FIRST LUNAR LANDING

      There are some days in our lives that we remember with all the details. July 20 , 1969 is a day for me that stands out. This was the day of the first lunar landing. 

     I had more than a usual interest in space , particularly the lunar landing. Up until July 20 , I had still been in the Arctic with out much radio reception. I was happy to be south where I could follow the landing on the car radio. 

    On July 20 I was driving in northern Ontario north of lake Superior. It's a sparsely populated area with few services. You just want to cover this territory and get to civilization. 

    I did find a radio station that covered the lunar landing. I was glued to the radio. It's funny I didn't drive into the ditch. I was listening to the final count down and then all of a sudden I had no radio reception. I had to wait until radio reception returned to see if they landed safely. Yes , they had landed safely so now we listened to the first astronaut getting out of the lander and walking on the moon.

   By my calculation, this happened 52 years ago. I still remember all the interest and tension of this event. 

SOMETIMES WE REMEMBER EVENTS FOR SOMETHING ELSE.

    July 20 will be a very important anniversary date. It's the day man first landed on the moon.

    So sometimes we remember and event because of another event. I remember where I was when I was told that John Kennedy was shot.

    Now I have only a mild interest in space. At the beginning of the space age I did pay attention as it was very new. It seemed to happen without announcement that Sputnik took it's first flight.

    I was paying more attention than usually with the first moon landing. I was trapped in a car.

    I was driving from Montreal Que. to Saskatoon Sask. On July 20 , 1969.  I was driving  through northern Ontario and listening to the car radio. Of course , I was listening to the moon landing. The closer they  got to the moon the more excited I became. It was a thrilling story with lots of tension and it was live. I turned the radio up louder. About the time they were ready to touch down radio reception went out. Damn!

    Being in a remote part of northern Ontario on the north side of Lake Superior, radio reception was poor because it is  far from any broadcasting station.

   I had to wait until I picked up the station again to find out if they landed safely.

   So my memory of the lunar landing is a non memory.

   I imagine most people were glued to their television set to watch the landing. 

   It seems like only yesterday that they landed on the moon.