I cheat and have turned off unsubscribes. I try not to look closely enough to notice, but I did go through a very slow growth patch where I could notice the bumps in the graph when a few people dropped off every time I published something. Keep doing what you are doing! I hope people enjoy this essay, I did.
I also have fond memories of what air travel was like in the 1970s, I can just about remember it. I did one very long trip as a 10 year old (NZ to England via Singapore on the way over and LA on the way back). I was absolutely shattered by the 12 hour flight to Singapore, my 7 year old brother even more so. I would consider only travelling 12 hours before a couple of days stopover to be relaxing these days.
I've got a flight coming up which is 17hrs and 15 minutes soon.
This is one of your best essays. I love this memory. You brought it to life with color and verve. You described airline travel in 1974 perfectly. I loved pinning the wings to my shirt and the airplane food was tasty! At least to a kid. Looking forward to more memoir-sequel essays.
Mark, You know when a stand up comedian tells a joke and only certain parts of the audience get the joke? One lady may be laughing hysterically down in front and another group laughs late and some don't laugh at all. I think Substack readers are like that and respond differently to the whole article or parts of the article. For Me I got a memory buzz from the TripTik now rendered useless by Waze App and Google maps. We would sit in front of the clerks desk at AAA as he put together the pieces of the map in a little spiral binder. And then, at the end, the clerk would take out a red circular rubber stamp and carefully mark the TripTik map "construction but passable" and " watch you speed". You were in awe of his knowledge of all the potholes and cops on highways in all 48 states ! This is part of what you paid $ 19 a year for in your AAA membership.
A thoroughly enjoyable piece, Mark! Your grandmother sounds like a supreme character, with your mother having the patience of a saint to cope with four boys and an ailing but feisty parent. I love the picture you paint of the entire family, early daily flying experiences and your passion for Hank Aaron. I hope you write more in this vein.
I was also impressed with the list of books you’ve read in your history club! There are more than a few I’d like to read.
As for the poll, I couldn’t decide between “obsessed” and “like to eat” as both apply to me in almost equal measure. I picked obsessed because it’s probably most accurate.
Your unsubscribers are fools--the State Fair posts were gems!
I've learned that you can't please all the people all the time. I get the most unsubscribes when I do "links" newsletters and yet those same "links" newsletters yield so many comments thanking me for one or more of the links. Go figure. I enjoyed the State Fair stories and also enjoy reading about how "things used to be." Keep up the good writing.
I'm puzzled about why someone would unsubscribe from your column because of your State fair piece; I enjoyed it very much! I like this experiment as well, I hope you publish more of these sorts of stories. Your grandmother sounds like quite the character. I'm looking forward to reading about her adventures in Florida!
I cheat and have turned off unsubscribes. I try not to look closely enough to notice, but I did go through a very slow growth patch where I could notice the bumps in the graph when a few people dropped off every time I published something. Keep doing what you are doing! I hope people enjoy this essay, I did.
I also have fond memories of what air travel was like in the 1970s, I can just about remember it. I did one very long trip as a 10 year old (NZ to England via Singapore on the way over and LA on the way back). I was absolutely shattered by the 12 hour flight to Singapore, my 7 year old brother even more so. I would consider only travelling 12 hours before a couple of days stopover to be relaxing these days.
I've got a flight coming up which is 17hrs and 15 minutes soon.
This is one of your best essays. I love this memory. You brought it to life with color and verve. You described airline travel in 1974 perfectly. I loved pinning the wings to my shirt and the airplane food was tasty! At least to a kid. Looking forward to more memoir-sequel essays.
Mark, You know when a stand up comedian tells a joke and only certain parts of the audience get the joke? One lady may be laughing hysterically down in front and another group laughs late and some don't laugh at all. I think Substack readers are like that and respond differently to the whole article or parts of the article. For Me I got a memory buzz from the TripTik now rendered useless by Waze App and Google maps. We would sit in front of the clerks desk at AAA as he put together the pieces of the map in a little spiral binder. And then, at the end, the clerk would take out a red circular rubber stamp and carefully mark the TripTik map "construction but passable" and " watch you speed". You were in awe of his knowledge of all the potholes and cops on highways in all 48 states ! This is part of what you paid $ 19 a year for in your AAA membership.
A thoroughly enjoyable piece, Mark! Your grandmother sounds like a supreme character, with your mother having the patience of a saint to cope with four boys and an ailing but feisty parent. I love the picture you paint of the entire family, early daily flying experiences and your passion for Hank Aaron. I hope you write more in this vein.
I was also impressed with the list of books you’ve read in your history club! There are more than a few I’d like to read.
As for the poll, I couldn’t decide between “obsessed” and “like to eat” as both apply to me in almost equal measure. I picked obsessed because it’s probably most accurate.
Your unsubscribers are fools--the State Fair posts were gems!
I've learned that you can't please all the people all the time. I get the most unsubscribes when I do "links" newsletters and yet those same "links" newsletters yield so many comments thanking me for one or more of the links. Go figure. I enjoyed the State Fair stories and also enjoy reading about how "things used to be." Keep up the good writing.
I'm puzzled about why someone would unsubscribe from your column because of your State fair piece; I enjoyed it very much! I like this experiment as well, I hope you publish more of these sorts of stories. Your grandmother sounds like quite the character. I'm looking forward to reading about her adventures in Florida!
I too loved flying in those days. Not anymore.
As to the poll: I really live between obsession and enjoyment, but there was no middle choice. I chose the one that seemed more rational.