I had a lovely day yesterday taking Jonathan to York's National Railway Museum. It's free entry and quite a good day out for a toddler! The £7 car park fee is expensive of course, but if you pretend that you're paying for the museum then you don't feel quite so duped!
I realise that I have a some misconceptions about technology when I look at the amazing engineering that was in use 50, 100, 200 years ago. In the days before the transistor, I sometimes imagine that engineering was crude and simple.
In reality, the designs are amazingly complex, the mechanics beyond what I could invent, the mathematics is well thought through, the hand-engineering skills of truly high quality.
Today, we are not better than the engineers of yore, in fact I think we lack the patience and attention to detail that is clear on the older trains. There is always pressure to create something quickly, and there are tools to make this possible!
But if you know that it will take days to construct a simple iron component by hand, then you first must be really sure what that component should be.
On another topic, I have been writing this blog for a little while now, but I have no idea who might actually be reading it though. According to the web counter, some people are!
So here is a little test.
If you read this then next time you see me, make a sentence using the word "raillery". If you don't see me, then leave a comment instead.
If enough people do this then I will be inspired to continue writing this blog.
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