Lost in space - Frankfurt 1998

When the traveller arrives from sunny Birmingham to arrive at its twin town, Frankfurt after flying through the turbulence, the Boeing 737 descends into Germany on a decidedly grey day to arrive at the even greyer airport. I think we really touched down in Dusseldorf and drove to Frankfurt, the runway was so long! The German organisation takes the traveller from the plane, straight onto a walkway towards Baggage Retrieval.Walking between a forest of grey steel columns, on a shiny grey tiled floor, past grey metal panelling, beneath grey steel roof beams and cladding, and past grey glazing. Following grey signs, efficiently written in German and English, the unsuspecting traveller arrives onto the main concourse at Frankfurt Airport, the grey signs inform them that there are two Baggage Retrieval areas to choose from. Unfortunately the grey signs do not tell travellers which gate they arrive at or that there are indeed two terminals or which one they are in. So choosing Baggage retrieval areas becomes a bit of a challenge. On asking a security guard, who was not dressed in grey! And looked like Thor, the Norse Thunder God, as depicted in Douglas Adams’ Long Dark Teatime of the Soul. Thor says that he speaks very little English then proceeds in in perfect English to give directions involving going upstairs to 'Baggage Retrieval E'. Already being on the top floor, and reading Thor's directions as meaning downstairs and descending some stairs, well it was actually a stationary escalator, into a totally deserted passport control area, except for Thor's mate. Thor's mate who also looks like Thor was standing outside some kind of grey sentry box, and speaking even better English than Thor and being most helpful. The German Security Guard is decidedly military in appearance, dressed in dark green flat cap with red band, khaki shirt, dark green trousers with red belt, and black boots. It is the automatic rifle that gives it away. The sentry box has a khaki coloured telephone that Thor II was using at the time to speak in German to his comrade to find out how it is possible to not benefit from Germany's fabled hyper efficient organisation. An inspection of the tickets confirms that this is indeed the wrong place, actually the wrong terminal, and should go to 'Baggage Retrieval D.' So it's back up or is it down? the stationary escalator. Past tonnes of grey steel, this Fosteresque approach is all very well but could do with a bit of colour here and there. Through passport control, more sentry boxes and a very stringent, efficient look at my passport, and through to a dormant conveyor belt. Where there was an architectural model. This model at Birmingham's Eurohub, airport, was the right way up when the passport-control-baggage-checking-in-type-of-female-person placed 'FRAGILE' stickers on the top. But was sitting on the conveyor in a definitely inverted position which after following Thor's directions this was not exactly a surprise. On passing countless dormant baggage carousels, walking onto the final dead carousel to retrieve baggage, it just had to be the last one.  This grey monster of a building, is extremely large and significantly under-populated. Maybe Frankfurt is anticipating a huge influx of trade in the future. So eventually passing through some automatic sliding doors to be greeted with the anticipated questions about not being able to find our way out of the grey steel maze?

 Why we didn't use the 'Skytrain'?

'What Skytrain?'

From the Air

This is a post that was written a year ago whilst working on a major urban development project in Pakistan and getting to grips with the complexity of the project which is essentially the planning of a city the size of Dubai, as the intensity of the project eases off for a while, there is a small window to reflect on the experience and what is being asked of the team, here is one from one of those rare occasions that on a flight out of Pakistan when it is daylight and I actually have a clear view out of the window, and what a view! 

Most of the fellow travellers on the flight want to sleep the whole way, which results in many annoying requests from the airline staff asking me to close the shutter on the window, which are all politely refused, and this is what they are all missing. 

As the ageing airliner ascends from Lahore, over the Ravi River and the agricultural lands punctuated with sometimes quite large organic developments, the landscape gradually becomes less fertile as the fields give way to rock outcroppings, that become the foothills of the Himalaya as the territory changes to Afghanistan followed by the deserts of Uzbekistan and the rocky landscape of Kazakstan before passing over the vastness that is Russia. The landscape from 30,000 feet is very green, huge agricultural fields punctuated by lakes and forests and the occasional compact city. 

As the landscape passes by very slowly the territories, change from Russia, to Belarus, then Poland and Germany without much change in the continuum of green, until forested slopes of the green valleys, compact towns and cities, nestled in the landscape give way to the flat patchwork that is the agricultural fields of the Netherlands.

Passing along the River Rhine south of Rotterdam and over the white steel wings of the Maeslantkering, a huge storm surge barrier, one of the world's largest moving structures, forming a vital component of the sea defences that make Holland so unique, and so over the busy shipping lanes of the Channel, to another major construction in white steel, the elegant wings and slender towers of the vast London Array, dramatic against the blue of the calm waters, dwarfing the ships passing along the channel, the project is partly funded by Masdar along with European energy providers, DONG and EON, the turbines are developed by Siemens, the installation is capable of generating 630MW, enough to power 500,000 homes, without burning a single drop of fuel or emitting a single kilogram of carbon dioxide. 

Passing over the Red Sands forts that once provided a vital defence of a different kind to the Thames Estuary and the city of London, following the river inland to the south of Corringham, the giant cranes of the new Thames Deep Water Port at Thurrock dominates the skyline, the first component of a masterplan to develop a major distribution hub. Heading towards the QE2 Bridge, the Brent Oil refinery and the Dartford Power Station emphasise the significance that the River still holds to the region. The QE2 Bridge also known as the Dartford Crossing where the M25, the London Orbital Motorway splits into two, the clockwise lanes crossing the bridge, whilst the anti-clockwise lanes pass beneath the river through the Dartford Tunnel.

It is curious how countries with greater areas of land have developed their towns in a the compact manner and when passing above England a country with a far lesser landmass the approach followed in Essex seems to be of suburban sprawl punctuated with golf courses, that spread out from established towns. 

Heading along the Thames, past the Royal Docks and the glistening stainless steel shells of the Thames Barrier, the tide of transition from industrial wasteland to vibrant urban centre on and around the Greenwich peninsula is clearly visible, with the Dome as its centerpiece, fed by river ferries and cable cars. Heading North on the approach to Heathrow, along the River Lea and over the impressive Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and on to Wembley, before looping back to look at Greenwich once more before descending to the vast concrete surface that makes up Heathrow, I cannot help but be amazed and more than a little staggered by humanity’s impact on the surface of the planet.