The night I was eclipsed by the Moon

I had planned to view the super full moon last Thursday night but unfortunately forgot all about it. My apologies to the Moon. That’s the sort of thing that happens these days. It went down as another failure in my rocky relationship with the heavens and ranks up there with a lunar eclipse fiasco I was involved in many moons ago, if that’s the right expression.
It was in the mid 1980s and the coming lunar eclipse had sparked a lot of public interest. So on the night in question I assembled the maid Ms Yasothon and her family who dutifully gathered in the garden to witness the eclipse. I had told them it would take place at 7.30pm. Of course that time passed without anything happening at all.
After 10 minutes they naturally became restless and that’s when I heard Ms Yasothon’s eight-year-old son say “The nai has got it wrong. It won’t happen until after 8pm. That’s what they said on the television.” My reputation on galactic affairs was being rapidly undermined.
To their credit they hung around a little longer but with squadrons of mosquitoes attacking us they eventually drifted away and headed off to the local temple. Of course within minutes of them leaving the eclipse began but apart from the dog I was the only one left to witness it and all I had to show for my efforts was a host of mozzie bites.
I almost joined in with the dog when it started barking at the moon.
As a kid in the late 1950s I used to watch a BBC programme The Sky at Night presented by the astronomer Sir Patrick Moore. He was a classic British eccentric with a bow tie, hair all over the place, great bushy eyebrows and a monocle which sometimes popped out when he got too excited. Adding to the show’s appeal was the atmospheric opening music “At the Castle Gate” by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.
The Guardian newspaper called Sir Patrick “a slightly dotty boffin” but he spoke with such passion and knowledge you couldn’t help but appreciate him. He got me hooked anyway and some nights I would venture into the garden and try to spot The Milky Way, Pegasus and the Plough up there in the heavenly darkness.
Alas the only Plough that I eventually became an authority on was the pub by that name just down the road.
It is no secret that the Moon has for centuries inspired songwriters and there are hundreds of ditties with “moon” in the title. Some may argue that it’s simply because moon rhymes with so many other words like June, spoon, swoon, tune, dune, prune… well, you get the idea. It will come as no surprise that virtually all of these moon songs are about love rather than the wonders of space.
Anyway for what it’s worth here are five of my favourite moon songs, in no particular order: “Moondance” (Van Morrison), “Harvest Moon” (Neil Young), “Walking on the Moon” (The Police), “Moonshadow” (Cat Stevens) and “Ticket to the Moon” (ELO).
There are plenty more of course and at risk of being called an old codger I reckon Frank Sinatra didn’t do a bad job on “Fly Me to the Moon”, or Ella Fitzgerald with “How High the Moon”. An honourable mention also to Lindisfarne for the most intriguing title, “Elvis Lives on the Moon”. So that’s where he ended up.
Actually there is one other magical moon song that is not well-known but a personal favourite. It’s “The Moon and I” performed by the late British singer Linda Lewis. She had a lovely voice with a terrific range. Lewis passed away last year at the age of 72 and her long-time friend singer/songwriter Cat Stevens wrote a moving eulogy about her saying she was like “an amazing bird that kindly visited the windowsill of our earthly house for a few days then flew away back to her garden”. I thought that was rather touching.
Following last week’s item concerning Amazing Thailand it was remiss of me not to mention the slogans adopted by some of the other Asean countries all devised to attract tourists.
Most people are probably familiar with “Malaysia Truly Asia” and “Surprising Singapore”. Then there is “Brunei, Kingdom of Unexpected Treasures” and “Cambodia Kingdom of Wonder”. Another that is hard to dispute is “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” while one that works thanks to its simplicity is the Laos slogan “Simply Beautiful”.
You may recall that during the latter days of the Vietnam War, South Vietnam came up with the somewhat optimistic invitation of “You’ve Heard About It. Now Come See It”. Many years have passed since those dark wartime days and thankfully now they can use the more appealing “Timeless Charm”.
While we are at it, a couple of tourism slogans that have caught my eye come from Central America. Costa Rica’s “No Artificial Ingredients” seems refreshingly original while equally intriguing is El Salvador calling itself “The 45-minute country”, highlighting the short distance between the major tourist attractions.
We can safely say that slogan will never be seen in Bangkok where a 45- minute trip would only get you to the next set of traffic lights.
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