Magic moments in no particular order

- the birth of my daughter Caroline. Skin like a peach – perfection
- the launch of Apollo 11, live on TV
- the landing of Apollo 11 on the moon, again live
- the birth of a Peacock butterfly in the palm of my hand
- the sight of Smith Island, my first sight of Antarctica
- my first visit to New York; it snowed and it was Fairyland
- landing at Kai Tak, Hong Kong. No landing is ever so exciting
- the scream of those Rolls Royce Conways at take-off
- holding my grandsons
- watching a space shuttle launch
- tasting Chateau Rieussec
- first sex with some women who I shall not name
- my very first serious kiss
- glacier walking
- dawn in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
- Beatles in the Cavern
- casting off in a ship
- and docking in a ship
- first sight of La Pieta
- the final change of my peal of 5111 Grandsire Caters + the middle roll up
- George’s half muffled peal
- any and all 747 take offs
- the total eclipse of the sun in Turkey 2006
- sitting with mountain gorillas
- patting a wild lion’s butt and a cheetah’s head
- watching a star grazing the moon so close that it twinkled as the light passed behind the mountains and down the valleys
- taking my mom up Scafell Pike
- Peter’s bridge
- dawn in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
- ERB at the baggage belt
- getting a certificate, my first, at about 6 yo for an essay on Road Safety
- retirement
- the Lord’s Rake on Scafell in snow with my kids
- winning our first overseas order with Saab
- owning my first calculator
- first time on a PC. It was wondrous.
- seeing Comet Hale-Bopp
- visiting the Kremlin
- Iguacu Falls – every minute
- aborted landings – scary yes but the frisson of excitement is something else
- being made Managing Director
- watching Pluto New Horizons take my name to the stars – came home early to see the launch
- the tears of some ladies at my retirement – it was humbling
- blowing up the fume cupboard at school
- sitting with Sally, my cat and hugging her in the morning
- the smell of a steam engine
- farting in the bath with bubbles tickling
- sunset in the Sahara
- the look on the kids faces in Swakopmund township when we gave them notebooks and pens. And then there was the little boy in Norok, Kenya who said ‘God, bless you, sir’ when I gave him a pen.
- first sight of the rings of Saturn through a telescope
- Gilbert Kaplan conducting Mahler’s 2nd Symphony


There are plenty more and perhaps, just perhaps, I shall extend this list someday. Certainly the arrival of Pluto New Horizons at Pluto in 2015 will be amongst them.