Sir, – Michael Harding clearly doesn't like airports ("Airports are cathedrals of oppressive certainty", Life, October 5th). He is failing to see one of the wonders of the modern world.
To sit for a few hours at a large hub airport watching passengers pass by is an amazing experience. To witness the mix of races, clothing, languages, shapes, sizes and colours, and all concentrated in one small area, is something that was never possible before the evolution of the modern airport.
There is even a fascination in watching people’s luggage – how much they are carrying, whether they have designer luggage or just large plastic bags, and whether the luggage contents are really worth carrying across oceans.
It adds further to the experience to remember that these people at the airport are about to undertake a journey of perhaps six hours that 300 years ago would have taken six months and a significant chance of disease or even death.
We need to appreciate the wonders of the modern world that were unavailable even to our recent ancestors and we must never allow the irritations, admittedly many, diminish our wonderment. – Yours, etc,
AOIFE LORD,
Tankardstown, Co Meath.