Yeah this is a cracker!
Being a kid in the 70s i used to watch these trails - and they never just disappeared in 30 to 60 seconds - they used to linger around and spread out and slowly fade away!
So either my memory is shot or his is?
Same here.
I lived the first 20 years of my life in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the biggest city there, during the 80s and 90s (yes, do the math and I am almost 40 now :-] ). The skies were always ugly due to pollution.
But then, 90% of the weekends we went to our small farm, 1h from Sao Paulo. Beautiful blue sky, you could see all the stars during the night.
I vividly remember, every once in a while, looking to the sky and seeing that single contrail, basically crossing the whole sky end to end, and it stayed there for hours. I don't remember seeing more than one, ever. There was probably only one route flying there.
I remember that well because I only flew in a plane once, when I was 6, and I day dreamed about being there again ...
I was never a sky watcher, looking for planes all day long, but when those trails lasted for so long, it sure got my attention several times.
I think that's how memory works:
- Most of the times you just don't pay attention, and it's as it never happened
- Sometimes you have a reason to remember things (and pay attention to them), almost always emotionally linked
- Sometimes your brain just create a new memory for you
I personally believe in the second option for my childhoods trails
