Christmas is coming! Tonight Garry and I ventured down Oxford after dark to view the Christmas lights along London's most popular shopping strip. I was rather disappointed by what we saw. I'm sure the lights were more spectacular in previous years.
In fact, I found myself far more fascinated by the giant video screens in Piccadilly Circus. I learnt recently that the earliest signs used incandescent light bulbs. They must have been a nightmare to maintain. The bulbs were eventually replaced by neon, which in turn was converted to the current LED screens in 2005. Traditional Christmas lights simply can't compete.
Garry and I had gone into town to see In the Shadow of the Moon, a documentary on the Apollo manned missions to the Moon. The film is narrated by the astronaunts themselves interspersed with restored footage from NASA's archives. It seemed appropriate to see this film given that the 5oth anniversary of Sputnik's launch was held last month.
I was surprised to see how old the astronauts looked. I shouldn't have been surprised, Neil Armstrong turned 77 in August. Somehow I'd expected these modern heroes to remain ageless. It's hard to believe that we'll celebrate the 4oth anniversary of man's first steps on the moon barely 18 months from now.
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