21. Personal journey

• 21.27 21.28 21.29 21.30 21.31 21.32 21.33 21.34 21.35 21.36 21.37 21.38 21.39 21.40 21.41 21.42

'What's that on the shelf?' my artistic friend asked. 'A turbine blade. I designed it', I replied proudly.

'Oh', she said.

Visiting three weeks later she asked, 'Why is that still there?'

'Because I think it's beautiful.'

'Oh', she said.

My friend enthused over the beauty of a cathedral, a Rembrandt, a Turner, a sonnet. I find none in a cathedral, little in Rembrandt or poetry, a lot in a Turner.

I find great beauty in Concorde, a Norton, a modern suspension bridge, in calculus and a good computer program - especially if I have written it! She little or none. I thrill to the sound of a racing car, the sight and smell of a machine shop, the noise and balletic movement of men and machine shaping white hot steel in a forge - and in my turbine blade. She does not.

We could both be moved to tears by mountains, Beethoven, Britten, clouds ... and by friendship.

Graham Clarke, 1994

Next: 21.38