"Humanity may broadly be divided into hoarders and disposers", writes Roger Cohen in a wonderful article entitled The Map of My Life. Am I a hoarder or a disposer? I am a hoarder by nature until, in a fit of monastic disgust, I periodically dispose of the accumulated junk of years - and then come to regret it.
Among the things I have got rid of and now wish I had hung onto are old radios, computers, books, records and maps.
France was a generous country when I came out here in 1969, and it showed its generosity by, for example, giving away maps in petrol stations. I finished up with a full set of the regions of France, complete with brief accounts of the landmarks and tourist attractions. It would be interesting now to look back almost half a century and see how much the road and motorway network has changed.
Another favourite was a map of Italy which over the years had lost one of its flaps. Somebody, probably me, had sellotaped the map together again minus the flap, and I spent many hours in trying to puzzle out what was going on around Orvieto.
I could have sworn I still had my two Rand McNally US road atlases, one smaller scale than the other. I do hope I can find them as I have spent hours and hours following the Interstates and US Highways across the continent. Incidentally, e-books cannot hope to compete with traditional maps, atlases and travel guides.
And now here's the link to that marvellous article by Roger Cohen
http://nyti.ms/1QOwl4F
Among the things I have got rid of and now wish I had hung onto are old radios, computers, books, records and maps.
France was a generous country when I came out here in 1969, and it showed its generosity by, for example, giving away maps in petrol stations. I finished up with a full set of the regions of France, complete with brief accounts of the landmarks and tourist attractions. It would be interesting now to look back almost half a century and see how much the road and motorway network has changed.
Another favourite was a map of Italy which over the years had lost one of its flaps. Somebody, probably me, had sellotaped the map together again minus the flap, and I spent many hours in trying to puzzle out what was going on around Orvieto.
I could have sworn I still had my two Rand McNally US road atlases, one smaller scale than the other. I do hope I can find them as I have spent hours and hours following the Interstates and US Highways across the continent. Incidentally, e-books cannot hope to compete with traditional maps, atlases and travel guides.
And now here's the link to that marvellous article by Roger Cohen
http://nyti.ms/1QOwl4F
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