What’s it all about?

It’s the last day of AHA 2026, though the only things on the program for today are historical tours and as I decided (for reasons) to attend online this time, that means the conference is over for me. Though it felt rushed and a bit garbled, I think my talk on London’s air raid shelters in 1917-18 went well. The audience certainly seemed engaged and asked good questions (though in one case I later thought of a much better answer than the one I actually gave!). Nevertheless, I found the process of putting the paper together unusually difficult this time around. One reason for this was that, as I anticipated when I submitted the abstract, I hadn’t yet got to grips with the content when it came time to think about what I was going to actually say. Another was that I’d been on Aviation Cultures Mk VIII support duties just a couple of weeks ago and found it difficult to switch back and forth (especially since it was in Canada and I wasn’t). I think, however, that it was hard also because…