Grandparents' world trip photos - 1970s

[saithkar]

Collected here is a compilation of photos taken by my paternal grandparents on their two world trips in 1970-1 and 1976-7. These are just a fraction of the total in existence, but unlike most I don't believe in just dumping hundreds of pics on people for them to ignore. All of these have been carefully chosen because they either A) say something

Comments

[tcpip]

> are technically excellent. Left

Guess who didn't parse the full stop..

What an outstanding collection. 'Derry looks like a prison from a dystopian science fiction film.

I liked the cheeky kids spying on the dancers in Minsk.

[saithkar]

Hang on, who didn't parse what now?

Other than the former communist states it's probably Northern Ireland that would have changed the most over the intervening decades, and that's just counting the removal of military roadblocks and the such.

Yeah, Grandma had a great eye for such moments.

[tcpip]

> Hang on, who didn't parse what now?

Me :) I was reading something about the Left being technically excellent!

> Other than the former communist states it's probably Northern Ireland that would have changed the most over the intervening decades, and that's just counting the removal of military roadblocks and the such.

That and South Africa and those countries that have had their share of insurrections, interventions, and invasions.

[saithkar]

Haha I would say a lot of the problems in the world could be put down to the technical non-excellence of the left, but that's a rant for another day.

True about South Africa, I was referring to Europe mostly but didn't make that clear. Otherwise you'd have to say it's probably Asia that's changed the most over the past few decades, China especially (I'd count them as formerly communist in that their government in no way resembles anything Marxist-Leninist even if a party with the hammer and sickle as its emblem still rules).

[ironlord]

And now, some random thoughts

[saithkar]

Wow, that's a lot of fascinating info, cheers for all this

[ironlord]

I know that the van you see in the Loch Ness picture is from their first trip, on the second they had a white Commer Highwayman that they ended up bringing out to Australia, although it proved hopelessly underpowered to work on Australian roads over Australian distancesDoesn't surprise me at all. Even the last Dodge Spacevans could barely crack 60, so a mid-1960s Commer would be firmly stuck in the 50s flat out. The last thing I'd want to be doing is driving one of those through the Outback, having to overtake a road train with a 1 mph speed differential. And there's the other nagging problem that "Britain" and "automotive industry" in the same sentence don't project an image of bullet-proof build quality and reliability, more of a product that was thrown together haphazardly by a bunch of trade unionists who'd go on strike at the slightest provocation and would be expected to break down because the first five years of sales were considered the beta-testing phase. The venerable old VW Microbus, I see is just as popular in Australia as

[saithkar]

You're extremely knowledgeable about 60s and 70s vans I see, that stuff about the wheelbase and crappy engine explains a lot about the Highwayman's performance on the road. I will note though that road trains are only found in the remotest part of the country, usually in places without rail lines. People who own VW Kombis are probably more to be found rolling along the NSW or Victorian coast, at least a thousand kilometres from any area that would require the existence of road trains. And yes, to get anywhere in Australia you'll need to be doing a steady 100 on the A roads and 110 on the freeways. It's noteworthy that my extremely common and unremarkable car has a 3.6 litre V6, a displacement that would be only found in high performance sports cars or expensive luxury saloons in Europe, but that's what you need out here.