msfs My own personal time machine

[andy1252 3,968]

I grabbed this shot while on my recent test flight after the hotfix. And every time I look at it, it gives me a little shiver down the spine. I realise I've sort of unintentionally managed to grab an image that totally evokes my childhood.

I lived in Southend from the age of 5 to 20, so my really formative years. This was the period from mid 50s to the beginning of the 70s, so I was the sort of young boy reading war stories in the comics and books of the day, with plenty of derring-do involving Spitfies and the like. I was also an avid plastic model kit builder, so I almost certainly had several kits of these things back then. And in this shot I can see the pier, where I spent several phases of my youth from the simple joy of just walking out to the end of it (or taking the train) as a youngster through the bowling alley years around 13-14 years old and on to the slightly less salubrious pursuits of my later teens (it was the 60s, remember). And I can see the cliffs, the adventure playground next to the pier, Leigh and the old seafront in the distance. I can see (roughly) where I would have lived for most of those years. This one shot brings huge chunks of my memory right back up to the surface again.

And of course it's a beautifully sunny day - and weren't all those days sunny?

This, for me, is what the sim is all about. The aircraft are fun, and getting reasonably good at flying around is fun too, but the big thing is that I've finally got a really good-looking world sim. I can wander around in it, revisiting places I've actually been and invoking all sorts of memories, and exploring places I never did get to see as well. Some of those places would never have been (and still wouldn't be) practical to visit in real life. I have no desire to go anywhere for real now, I'm way too worn out with airports and cattle-class travel to ever want to go near an airport again, but I've got the whole world at my desk.

With the sim, and my library, and a glass or two of Bushmills, I am now an official member of the Happy Bunny Club (just don't expect me to sign up for any club outings though)

Edited March 28, 2021 by andy1252
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[pmplayer 9,608]

Nice one..

 

cheers 😉

[sightseer 895]

I think its great that the area you grew up in is done so well and looks similar (the same?).  Out of all the areas I 'grew up' in, only one is in photogrametry and one of my major memories (LibertyLand in Memphis TN) is no longer there...very sad - and weird - how does an entire theme park just vanish?!  oh well.

Edited March 28, 2021 by sightseer

[bernd1151 5,981]

Thanks for sharing these memories with us, Andy. May I say that this shot could easily be mistaken for a rw photo; well done, my friend 🙂

[andy1252 3,968]

3 hours ago, pmplayer said:

Nice one..

thanks, PMP,

2 hours ago, sightseer said:

I think its great that the area you grew up in is done so well and looks similar (the same?).  Out of all the areas I 'grew up' in, only one is in photogrametry and one of my major memories (LibertyLand in Memphis TN) is no longer there...very sad - and weird - how does an entire theme park just vanish?!  oh well.

Cheers Dave, This is a non-PG area in the basic sim, I think. I have PG turned off anyway as I don't like the look of it close up. This scenery is pretty good though, in the sense that I can recognise large scale bits like the parks, schools with their playing fields, golf courses etc. If I get too close it is of course completely un-realistic, but it's more than good enough at this distance. I do actually have some freeware PG for the main part of the town, and that is something I occasionally activate, but mostly avoid. Problem is it looks totally realistic at a couple of thousand feet, and that makes me want to go down and explore it and then when I do, it turns ugly as I get closer. If I stay high enough to appreciate it, I can then see the boundary of the PG area glaring at me. Basically it's a can't win situation. What I'm hoping for is that Orbx or Flightbeam or somebody like that decides to do a Southend 1967 Cityscape, with high res land tiles and complete hand crafted hi-res 3d models. I suspect I may be waiting a long time though.

And you mentioned theme parks - there used to be a big proper old fashioned amusement park (the Kursaal) on the seafront pretty much just under the prop in this picture. Long gone in reality, but hey, maybe when I get that 1967 scenery package . .

58 minutes ago, bernd1151 said:

Thanks for sharing these memories with us, Andy. May I say that this shot could easily be mistaken for a rw photo; well done, my friend 🙂

Cheers Bernd, and I gotta admit I was well pleased with this shot. But then MSFS makes it easy to get good shots, it's a very visual environment

[John F 2,452]

Nice write-up and lovely sentiments. I can really empathize with your take on what flight-simming is all about at this stage of life.

John

[Alaska738 8,497]

Beautiful this livery on the spitfire!

[P_7878 6,737]

Thanks for the memories...!!

[MSFS + Books + (one or two - more like two, probably)...Bushmills] - What more one can ask for...🙂...?