R.I.P. Sir Edmund (1919 - 2008). Picture to the left is his statue in Nepal.What is probably less mentioned about Sir Ed these days is the fact that he was actually the first person to achieve the triple feat of becoming the first man to stand at the South Pole, stand at the North Pole (accompanied by Neil Armstrong for that one) and obviously stand on the summit of Mount Everest.
In November 1979 Sir Ed missed the ill-fated DC-10 sightseeing flight to the Antarctic, due to competing commitments. This tragedy was a real shock to the families and friends of the passengers and crew and must have been especially hard for Sir Ed, given that one of his friends took the flight in his place.
Speaking of 1979; I remember being at primary school and witnessing some of the destruction of 60 houses in Abbotsford via a landslide (I lived on a nearby hill). Overseas there was a revolution in Iran (which sparked another oil crisis), the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Skylab space station terminated its orbit with a thud in Western Australia.
Fast forward 29 years ... Sir Ed has passed on -- having reached his 89th year, Iran is playing naval war games with the U.S. in the Persian Gulf (oil prices have shot up yet again), the Afghan government is barely controlling Kabul , the U.S.S.R. is no more, the international space station is a mission to keep in orbit, Abbotsford is now probably the most stable suburb in the greater Dunedin area and you can still catch Antarctic sight seeing flights from Melbourne (you even get to swap seats during these flights, so that you always get a window seat at some stage of the journey).
I played tennis with my wife Kat today. I have a muscular strain in my back from a bad night's sleep, therefore I struggled to move around the tennis court, and even bending down to grab the tennis ball was a painful maneuver. It is amazing how muscle stress can be so debilitating. I am going to run a hot bath now. Enjoy your weekend.
