The Man on the Moon

Sunday evening and a bit of sci-fi culture meets reality when a talk at the Roundhouse saw a talk by Alan Bean the 4th man on the moon while lunar module pilot on Apollo 12 as well as being the commander on the 2nd skylab mission.

He was an enthusiastic and positive speaker with a true lust for life which he said was instilled in him by seeing the fragility and uniqueness of the Earth from the Moon in contrast to the Universe:

"Earth is the garden of Eden. I'm living in the Garden"

He was very definite about space exploration continuiing and the installation of moon bases:

"someday people will build cities up there"

He was very positive about George W. Bush's Mars exploration programme but he wondered about the harshness of such a long trip to reach Mars:

"6 months in space is like living in a coal mine, but the view is better"

The Moon landings obviously had a very significant effect on Alan Bean and he has devoted himself to painting his experiences. The art he works on is imbued with moon dust, and etched with the tools and moonboots that he took to the moon so his paintings carry some of his experience with them...

He tried to instill a sense of ambition, purpose and drive in us all. When talking about the laws of the Universe and how it is controlled by the laws of physics and therefore quite predictable, he said the only things that were not predictable were us and therefore:

"the only thing that limits us is ourselves"

The talk and q&a session was chaired by the charismatic and informed Andrew Smith who interviewed every man to have walked on the moon for his book Moondust. Have to pick that one up soon...

Horse Riding!!!

Ok so it was one of those evenings that saw the end of the summer sunshine. Me and the 'zone were taken outside the M25 and placed on some horses in a attempt to learn to ride.


Riding through the forest with the sun streaming through the leaves it was beautiful. I took to riding ok. Even managed to trott quite well after a few attempts.


The zone was having trouble finding his horses 2nd gear which was even more annoying as the others seem naturals.


Well we were then introduced to the joys of polo. I was having enough trouble with the horse to worry about hitting a ball. Thankfully the evening sun departed and our bruises and aches were left alone. Nothing a few beers didn't solve...

Brazil v. Argentina

So having survived (just) a weekend of battering myself through a combination of playing football, surfing/drowning and drinking I dragged my sorry self to see Brazil v. Argentina at the Ashburton Grove (Emirates) stadium.

A great samba atmosphere and some beautiful football. Kaka's amazing solo effort capped off a humiliating afternoon for the Argentinians.

Had some great pitch side seats and since Ronaldinho was injured he was sat just 2m in front of us!

Arsenal were represented by Gilberto, the only Brazilian who cannot pass but still looked solid, and new signing Julio Baptista. Baptista looks a huge guy and could be just the kind of muscle Arsenal have been missing of late... too-many-winger syndrome still seems to persist at Highbury.

West Ham's new signings Tevez and Mascherano played for Argentina. Mascherano looks like not much but Tevez was Argentina's player most likely to score. Looks like he has a temper on him too so could be interesting at Upton Park this year.

All in all was a great afternoon but I have to say it was nothing on the usual skill on show. I mean Brazil - Argentina has nothing on next weeks big glamour tie of Arsenal against Middlesboro... errr...