Walking on the Moon - Ken Boddie - Australia

Ken Boddie

4 years ago · 2 min. reading time · ~10 ·

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Walking on the Moon

Went for a walk on the moon today. Didn't stay long. There was absolutely no atmosphere.

They tell me that it was 50 years ago that my mates and I convinced the Aberdeen University Engineering Faculty staff that we really should spend the afternoon watching television in the Students' Union building, instead of attending lectures.

Surprisingly, it wasn't difficult. I think our prof and his sidekicks had probably had enough of our "Hey diddle, diddle" antics that particular week, what with our mathematically sound and independently peer reviewed calculations, predicting that the thermodynamics lecturer's cat would that day learn to play the fiddle, the chemistry lecturer's hobby farm herd of dairy cattle would mysteriously elevate themselves skyward under the lunar pull on earth's gravity, and the soils lab technician's dog would display a barking fit akin to human-like hysterics, while watching the larger dishes in the refectory kitchen sink gravitate themselves towards the cutlery, and in particular, the spoons.

Or maybe the poorly paid and overworked faculty staff actually bought our line that the impending moon landing would be a great and awe inspiring moment in history, upon which we would all look back one day and say,

"Yep, I was in the uni telly lounge, drinking beer and dodging lectures, the day that NASA put two men on the moon via the lunar module, and had a third one in lunar orbit on the command module, doubtless boiling the kettle and making a cuppa ready for their return, carrying a few lumps of moon rock but absolutely no green cheese."

Onya Neil, Buzz and Mick!

It doesn't seem that long ago that we were lead to believe the following superstitions regarding the moon:

1. We'll be involuntarily transformed into werewolves when it's a full moon. This one makes me howl. 🤣

2. We're all driven crazy during a full moon, and there's an increase in accidents, crimes and suicides. The jury may still be out on this one, so let's just say 'alleged' increase in ... whatever, in order to keep our legal fraternity happy.

3. Hang your laundry out to dry on a full moon and it'll become spotlessly white, due to a natural bleaching effect. This one must have started circulating prior to the advent of blue collar workers. 😂

4. Cut your hair on a full moon and it'll grow back quicker. I wonder if it works on bald spots? Maybe I should rub on a little 'moonshine'? 😆

5. A full moon prompts childbirth and improves the fertility of farmland. Maybe we should stop singing "Hey diddle diddle" to our kids, and pregnant women. Perhaps that'll stop the little womb-bubs from wanting to propel themselves prematurely from their mums' tums, hoping to watch the cat and the fiddle, the cow doing the high jump, and the dish running away with the spoon.

And that's not including, of course, the well-held theory that the 'Man in the Moon' has short hair because e-clipse it regularly.

You might be justified in thinking that Neil Armstrong's "One small step ..." 50 years ago would have dispelled all this superstitious mumbo jumbo ... but has it?

So do you have any weird and wonderfull superstitions or crazy notions in relation to the full moon?

and, whats more,

Where were you when man first walked on the moon? Or for those of you who weren't even a twinkle in your dad's eye 50 years ago, where was your mum or your dad?

....................<<..................>>...................

When not researching the weird or the wonderful, the comical or the cultured, the sinful or the serious, I chase my creative side, the results of which can be seen as selected photographs of my travels on my website at:

http://ken-boddie.squarespace.com

The author of the above, Ken Boddie, besides being a sometime poet and occasional writer, is an enthusiastic photographer, rarely leisure-travelling without his Canon, and loves to interact with other like-minded people with diverse interests.

Ken's three day work week (part time commitment) as a consulting engineer allows him to follow his photography interests, and to plan trips to an ever increasing list of countries and places of scenic beauty and cultural diversity.

#Moon #Union #Aberdeen University Engineering Faculty #Hey #Yep

Comments

John Rylance

4 years ago #51

#62
Ashes to ashes, funk to funky We know Major a junkie Strung out in heaven's high My genie started singing this when I showed them your picture.

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #50

#63
Ha ha, Prav ... Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, Pseudonyms for you and me, Spent too long in learning classes, That is why we both wear glasses.

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #49

#61
How about we sort this out on a quid pro quo basis, John? Tell your genie all he or she has to do is teleport directly to Queensland and, in return for services rendered, we’ll teach him/her to play cricket/netball. 🤗

John Rylance

4 years ago #48

#60
Probably past their sell by date. Have they had a MOT (Ministry of Threads) Test? It's statutory here. Sorry no spare lamps and my Genie refuses currently to work outside the U K, something to do with Brexit and the EU edict 666 has him spooked.

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #47

#59
I've got a few Persian carpets from my days working in the Middle East, John, but I'm damned if I can get any of them to start. I suspect NASA has the same problem. Since you're a fan of these, perhaps you've got a spare genie you could send me to assist, or a spare brass lamp I could rub?

John Rylance

4 years ago #46

#56
I prefer flying carpets they are more Eco-friendly than flying cows or even pigs. All that methane fuel is bad for the environment.

