Monday, January 02, 2012

hover reflection


We hovered across the English Channel.

I started trying to remember how I decided on this post subject. But you know what, who cares? Maybe if I did the twitter thing I could send out my stream of thoughts as the day dragged on.

I would like to know if you did something or been somewhere that doesn't exist anymore. I'm not talking about time travel (well maybe a mind trip if that counts). What I mean is the experience of knowing something/somewhere in your past doesn't exist anymore.  Been there done that - but can't go or do it again type of thing.

We can't recreate the past. But sometimes we try really hard to drag it into the future.

To be more specific, here's my example:







Our family had the opportunity to travel across the English channel
(last I checked it's still there) years ago (1989). While planning our trip, I quickly decided the best way to go was book a hovercraft ferry. We traveled between Dover England and Calais France. This was before the Chunnel.

The above picture is the craft coming to France to take us back.

The hovercraft is not an option anymore.
It stopped operation. Today I would certainly try the Chunnel experience given the chance.

The hovercraft was fast and a blast. I'm sure it depends on the weather but I recall getting off feeling like I took a ride at an amusement park. Just enough bounce to enjoy the movement. It had aircraft type seats that were comfortable and it could carry our car. It had more room to move around than a plane.

Airlines can be quick but they will never carry your car for you. Today, you are lucky to get them to include a second bag with the fare.

Here's a picture of the Cliffs of Dover taken from the hovercraft.









 

We spent a little time around Dover and visited a castle.  The cliffs are made of a white chalk type rock that you can grab and use to write on the sidewalk.  I'm sure all that is still there.

So there's my example, I can't go back with anyone and do another English Channel crossing on a hovercraft. I'm not sure why the service was discontinued. I assume it was not cost effective.

So I have mixed feeling about this memory. On one hand, I feel part of an elite group that tried a unusual mode of transport. Then, I'm sad that I can't take another trip on it with someone.


Note - I first wrote about this back 2009 and decided to brush the dusts off the bytes and update it a little.

 Do you have an example like this?  Please share.



18 comments:

Kristina P. said...

Wow, it looks like something out of a Mission:Impossible movie!

lisleman said...

Maybe I should have the done the post about being a spy being chased across the English Channel.  Having been a big 007 fan going to the UK and hearing those accents did have fantasizing a bit.
thanks

OneStonedCrow said...

Hehe ... nope, I can't think of anything I can't do again because it's not there any more ... there are lots of things I can't do because I'm not here/there any more ... does that make sense?

... no, I didn't think so ...

lisleman said...

thanks for thinking about it.  Often things get torn down or completely redone in a different way so you can be there anymore.  Restaurant around here have that happen to them every so many years.  The hovercraft is my biggest example of this.
thanks

Barbara said...

Oh gosh, I have the very same example but just didn't realize it until now! I took the hovercraft from the Dover Cliffs to Calais in 1976 - such a cool experience. I remember passing a ship - that thing moved! I'm sad to hear they stopped running it. But glad to be part of your elite group!

Hilda_dada said...

Hey everyone. Interesting idea for a blog. I have been checking out a lot of blogs and forums recently. Some are really informative some are entertaining and some are a real crack up. I've got to admit it, good job on this blog, I'll be sure to look in again real soon.  meizitang

lisleman said...

76 - you must have been some of the first to ride it.  Do you know when it started?  It is very cool that one of the blog readers would have experienced it too since most of the readers are from the states.  Maybe I'll get a UK reader to tell us that they rode it too.
thanks

Bearmancartoons said...

I worked at 4 different movie theaters in my teens.  All of them are now gone

Frau said...

I once went skydiving....been there done that and some things are meant to do once! 
What a story you have and cool experience.....great pictures too! Happy New Year!

lisleman said...

4 of them ?  were you bad luck?   Just wonder how many got their first kiss at those movie theaters.  thanks

lisleman said...

I have never done that.  I did go gliding once and I posted about.  Did you post about the skydiving?   thanks

Frau said...

No I went skydiving back when I was trying to woe my hubby ! Back in the day!
Sent from my iPad

lisleman said...

great example of what we do for love

Nezzy said...

Toodlin' 'round campus in my little Rambler Station Wagon named Daisy.  Yep, she even had a daisy smacked right in the middle of her steerin' wheel.

She was good to haul the sorority sisters 'round in or to steal the fats mascots.  Yes, in fact we did.

I'll never be able to drive another like her again.

God bless ya man and have a fantastic 2012!!!!  Woohoo.........

lisleman said...

Rambler station wagon - classic, did that one come with the wood paneling?  I can't remember which one was called the woody.
Thanks for sharing your story and God bless you for 2012.

Carl_can said...

I am to submit a report on this niche your post has been very very helpfull   wireless security

Mic Norbury said...

Cor....that brings back memories.

My mates and myself used the hovercraft service a couple of times in the mid 70's, to go on driving/camping/drinking/ holidays in mainland Europe.

We chose it originally because one of my mates was hopelessly seasick, and he reckoned that 30 minutes of honking up on a hovercraft was preferable to a few hours of it on a ferry. As it happened, it was seriously choppy on the first crossing; I likened it to doing 40mph over a ploughed field in a Landrover. True to form, my friend chucked his guts up for most of the trip.

In order to overcome this on the way back, he downed a few sleeping tablets and tried to get to sleep before the damn thing set off. Once underway, one of the flight (err.....hover?) attendants noticed him sitting back with his eyes closed and looking rather pale.  She woke him up by wiping his forehead with a damp towel (?) and asked if he was OK. He rewarded her act of kindness by being sick all over her, and the seat in front.

Ahhh.... memories.

lisleman said...

I hope she had extra towels.  I've been lucky in not being sensitive to movement.  My wife is the opposite.  She can get car sick.  She did alright on the hovercraft but the ferry between Wales and Ireland became the barf-o-rama boat for her.

Featured Post

Feedback can be amazing