Monday 22 August 2016

Traveling

Poul Anderson, Operation Luna (New York, 2000).

The Matucheks cross the Atlantic on a Boeing 666 flying carpet with a pavilion, a bar, a couple of meals eaten in their seats and fifty fellow travelers. The carpet takes six or seven hours so is not supersonic. In England, they travel by train from London to Cambridge. This recalls a train journey from London to a village station by two Time Patrolmen after they have traveled on timecycles from the post-World War II twentieth century to the late nineteenth century.

"Cambridge gave us a proper English welcome, rain." (p. 183)

Today, six of us traveled in two cars from Lancaster to Grange-over-Sands, around the Bay. See image. It rained, the car park flooded, one car engine was damaged and its occupants had to return by train.

There is a point to the south of Lancaster where the Motorway crosses both a railway line and a canal while planes are visible overhead. I like to think that time travelers also pass without being seen. If they travel from the far future to the far past at that point on the Earth's surface, then they are always present while we drive up or down the M6.

2 comments:

David Birr said...

Paul
A *Hagar the Horrible* comic strip in 1997 showed the Viking main character declaring, "I come to sack the great castles of England, and I will be victorious come rain or come shine!!" A little English boy turned and asked his father, "What does 'shine' mean, Daddy?"

Sean M. Brooks said...

Hi, David and Paul!

David: Ha, ha, ha!!! I've been to the UK twice and it didn't rain much both times I was there. True, it was in July, when the weather is most likely to be nice!

Paul: A bit ironic, the travelers starting their trip by car and then being compelled to use the train!

Your comments about time travelers quite possibly often passing over or along the M6 reminded me of how, for many years, I was quite uneasy about THERE WILL BE TIME. I was sort of watching out for some the events the book said would "soon" happen actually come to pass!

Sean