IT was thought-provoking to read about the traffic in our skies (“Warning over crowded skies as one plane flies in the UK every 10 seconds”, The Herald, July 22).
It is reported that Glasgow Airport welcomed more than one million passengers through its gates in June this year for the first time and Edinburgh Airport said that 1,304,074 had gone through its terminal in the same month.
These statistics brought to mind scenes in my lifetime, from not so long ago ,when people were weeping and distressed as they said “goodbye” to relatives and friends as they emigrated from Scotland. In many cases the upset was all the more profound because in all likelihood their paths would never cross again.
Now we have jets flying all over the world and getting to Florida is about as time-consuming as getting “doon the watter” to the Clyde resorts was a few generations ago.
Leaving on a jet plane is a mundane event nowadays and coming back again is not the stretch it once was for many people.
Ian W Thomson,
38 Kirkintilloch Road, Lenzie.
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