Momentous Impressions

[Guest fountainhall]

Just musing with a friend this afternoon about those times in our lives which we regard as the most momentous. Not on a personal level – so, no first-time falling in love, meeting the long-term bf, landing that perfect job and so on. More external events, which affected our lives and which we will always remember.

 

Of course, those of us who were alive then will almost certainly remember where we were on the day JFK was assassinated or Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. For me, though, a more significant memory was when the earlier Apollo 8 spacecraft circled the moon, becoming the first manned spacecraft leave earth orbit, reach the moon and then to be out of contact for a good 20 – 30 minutes during the first of its many orbits. Would it crash out of sight of earth and never be seen again? Many then thought so.

 

Perhaps it was that first-ever iconic colour photo of our tiny blue planet appearing on the lunar horizon. For the first time it seemed to give many of us a sense of our world’s utter insignificance in the blackness of space.

 

Any other similar impressions?

[Bob]

Hmmm, I've forgotten most of them!

 

I'm not sure I'd call it a momentous moment but John Glenn's first ride into space was pretty exciting for a young teen. And, although I was 21 at the time, the moon landing was fairly exotic and memorable. As for "scary" exciting, I thought the Cuban missile crisis (when the soviet ships where approaching the US naval blockade) was about as real as it got especially for a 14-year-old attempting to figure out the world.

 

As for momentous, the only thing I can think of now is my first trip to Thailand in the late 90's. That changed a lot for me including my future living plans (which for the most part have now been realized).

[Rogie]

One momentous moment was in 1967 in the UK when BBC television started broadcasting in colour on the BBC2 channel. I couldn't remember the exact date so looked it up, it was the 1st July 1967. My father, always keen on gadgets, had already bought a new TV set specially so we could watch. 1967 was also the year BBC radio came out of its cocoon and flourished as the newly-created Radio One hit the airwaves. We finally began to catch up with Canada and the US where pop music on the radio had been taken for granted. Prior to Radio One, apart from 'Pick of the Pops' broadcast once a week, pop music on the radio was only available on Radio Luxembourg or one of the several 'pirate' ships at anchor off the coast of Britain.

 

Momentous impressions are those I get every time I visit a new country, especially one which has a markedly different climate, landscape or culture to my own.

[Guest thaiworthy]

9/11.

[kokopelli]

 

9/11.

 

Amen.