DDW Challenge; at the movies. Modern Times

An errand today, which takes me out into the Bedfordshire countryside. The company I’m visiting has a flash website and a location on a Business Park. I commit the address to memory and set off; and this is a first - I take my camera with me - just in case.

I miss plenty of opportunities on the way and resolve to stop on the way back. The countryside is so green - the yellow rape that has featured in many peoples’ blips seems to be over now. Wheat and barley dominate the gently rolling hills. This is (arguably) the English countryside at its best.

As I near my destination, I get a little lost. There are no signs to any business park and I eventually come across a scrapyard for commercial vehicles. I stop and ask directions. I’m directed further up what is referred to as ‘the road’. I drive through canyons of rust until I come to the final building. It’s not the place I’m looking for. I’m sent back to the entrance to the site; “it’s the road opposite”.

Bedfordshire is associated with John Bunyan (The Pilgrim’s Progess) and as I take the directions suggested, I feel as if I’ve come to the Slough of Despondency. The road is nothing more than a muddy track, at the end of which is a shed. Vats of sulphuric acid guard the entrance and there are smells and steam escaping through various gaps in the woodwork. A figure emerges from the gloom; woollen hat pulled down tight, boiler suit, rubber gloves and wellington boots. An Igor?

I hesitate to ask, as I cannot reconcile the website with the location; “that’s us. (points to slightly newer shed). Go and see the bloke in the office”. Which I do.

The town/village which gives the ‘business park’ its name offers more reminders of John Bunyan, with half timbered houses and a magnificent Grade 1 listed Church. I’m tempted to blip something from the past, but this, in a nearby field, caught my eye and seemed to sum up the day perfectly.

Modern Times, the film, depicted an industrial society. Now, we live in a post-industrial society. Modern times indeed.