From the editor: One year on.

IILOOKED ACROSS at the magazine

holder on my desk this week and

suddenly realised that this issue –

October 2019 – marks one full year at

the helm for me as editor of Popular

Mechanics. Well, I guess it’s actually

one year plus one issue – my first edition was October 2018. Time really flies when you’re having fun (or when you’re constantly snowed under by monthly deadlines).

During the past 12 months, I’ve been amazed at the number of interesting people I’ve got to engage with, the different projects and technologies I’ve learnt about, and the humbling response I’ve received from you, the readers. For the most part, you seem happy with the direction we’re taking the mag, and that’s what really matters to my team and me.

One of the wonderful adventures I’ve been fortunate enough to experience in the name of work this year was a trip to south-western France, where my partner and I joined river-holiday company

Le Boat and cruised up and down the Lot River for a week. We saw ancient villages and buildings, some of which, remarkably, are three- or four times older than the oldest towns in our country and yet are still in pristine condition – talk about excellent build quality. But what really fascinated me on this trip was the system of river locks we encountered, and with which we became intimately acquainted during our journey. On the Lot River, they’re manually operated, which means a lot of physically demanding winding of levers to adjust the sluice gates and manipulate the water flow, and open and close the large gates before proceeding into the next section of river with your boat. The locks are an age-old system that revolutionised inland water travel, and you can read about our experiences with this timeless piece of engineering on page 54.

As usual, we’ve covered a wide variety of compelling topics with the features in this issue, and we’re confident there’s at least something to cater to everyone’s interests. There’s still so much we hope to cover in the coming year – the world, with its people, animals and ecosystems, is an infinitely interesting place and there’s a never-ending stream of things to learn and talk about. But if there’s anything specific you’d like us to look into, please drop us an email – or even do that if you’re just keen to say hi; we’d love to hear from you.