Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Tour de France: Boats of wood

Photographic evidence for the phrase "When men were made of steel and boats were made of wood". This was probably not a too uncommon scene in the first 50 years of the tour when the route more or less followed the perimeter of France. Note the Citroen Traction Avants in the background.

/O.K

11 comments:

LS said...

where are you finding all these cool pictures? I love them.

Men can still be made of steel. Only difference nowadays women can be made of steel too. Oh, I think they were made of steel in the past too - try giving birth without pain killer, that you have to be steely to do.

O.K. said...

I took them all by myself! Haven't I told you about my large format camera and my time machine? Or maybe I have a secret stash on the computer, can't remember which one it was...

If you want to be made of steel, don't forget to take your supplemental iron.

PP said...

OK, you took them yourself? You the one who said "film is dead"? Hmmmm...

O.K. said...

When you travel back in time film resurrects of course...

When did you last develop a film?

PP said...

Maybe 3 years ago...and there is still film in my little APS camera that is about that old!

Can I use your machine? I want to run the 20th Century Limited in 1927.

LS said...

And I want to see New York Harbor in the 1880s-1890s with all their sailing ships and all the immigrants coming to Ellis Island. I just think that would be such an experience!

O.K. said...

I want to go back to the era of Jules Verne when the future was more dramatic and interesting. More retro-futurism to the people!

O.K. said...

But we can't go, who will blog then?

LS said...

We just have to take turns going - or, blog 'from the other side'. Now, THAT would be interesting!

LS said...

I have four rolls of film in my lab freezer, Ektachrome mainly, and I don't know what to do with them. I think I just leave them there for eternity.

LS said...

I had no idea about this (from the link OK provided):

"In 1863, Jules Verne wrote a novel called Paris in the 20th Century about a young man who lives in a world of glass skyscrapers, high-speed trains, gas-powered automobiles, calculators, and a worldwide communications network, yet cannot find happiness and comes to a tragic end. Hetzel thought the novel's pessimism would damage Verne's then booming career, and suggested he wait 20 years to publish it. Verne put the manuscript in a safe, where it was discovered by his great-grandson in 1989. It was published in 1994."

Is this the kind of retro-future you mean, O.K.? Seems like Jules could see into the future...