small talkmodern businessmen
Nowadays a businessman can go from his office straight to the airport, get into his airplane and fly six hundred or seven hundred miles without taking off his hat. He probably will not even mention this flight, which a bare twenty-five years ago would have meant wearing leather jacket and helmet and goggles and risking his neck every minute of the way.another war time jobNo, he probably wouldn't mention it - except to another flier. Then they will talk for hours. They will re-create all the things seen and felt in that wonderful world of air: the sense of remoteness from the busy world below, the feeling of intense brotherhood formed with those who man the radio ranges and control towers and weather stations that bring the pilot home, the clouds and the colors, the surge of the wind on their wings.
They will speak of things that are spiritual and beautiful and of things that are practical and utilitarian; they will mix up angels and engines, sunsets and spark plugs, fraternity and frequencies in one all-encompassing comradeship of interests that makes for the best and most lasting kind of friendship any man can have.
Percy Knauth, Wind on my wings (1960)
small talk
November 5th:
Met two severe policewomen in London, marching in full awareness of their importance; long, slow strides, hands behind their backs. I passed them. 'Hello, Ronny!' cried one of them. I recognised an old friend from the Chez Yvonne Club. Who could have suspected that the tall blonde girl was entrusted with the task of preserving law and order?René Mouchotte, Diaries (1940-1943)
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