Most of us of a certain age can probably remember where we were in July 1969, that day (or night) Neil Armstrong walked the moon- it was that kind of defining moment in history that prompted that profound phrase, rather popular at the time of stoned heads: “Today’s the first day of the rest of your life.”
I was sixteen, at a summer camp outside Madrid, learning to sail with a group of Spanish and foreign kids. They included a girl from Paris, three years older than me, who showed me what a French kiss was as we danced slow one night in a small informal discotheque that doubled up during the day as a canteen.
I thought that was a pretty special night, until the following one when I walked up a mountain side, alone and, on a starlit Quixotic night , gazed at the moon and imagined the first man walking on it. Only later, would I catch the blurry image of the act itself, on TV.
Thanks to my Spanish mother, and British father, my early childhood heroes had included other legendary explorers – Columbus, Darwin, and Scott- but Armstrong’s achievement took me into another dimension, literally, physically, and spiritually- sublime poetry in a courageous act that seemed to take us closer to God and the true beauty of his creation – ‘ a small step for man, a giant leap for mankind’ .
Indeed – a true hero for our age.
I too was in Spain, on the other side of the mountains to you, in La Granja! I vividly remember the black and white TV set and the extraordinary moment.
The quirky, blurred footage is certainly a defining moment, but perhaps the most extraordinary and unexpected achievement of the Apollo missions was the photo “Earth Rise” taken on the Apollo 8 mission. Earth seen for the first time ever from that perspective, a blue & brown globe set in a vast, scary black background was another defining moment. Instead of looking out, we were now looking in…a very spiritual excercise…
By the way, surely you were 16 when you had your first French kiss? 🙂
I stand corrected on age and have amended blog accordingly. I was indeed sixteen which still made French girl in question rather more mature than I was. I have also corrected the Armstrong quote . It was giant leap, not a step, of course. So glad not to get an aggressive comment from you. Perhaps I should keep off football except for my twitterings which you have yet to discover, thank God!
Thanks for our comments Jimmy. I don’t think my observations are aggresive, they just counter balance the constant Barça bias in your blog and as a Cule you only see the sparks and don’t look further to see the cause of the fire! I shall avoid your tweets, so not to cause you offence and eagerly await your next football blog, which should really be on they wonderful football being played by the Champions of Europe, 3 points clear in the Premier…