The Stars Appear

Funny that when the stars come out, we go in, and sleep, and dream...sometimes of the stars or of impossible distances, or of near-infinite energies, or of other infinitudes. Then, as the stars are winking out, we wake and step outside, the lit sky blocking our view and thoughts of a larger universe.

I recently read an interview with an engineer who worked on the Channel Tunnel; 'We just didn't know what we were doing,' he admitted, 'I mean, yes, we were engineers, but we were making it up as we went. We had to plan well, but you had to have a sense of humor and just get on with it.' This was a British engineer and it seems to me that all of British history is encapsulated in that faintly offhand--but not entirely cavalier--remark.