Monday, July 17, 2006

That's One Small Stop For Man

One Giant Leap For Mankind

The astronaut and the Melbourne tram. Photo copyright: DAVID McMAHON


Er, Houston, we have a problem - heavy traffic. Photo copyright: DAVID McMAHON

You never know where you'll bump into the reclusive Neil Armstrong. But I didn't expect to see him near the tram stop at the corner of Dandenong Road and Derby Road, in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield South.

You could say it gave me quite a buzz - if you'll pardon the expression.

Speaking of which, there's no Buzz Aldrin or Michael Collins, just the Apollo XI commander, the first man on the moon. I've got some questions for him.

I'm keen to ask him about the kerfuffle last year, when he found out his long-time barber had actually done the unthinkable and sold locks of his hair.

The second question I want to ask him relates to the fact that, as mission commander of Apollo XI, he had to fill out a Customs declaration form on his return. According to some reports - and you can view the Customs manifest on the internet - Armstrong wrote, in laconic fashion, ``Cape Canaveral'' for the journey's departure point and ``Moon'' as his destination. Maybe, instead of filling out the Customs manifest, he felt the urge to moon them instead.

All these and so many more questions for the iconic astronaut.

But it turns out that it's not the real Armstrong, just a lifesize fibreglass figure of the NASA astronaut, in full flight suit and reflective helmet. And it's for sale, for a mere $1500.

I drove past there again this week, to see if the figure was still for sale, but it had been bought. I just hope the person who purchased it has displayed it properly.

As we all know, every astronaut needs a bit of space.


5 comments:

cbed said...

hey
i m from
NP too
i passed out in 2001
now am working in Google.
NP rocks!!!!!!!

david mcmahon said...

Dear Chris,
I have never spammed Wikipedia - or any other website.

david mcmahon said...

Dear cbed,
Great to hear from another North Point alumnus. My pride in the school is reflected in many aspects of my life - including the fact that the school is described in my novel `Vegemite Vindaloo'. I agree that the school rocks. Do email me when you have time.

Fletch said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Fletch said...

Oh dear, Chris, what a silly-billy you are.

You have violated just about every rule laid down by Wikipedia, and almost all the rules of decency and commonsense.

You didn't even have the courtesy to ask Mr McMahon if he was the source of the Wiki entries. If you had you would have discovered that it was not he, but I, who entered his name 3 times (not 5) and desisted after the 3rd attempt.

How you come to the conclusion that an entry with a genuine URL link is spam beggars belief. You then add insult to injury by leaving a link to a sex site. Very juvenile behaviour indeed!

I've checked the "Editor's Notes" section for Anglo-Indians on Wiki and the comment by "Poweroid" (obviously a close friend of yours)does not reflect in any way what you have quoted. If you are going to 'attack' somebody, at least get your facts right. Poweroid wonders out loud whether David McMahon is famous, as he/she (Poweroid) has never heard of him. What an arrogant attitude for the editor of an open-source document to take! And in any case what has 'fame' got to do with being a 'Notable Person'?

I don't suppose you will read any of this, because even the Blog you built (titled "wtfdoineedtofillin...") so that you could post your poison, no longer exists on Blogger.

It is inconceivable that an entry like yours should be taken seriously, and I am glad that David has shrugged it off. But I just had to put the record straight.

My your tribe decrease rapidly.