Modern initiative evokes memories of glorious past

Certain words have an emotional trigger to them, which, although hard to understand, can often become reality.

When I was a kid I loved stories that contained the words caravanserai, Silk Road, Marco Polo, Cathay, spices and tea clippers. For me, those words triggered a feeling of adventure that has never really left me.

I live near the east London suburb of Greenwich, where the majestically preserved tea clipper, the Cutty Sark, is a constant reminder of the 19th century races between her and her great rival, the Thermopylae, to bring tea from the Cathay coast, Cathay being an old English alternate name for China.