Ian Marchant > Quotes

“Railways, like Daleks, have difficulties in getting up hills.”
― Ian Marchant, Parallel Lines: Or, Journeys on the Railway of Dreams

“Growing hops is one of the most labour-intensive parts of the brewing process, and all the workers, at every step of the way, are grossly underpaid. It’s good that we have the chance these days to buy Fair Trade bananas and coffee. Why not extend the scheme to British produce, too? Why not pay more for beer, and pay the highly skilled men and women who work in the gardens the minimum wage?”
― Ian Marchant, The Longest Crawl

“So, are you off to do that now?’ He smiled. ‘No. It’s not worth it now. Farmers keep cutting the wages. The only people who can afford to do it are illegals.’ ‘Asylum seekers and that,’ she said. ‘Really?’ ‘Yes. Give it a couple of years, there’ll be no more gypsies working on the hops at all.”
― Ian Marchant, The Longest Crawl

“Canals are made of flat water, and flat water is difficult stuff to get hold of. It is expensive. You use locks to keep it flat when you go up hills. Sometimes, you have to take the water under hills in tunnels in order to preserve its flatness. Canals were not cheap to build.”
― Ian Marchant, Parallel Lines: Or, Journeys on the Railway of Dreams