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #45

#57
She'll be right, Prav. You can keep going until you need glasses ... Oops?

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #44

#55
Not sure, Philani, if you’re a fan of flying carpets or flying cows. 🤣😂🤣

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #43

#53
I trust not too preoccupied, Prav. They say it makes you go blind. 🤪

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #42

#49
Never sat on a Persian carpet, Louise, without half expecting it might fly me somewhere. Perhaps that was the cow’s secret for elevation ... irrespective of the colour ... or the music 🤣

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #41

#48
Ha, Ha, Pascal Derrien. I’m at the stage of life when I also need a nap and a bottle, but usually something a little stronger than milk. 🤣😂🤣

Louise Smith

4 years ago #40

By the Way - Great Glasses Are they 3D ?

Louise Smith

4 years ago #39

Hi Ken, I got to go home from Primary School at lunch time to watch the Moon Walk on the home black & white TV I don't think the school had enough TVs to go around I sat on the Deep Red Persian Floor Rug with my brother and 2 sisters in front of the TV in wonder ! Can't believe it's 50 years NB The Persian Floor Rug was Deep Red not Deep Purple

Pascal Derrien

4 years ago #38

To your question I think I was barely 6 month old and I think I was having a nap and bottle that day :-)

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #37

Does anyone else out there wish to contribute any full moon associated superstitions or advise where they, or their older relatives, were on the day of the moon landing, rather than getting hung up on whether Sting or his band should be credited for the song “Walking on the Moon”? 🤣😂🤣

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #36

#44
Nick Following from songfacts.com: “Sting was visiting the German avant-garde composer Eberhard Schoener in early 1979. One night they went out on a schnapps drinking session. Sting returned to his Munich hotel room drunk, slumped on his bed when this song's riff came into his head. He got up and starting walking around the room to try to clear his head muttering to himself, "Walking round the room, walking round the room." The next morning he wrote down the riff and decided that "Walking round the room" was a stupid title so he changed it to an even more stupid one, which was "Walking On The Moon." The song is set in space, but it's an allegory for how Sting felt when he was on the road, confined to hotel rooms and stages as the world kept turning.” Sometimes we must credit the song writer not the band, just like the balance between The Beatles and Lennon and McCartney.

Bill Stankiewicz

4 years ago #35

https://youtu.be/7c0esy3b8Jc , by Smoke Cartel, great owners, all on a buzz

Bill Stankiewicz

4 years ago #34

typo here, please no grammar goddess calls: corrected URL for smoke cartel #32 @Ken Boddie, Its funny, these same kids are starting new businesses like www.smokecartel.com, here in Savannah Georgia, many are very successful. You rock Ken, I just roll as a consultant. :~)) keep buzzing

Bill Stankiewicz

4 years ago #33

#32
Ken Boddie, Its funny, these same kids are starting new businesses like www.smaokecartel.com, here in Savannah Georgia, many are very successful. You rock Ken, I just roll as a consultant. :~)) keep buzzing

John Rylance

4 years ago #32

Could it be a waspish buzzing bee called Sting?

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #31

#36
And who was the lead singer of Police, Nick?

Ian Weinberg

4 years ago #30

#35
Indeed it is - a sudden and unanticipated inspirational moment.

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #29

#31
Ok, Bill, tell those students of yours to stop drinking beer, stop smoking pot, and turn up for lectures ... otherwise they may end up in the penal colony of Oz like me. 🤣😂🤣

Bill Stankiewicz

4 years ago #28

Ken Boddie, THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST BUZZES FROM UK/Australia. Showed my University students today, they loved it!!

Bill Stankiewicz

4 years ago #27

Alice Kramden ROCKS, JUST LIKE Chloe Russel and @Chloe HACQUARD

Bill Stankiewicz

4 years ago #26

Ken, it was a sitcom called the Honeymooners: https://www.google.com/search?q=jackie+gleason+honeymooners+to+the+moon&oq=jackie+gleason+honey+mooners+&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0l5.16083j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #25

#26
Had to look this one up, Bill. We didn’t have “The Honeymooners” sitcom on UK or Aussie TV. Makes me wonder, Bill, did Alice ever go to ...

