It's a curious paradox of time that past events can seem, at the point of recollection, both recent and long ago at almost the same moment. I'm not quite sure how the process works, I only know that it does. Perhaps when remembering something, one's memory leaps right back to the event, making it seem as fresh and immediate as when it first happened. Then the intervening years instantly resurface in the mind's eye, shifting the focus and thereby placing events in their proper perspective, time-wise. All this transpires in a split-second of course, creating the illusion of experiencing two diametrically-opposing sensations simultaneously. Does that make any sense?
Regardless, New Year's Eve (Hogmanay), 1970, seems like only a short time back (despite being a lifetime away) when I look at my AIRFIX APOLLO LUNAR EXCURSION MODULE, which I first acquired shortly before (or maybe even on) that December 31st of 42 years ago. Of course, I no longer own my original one, but rather a re-issue from the early '90s. Fortunately, unlike more recent re-releases, this one features the original box art from the '70s.
I recall, while my parents prepared for the unlikely arrival of any 'First Footers' on the stroke of midnight, putting the finishing touches to my LEM and sitting it atop the sideboard behind the settee. Let me tell you something about that sideboard. Not that I imagine you'll be interested, but the past weighs heavily on my mind and I suddenly feel compelled to unburden my soul. (As Poe would put it.)
I had grown up with that sideboard; it had been in every house I remembered (I was then in my fourth house and had only just turned 12), and it was a main feature of our living-room. Several years and yet another house later, either when I was out at work one day or living down in Southsea for a few months, my parents acquired new display units for either side of the fireplace and gave the sideboard to a relative. When I returned it was gone - without me ever getting to bid it farewell.
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| Yup, that carpet certainly needs hoovering |
A couple of years on, we moved to yet another house, the first I'd ever been in without the sideboard. Four years later, we returned to the house from which we'd flitted, and - six years after that - I bought the sideboard back from the relative and installed it in my back room, where it now sits just to the side of me as I type. (That's why it's called a sideboard.) At around the same time, I also acquired a replacement Airfix Lunar Module, and you can be sure that, when I finally get around to building and painting it, I'll display it on top of the aforementioned item of furniture - just as I did those many years ago.
However, believe it or not, I didn't start this post with the intention of discussing sideboards, regardless of how enthralled by the topic you may be. (No? What's wrong with you?) It was astronaut NEIL ARMSTRONG's passing that prompted me to put digit to keyboard. In 1969, the year that Neil first set foot on the surface of the moon, he was only a relatively young man of around 38 or so. (That's quite a bit younger than I am now.) 40-odd years later, the man is gone and I find myself amazed at just how recent the events of 1969 suddenly, for the moment, appear to me.
One day, when I finally build that LEM, I'll no doubt recall three things. Firstly, Neil's historic achievement back in 1969. Secondly, that particular New Year's Eve of 1970 and my original Lunar Module sitting atop the sideboard. And, thirdly, just how fleeting time is and how, nowadays, there never seems to be enough of it. I've still got quite a few unbuilt model kits to assemble before I'm ready to take that "giant leap" into "the final frontier".
I suppose I'd better get started on them pretty darn soon.
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In memory of NEIL ARMSTRONG.
August 5th, 1930 - August 25th, 2012.
