
It is no wonder we see protests now about tourism.
It brings huge revenue but much degradation.
In my view it is a curse.
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I was so blessed to have the opportunity to visit penguins in their natural environment.
(Falkland Islands)
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To see the Sun kiss the horizon at 11 pm, only to rise again soon after, in Antarctica.
Could I begrudge someone else the opportunity?
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Of course not, if only people could travel thoughtfully.
But human beings are an irresponsible species.
For every one that is considerate, there are six who are not.
More than six, I’m sure.
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In my naive youth, it did not occur to me that locomotion could be harmful to the environment.
In my innocence I believed that our rubbish, – whatever we chose to discard, was destroyed, eliminated. It didn’t occur to me to wonder how. Someone came and took it away and that was all I needed to know.
Surely our government took care of such things?
Then I discovered how.
We should be taught from early childhood, the need to be responsible, for ourselves, our behaviour and how everything we do affects our environment.
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My parents generation could be forgiven for failing where I was concerned since in their day, there would have been no great awareness of environmental concerns.
In the years following WW2, as transportation and tourism became big business, the matter should have been addressed.
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Those who knew the dangers found them an inconvenience and too many, like myself, were blissfully ignorant.
It makes me cringe that it took me so long to wake up. I was part of an industry which plays a large part in environmental destruction.
Yes, my beloved Concorde certainly contributed, though so few were ever built and fewer still flew, but for the benefit of such a small number.
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It was “Disaster Tours” that first wore red hats.
One of my friends in this picture writes children’s books now, about responsible travel.
One can only hope the coming generations will learn from our failures, though this has never so far been the case.
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Astonishing what can come out of a car wash.
Thank you, Carolyn, for the excellent, thought-provoking post! At least you are a wonderful photographer to our delight! Your philosophical thoughts are much appreciated!
Joanna
Talking of human impact in wonderful places, I was appalled to see the impact of excessive mountain-climbing tourism at Everest base camp. I think they should just ban all climbers from there now, for 100 years.
Best wishes, Pete.
Imagine if someone had suggested to Edmund Hilary that one day there would be a queue to go up Everest. he would have laughed but here we are. It’s obscene. And most of those people are no doubt doing it just to be able to say so.
Ships and planes get larger, passenger numbers constantly increase, and the whole is driven by the desire for bigger and bigger profits. Meanwhile, young people cannot afford to buy a house because so many properties are used for holiday lets and the costs are driven higher and higher. Maybe it will continue until nature decides enough is enough!
It’s interesting to look back at what profession we wanted to pursue, isn’t it? I always wanted to be a librarian – because I love books so much. … and then I found myself for years in client services! I still think it’s better to surround yourself with books (or animals) than with people 🙂. You have such wonderful photos of your travel days (years) and have truly seen places that few people have been to. I doubt people will learn to travel more responsible – these days it’s all about bigger and better than the previous generation (unfortunately).
We bought a high pressure washer to clean the mud from under our ‘bakkie’ (truck) when we drove on wet dirt roads – which happens often. So, now we don’t visit the car wash anymore – a pity, because I also like the sound of the cleaning brushes.