Fly me to the moon

I was intrigued by an article I read on the BBC's website http://bbc.co.uk/news today which said a married couple is being sought for a proposed voyage to Mars.  Preferably a married couple and preferably middle-aged.  The trip would take around 501 days (not 502 days apparently, hmm..).  The couple should be compatible and feel they could endure a long period of close contact with no possibility of stepping outside for a minute.

When we get married we intend living in close proximity to our husband or wife as the case may be.  We don't however look down the long road ahead of us.  All we see is someone we care about and we live in the moment, which in my view, is the only place to live.  But if someone said this means you're going to be together for 50 years without a break or even 500 days without a break from each other's company, I think most of us would say "whoa-up!" and start to wonder what that would be like.  Or would we?  Maybe it would be better to put a newly wed couple on that spaceship.  By the time they got back to earth they'd have had all those fights and making up which are part and parcel of a young marriage and their relationship would have matured.

For the keen space traveller there is the possibility of getting to within 240 kms of Mars.  Awesome!  Personally I'd rather a week's shopping in New York or London.  As far as I'm concerned Mars can take care of itself without me going up close to admire it.  But then I guess I am non-adventurous (if there is such a term).  Certainly if you want to impress anyone at one of those glamorous cocktail parties to which you are sure to be invited there is no better way than saying, as you sip from your glass of Kir Royal:  "Moi?  Oh I've just come back from a little trip to Mars."

Better than a play

Well, it's all over and the shouting (in the US senate) is about to start.  I don't think anyone, anywhere, on this planet could have evaded the hype on the US election this week. As King Charles II said in 1610 of the House of Lords' debate on the Divorce Bill "better than a play".  I know I happily switched to CNN to watch the whole thing unfold, drinking endless cups of tea to stay awake.  And I was a teeny bit surprised, after all that had been said on the subject of jobs and the economy, that Obama won fairly comfortably.  I felt sorry for Mitt Romney - tears were forming in my eyes at his speech - and I rejoiced with Obama (more tears).  There was a tremendous buzz about the whole thing and I wouldn't have missed it for anything.

The thing that impressed me was the determination of so many people in New York and New Jersey to get out and vote amid the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.  Maybe we don't appreciate our civil liberties until something happens to prevent us exercising them.  If we were told we couldn't vote in a general election any more, that the government would re-elect itself and demonstrations were not allowed, I bet we'd have a fit.  We'd be out there marching and social media-ing all over the place.  That's why I really admire those civil rights people who put their lives at risk for things they believe in - people like Aung San of Myanmar who was under house arrest for most of her life and who is still fighting for democracy in Myanmar. 

Well, it's back to grey reality and I need to catch up on the soaps which I happily put on the back burner during the last week of the election.   At least Christmas is coming and the stores will keep our stress levels well oiled by telling us just how few shopping days are left.  Won't have the same buzz as the US election, though, not even if I still believed in Santa Claus.