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The Lost Tourist

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Random finds from a box of slides hint at a holiday in the east. Different mounts indicate separate places, trips and probably owners.  First in the Vinson mounts, we take the boat, perhaps across the Mediterranean, since this view is calm.  But the next image is Vigo in Spain, the Plaza Del Capitan Carrero. Carrero was the right hand man of General Franco, assassinated by Basque separatists a few months after succeeding him as president. Hence the square has reverted to its former name, Plaza Puerta del Sol.   Switching to Hanimount we are in Cairo, catching the tram... to the Cairo Museum and then on to the Great Pyramid of Cheops. Another holiday, another holidayer, with two different Kodachrome mounts, one visiting the flour mill in Birdwood South Australia, another catching the ferry to Rottnest Island from Fremantle. And finally on Agfacolor, a visit to the Currumbin Sanctuary to feed the Rosellas.
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Japanese holiday memories discarded.

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In a pile of rubbish on an archaeological site a couple of years back I found a number of slides damaged by fire, water, mould and dirt. They are paper mounts without any labelling except for some faint numbers written in red ink. Someone's holiday photos of their trip to Japan. Lost in a turf-out either by accident, or because they didn't care anymore. The tangible record of a life, discarded and forgotten except for what the stranger sees. Slides are obsolete, but they survive in biscuit tins and filing cabinets, have become a commodity  traded for nostalgic value or recycling, or a  museum object , or more hopefully, to be treasured as family heirlooms and carefully sorted and identified.  Their historical value is well recognised, because they survive the events and the people who made them and which they record. They are transferable to new media , but still remain as things. Our Japanese holiday photos probably go back to the 1960s or maybe earlier....
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