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From Wikipedia:
Roman entertainments at gladiatorial games in the 1st Century.
Except for attempts to destroy our enemies, is there anything the human species spends more on than entertainment?
It comes in a vast number of forms.
The only people who do not desire entertainment are those who spend every waking moment seeking means by which to stay alive.
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If you think about it, our need to be entertained keeps billions of people employed.
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These days, I am content with a good book and nice music. Occasionally, I may watch a program on my computer. I gave up movies and television years ago. Partly because of my tendency to fall asleep.
An equally enjoyable entertainment for me is simply riding around the countryside.
Below I am attaching the shortest ever movie. I’ll let it be a surprise.
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Here’s a clue.
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Did you work out from the photograph that it was a train?
What is special about that?!
As you can see from the tracks, trains very seldom come here these days.
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Happening to be there to witness one passing was a total fluke, as we only came this way in order to avoid whatever was going on along route 22.
It amused me to find myself thinking the passage of a train was worthy of recording.
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We so quickly become blase to new inventions.
My first few trips on aeroplanes were quite an adventure. We got dressed up. Family came to see us off, waving from atop the airport terminal.
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I remember as if it was yesterday, the first time I saw a Boeing 707. I was waiting in Tan Son Nhut airport in Saigon, at the end of 1959, for a flight to Bangkok. I’d never seen any sort of jet before . It seemed enormous and the noise was shattering. It was an Air France flight and I recall a family waiting to board, on their way to Paris, accompanying a coffin. The father had been killed in an early skirmish with the Viet Cong.
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At the age of 11, I suppose such things make an impression on you. I went back to Vietnam after Christmas for another six months, but then it was deemed too unsafe and a new school was found in Cambodia.
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Even after I went to work at an airport, I never really took aeroplanes for granted. It defies logic that an object so large and heavy can remain aloft!
Well, my logic.
If I thought the 707’s engines were loud, they were nothing to the Rolls Royce Snecma Olympus 593 that powered Concorde, but that was a sound I came to love.
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Equally, I liked the sound of the VC10 which was quite distinguishable from other jets. Before Concorde, she was my favourite aircraft type.
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All of which is slightly off the topic of entertainment, yet travel in itself could be considered a form thereof.
When I was young I found it so.
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In my boring old age I get a thrill out of the Sun lighting up the leaves in a cornfield.
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Wondering at a pathway through it.
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And the fact that when we turned onto our road the other day and I asked, “Where is our butterfly?”, it promptly appeared in front of the car.
Not that surprising, as the fields have not been mowed and the Monarchs are attracted to the milkweed therein.
It was a very small train, but good to see it passing through such a remote location. You don’t have automatic barriers to stop cars going onto the tracks, I see.
Every time I get on a plane and it takes off, I still think it’s a miracle that it doesn’t fall back onto the ground. But physics was never my strong subject.
Best wishes, Pete.
Thank you, Carolyn, for the surprise to see a train seemingly riding through a meadow! To me, entertainment is watching wildlife in my garden. Now, reading lately that many pilots admitted to having suicidal thoughts, I don’t think I will be tempted to fly again. I love your beautiful photos of the landscapes, trees, and cloudy sky! That is entertainment, too!
Joanna
I guessed from your clue. What a joy to see. I was lucky enough to fly on VC10’s quite a few times as the Royal Air Force used them for troop transport. The seats were always fitted facing backwards as a safety measure!
Yes, I remember. We handled an RAF flight once a week at JFK and I always seemed to get the job of checking the passengers in. Mostly they went to Brize Norton but some I think went to Lyneham. !969…it seems a long time ago!
I thought it was a train but didn’t think it would pass so close to you – yikes! I wonder if the train driver got lost, because that railway doesn’t look like it gets used often 🙈. I can also easily be entertained – like today with a small plane that flew over the farm repeatedly (so low that the trees were moving). Luckily, the farmer warned us early this morning that it would happen – they are using the plane to spray the canola fields for weeds, because it’s too wet for the tractors to drive there. It was fascinating!
I really enjoyed how you showed that entertainment can be found in simple things—like spotting a train or seeing a butterfly. I love the way how you notice the small joys in life. It’s so heartwarming.