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #24

#23
#24 ... and Bill Stankiewicz is the blue light disco king of emoticons. 🤣😂🤣

Bill Stankiewicz

4 years ago #23

I believe Jackie Gleason said to the Moon Alice 🌙🤼‍♂️

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #22

#22
No, mate. It’s still Sting’s “Walking on the Moon” that takes the biscuit (and the green cheese) for me. Although, Praveen Raj Gullepalli’s timeless mood builders such as “Fly me to the Moon” or “Moon River” or “By the Light of the Silvery Moon”. 🌕 Call me old fashioned. Call me sentimental. But don’t call me Shirley! 🤣😂🤣

Bill Stankiewicz

4 years ago #21

Ken rocks, Franci Rolls 🎸🎼🎺🎼🎺🎸🎺👍👍👍👍🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

Bill Stankiewicz

4 years ago #20

Take me to the Moon 🌙 , we need a beBee Flag there👍 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🚧🌎

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #19

#20
Magnificent, Judy. 👍 Houston, the poet has landed. 🤣

Judy Olbrych

4 years ago #18

#11
Ken Boddie, appropriate lyrics for the day ... and in honor of your suggestion ... Sting takes giant steps on the moon He hope that his legs won't break soon His guitar pops two strings And the galaxy rings With a swanky new modern art tune

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #17

#18
Thanks fir the moon thoughts, Prav, and the old days video, but ... I hadn’t a clue, You could make revenue, From downing a few, With family and crew, And those hair styles, its true, Are retro not new, But I can’t construe, No matter my view, So tell me, please do, Who’s Dennis de who? 🤣😂🤣

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #16

#10
well done, Franci\ud83d\udc1dEugenia Hoffman, beBee Brand Ambassador, but .... Why’d your poem so quickly end, Plenty moon rhymes left my friend, All you need’s the time to spend, And a pink balloon. ... or a silver spoon, ... or a rich tycoon, ... or all afternoon, ... or a quiet lagoon. 🤣😂🤣

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #15

#15
But that, Paul Walters, would mean my having to give offerings to the full moon. Remember that I was born in Scotland. 🤣😂🤣

Paul Walters

4 years ago #14

Ken Boddie When next in Bali make sure it's on a full moon, its all rather special !! Nice piece, as always

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #13

#7
Thanks for joining the party, Ian Weinberg since you're into moo-nologues, we used to sing this as kids: Hey diddle diddle, the cat did a piddle, In the middle of the kitchen floor, The little dog laughed to see such fun, So the cat went and piddled some more. 🤗

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #12

#6
The problem with a half moon, Debasish, is it brings up the old quandary, is it half full or half empty?

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #11

#5
Sound advice, Jerry Fletcher I'll keep away from faeries and moonlight, just in case I turn into a frog, and croak it.

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #10

#4
Well I guess that makes you “not much older than” 52, Judy Olbrych Still a sprightly spring chicken. As for moon music, my favourite is Sting’s “Walking on the Moon”.

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #9

#2
Hey, Cyndi wilkins, sounds like a classic case of ... If the frocks are a flockin’, Don't come a knockin’! 🤣😂🤣

Ken Boddie

4 years ago #8

#1
Thanks, Robert. Talking of your hilarious book, You Can Lead a Horse to Water, it seems to me there may be an opportunity for Sam and Co to get their first lunar painting contract. Perhaps a bright beBee orange instead of dust grey? And what about those wackie brownies? Must be a market for them in NASA?

Ian Weinberg

4 years ago #7

The man in the moon arrived with no spoon So the man in the moon returned too soon Along the way a cow jumped over the lot of 'em, or was it a 'roo? Could have sworn I heard the moo-nologue

Debasish Majumder

4 years ago #6

lovely buzz Ken Boddie! i wonder why did n't you thought of half Moon, which looks like half baked bread or pizza, yet the hungry would crave for it, forgetting about the orbed maiden being resembled with the presentation of full moon. however, enjoyed read and shared. thank you for the buzz.

Jerry Fletcher

4 years ago #5

Ken, I remember watching it on the telly. The landing was one of the scariest real life things ever! My grandfather used to say, "Do na go strolling in the light of the full moon with a lass of faerie. You will not return." He said his grandfather gave him that advice. And so it goes.

Judy Olbrych

4 years ago #4

Ken Boddie, this is good fun. I was not much older than 2 on the day of the first moon walk. Must have been at home, most likely watching it with my parents on the wood-encased tube-powered TV. I don't remember the event, but do remember watching subsequent blast-offs and moon walks. I have no moon-related superstitions - only a list of moon-related songs we've sung for fun over the years, including Moon River, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, Blue Moon, Shine on Harvest Moon, Polkadots and Moonbeams, Fly Me to the Moon, and K-K-K-Katie (see the chorus).

John Rylance

4 years ago #3

To mark the occasion I watched the Wallace and Gromit cartoon "A grand day out" chronicling their cheese holiday to the moon. As Wallace says we all know the moon is made of green cheese. All this man's small step etc.is to quote is/was Fake News .

Cyndi wilkins

4 years ago #2

Ken Boddie...I thought you looked a bit like Neil Armstrong! "Do you have any weird and wonderfull superstitions or crazy notions in relation to the full moon?" Yep...All the 'women folk' in the family tend to synchronize right along with the 'full moon' cycles....Creates a bit of 'hormone hell' in this atmosphere;-)

Robert Cormack

4 years ago #1

Funny piece, Ken, I wondered how the cows got up there before we did. Thanks for the review, by the way. We funny guys have to stick together.

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