Nostalgia is usually a sudden pleasant memory triggered by a present stimulus. The other day I opened a new bottle of bath creme which immediately sent me back to my youth. The scent was described as lilac but to me it was the scent of violets and especially reminded me of the violet flavoured sweets we sometimes had. I think my brother once used some to try to disguise that he had been smoking! Not a good move, whoever heard of a teenage boy wanting to smell of violets. Nostalgia is usually a pleasant but maybe bitter-sweet thing. The smell of Astral soap always reminds me of a childhood holiday at my uncle's farmhouse. Sometimes it is not possible to know why these triggers happen. Do you often have nostalgic moments?
I have written in previous posts about disasters. In the case of Concorde, decisions by people, plus other factors were directly to blame for the event. In the case of the Penlee disaster it may have been avoided if someone had made a better choice in the time beforehand and as a consequence brave men and the ship's crew and the captain and his family died. 9/11 was certainly the result of wicked men committing a terrorist act, but even in this there was heroism notably by another Cornish man, Rick Rescorla who helped many to safety and left it too late to help himself. In situations like this we see what the human spirit is capable of both good and evil. What of disasters that come on people because of the earth restless movement of tectonic plates. Often people live near volcanoes because the land is rich and fertile and they have the chance of a better life there when the volcano is resting. We cannot blame them for that but sometimes people become complacent...
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