A Modern Fairy Tale
With a sting in its tail?
Once upon a time there was a sleepy little parish in the west of England. Life was peaceful and nothing much happened, and that was the way the residents liked it. It's a wonderful place to live they said. And they were right.
But then along came SSC with promises of wealth and happiness& stories of wondrous things to come.....Like dust and mud and lots of noise and blocked rhines and roads and traffic lights that do not work and piles of earth and demolished and derelict houses & blocked and lost footpaths and wholesale devastation.
Ah well, the residents sighed, at least it is only until 1996, & then it will all go away, apart from the gigantic bridge, the masses of concrete and the network of motorways and the noise of the cars and the stench of their exhaust fumes. And so it will! Rut then along came ICI with promises of wealth and happiness & stories of wondrous things to come...Like dust and mud & lots of noise and new roads and traffic lights which probably will work & piles of earth and wholesale devastation.
Ah well, the residents sighed, at least it is only for 25 years & then it will go away, apart from the warehouses, factories, new roads, lorries, houses, cars, oh yes, and the concrete. But then along came EAC with promises of wealth and happiness & stories of wondrous things to come....Like dust and mud and lots of noise and lost rhines and lost roads that connect us to the outside world and the piles of earth will be plentiful and the piles will be added to with the debris of houses and pubs and of village halls and the devastation will be wholesale.
Ah well, the residents sighed, at least it is only for ever and then it will go away, apart from the aircraft hangars, terminal buildings, hotels and the noise of the aircraft and the stench of their exhaust fumes, oh yes, and the concrete.
And then the children and grandchildren of those sleepy little villagers will look around at the houses and the warehouses and the factories and breathe in the fumes of the chimney smoke and the car and aircraft fumes and say to themselves, are we not lucky to have all this concrete which stands around looking grey and doesnt require anything doing to it. So much better than those fields that needed the grass cutting and those cows that used to smell so much.
[Source: F Barr]
[Copied form A4 Typed Document]
