A first trip ‘round the world, part 55

While we were traveling to Australia, teaching at Mt. Buller and returning through the Pacific Ocean, we missed a bunch of big world events. Can you still remember them? I didn’t, except for the moon landing, so I wanted to let everyone know, just in case you had totally missed most of them! 

On May 30, while JP and I were waiting in Genoa for our line to leave port, the first satellite to orbit Mars, the US Mariner 9, was launched. From his home, in Savoie, Gérard who might have seen that on TV thought: "After I'm done with all my travels around the world, perhaps one day, I'll have a chance to explore another planet!"

About a week later, no one told us that the Australian lady Evonne Goolagong had won at Roland Garros over her country mate, Helen Gourlay, 6-3, 7-5. As he was still in Geneva, getting ready for his trip, Marcel might have thought: "Australian girls are hot, I can't wait to meet them all!"

Later on, while Gérard had just begun to teach and that JP and I were stuck around the Canary Islands, On June 17, Nixon declared that it was time to begin the “The War on Drugs”. Still in Chamonix, Philippe might have thought, "This absolutely makes no economic sense!" Yet, the next day, still unbeknownst to us, but much more constructively, Fred Smith founded Fedex’s logistics and delivery services in Memphis, Tennessee. 

The day Marcel left Europe for Australia and JP and I were in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Jim Morrison from the Doors was found death at age 27 in his bathtub in Paris. 

As we arrived in Durban, we learned that Louis Armstrong also died at age 69 on July 7, and at the same time, the City of Paris decided to implement paid parking in its streets. 

Interestingly, during JP and I stop-over in Durban, Elon Musk was just born in nearby Pretoria, South Africa. 

As all of us were now at Mt. Buller, except for Philippe, still no one told us that Eddy Merckx had won his third straight Tour de France on July 18. 

Less than ten days later we heard that Apollo 15 had just been launched, then around August 1, we watched the 4th moon landing’s grainy pictures on Hilton-Wood’s old TV. I had never seen any of them on television before and I was impressed by the little 4x4 used by the cosmonauts! 

The following day I wasn’t aware of the Concert for Bangladesh given by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, in New York City before a crowd of 40,000 people. No one told us either when around mid August, New Zealand and Australia decided to pull out their troops from Vietnam. 

As spring skiing was beginning and snow was starting to melt, it seems to me that JP said he heard somewhere, that John Lennon was leaving the UK to move to New York City. Presciently, perhaps, and always a fan of America, I think I heard him say: "I bet you, he'll never set foot in England again!"

Still around September 10, the local news didn’t mention that the soviet Anna Konkina had won the women road cycling championships at Mendrisio, Switzerland, and that the same Eddy Merckx had won the same title in the men’s category. 

September 11 was a mixed day, as the US Open Women’s Tennis final took place and saw Billie Jean King beat Rosemary Casals 6-4, 7-6. In the USSR, Premier Nikita Khrushchev died at the age of 77 from a heart attack. Make sure to always stick to a regular annual check up routine ! 

To conclude this list and once more, without anyone telling us, Lance Edward Gunderson, later named Lance Armstrong, was just born in Dallas on September 18... 

As we finally made it back home in October, we were, once again catching up with the latest news, good or bad, serious or trivial, watching the cute anchor lady reciting them on good old French television!