I was intrigued to read the news that BAA has appointed Alain de Botton as the UK’s first airport ‘writer in residence’. De Botton, who will spend a week installed in Heathrow’s Terminal Five recording his thoughts before producing a book on the experience, said his time on the concourse would provide “a chance to see in action all these things that we normally just hear about as abstractions”.
Despite the obvious PR motivations behind the project, I can fully understand his sentiment. I have to confess that I enjoy spending time at airports, even when I’m not travelling myself, and often arrive far earlier than needed in order to make the most of the endless opportunities for people watching.
Airports may have changed in the fifty years since commercial flying first took off on a mass scale, with the sense of glamour they once encapsulated gradually being eroded by increasing stress and anxiety, but for me they will always retain a certain element of romance.
Having lived abroad for a year while my boyfriend and family stayed in the UK, I have experienced both tearful departures at security and joyful reunions in the arrivals hall, so I know first-hand the emotions which play out at airports around the world on a daily basis. They mean something different for everyone: excitement and hope for some, fear and apprehension for others. They are also inextricably linked with so many of the issues which modern society is currently debating, from security and immigration to consumerism and climate change, acting as cultural cross-roads where life-changing drama intermingles with daily comings and goings.
In short, airports may be faceless, overcrowded and teaming with armed police, but you can’t beat them for creative inspiration. Give me a spare couple of hours and you’ll know where to find me.
