I was driving through Langholm recently and passed the Armstrong Trust museum , as I did memories flooded back.
Picture the scene:-
A small village in Galloway Scotland,
Star date :- 1969
Time :- hell knows , deep in the middle of the night.
Mother and father lying half asleep in the sofa bed in my gran’s lounge. Me (some 45 years younger than now you’ll be please to hear) lying between them sound asleep. The old black and white TV still working away in the corner , hard to see at times but it’s the only place the ariel got a good picture.
Suddenly I jump up and scream at the top of my 9 year old voice “ moon man show me your feet” scaring the “old yins” half to death before I plunge back into a deep sleep. The incident has been the source of amusement at family get together’s ever since. We were of course all waiting for Neil Armstrong’s historic first steps on the moon.
Id been introduced to the night sky (I away hesitate to use the word astronomy, as it conjures up images of folks with big brains and intelligence well in advance of my own) by my grand father a couple of years earlier (in Galloway every where had a true dark sky in those days) but the Apollo program captivated me. The 1:50 scale model of the Saturn V rocket complete with command module and LEM soon took pride of place in my bedroom relegating my model Lancaster bomber and spitfire to the dusty outer reaches of the top of the wardrobe.
Two years later when Armstrong visited his ancestral home to be awarded the freeman of the town honour the streets of the “muckle toon” were mobbed. Sadly a planned trip to see his visit failed to materialize (langholm been about as far away from me as the moon in those days) and as I get older its one of the few real regrets I have in life, not getting to see the great man himself .
I maintained an interest , some times only passing, sometimes intense such as when Halley made its return in the 1980’s. I ve seen some amazing sights including the northern lights, comets, lunar and solar eclips and even possibly a UFO! But that an other story.
In recent times ive got back into my hobby like never before ( the internet has a lot to answer for) got myself a brand new 8” Dob and open up even more of the deep sky . Ive managed to drag myself along the coast to the spring Galloway star party (which was freezing even in April by the way). Met some friendly folks who with out exception warmly accepted me and my better half even though im very much a part time star gazer.
Anyway I digress, back to the present for the time being, to day I got myself a big ol pair of lined moon boots to keep my feet warn during the winters nights , so 45 years later the moon man may not have shown me his feet but ive now got a pair all of my own!
Clear skies
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