Crater by Far and Moon Faced –

Half a Century on from the Lunar Landings

Fifty years ago Neil Armstrong set foot on the surface of the moon in the Sea of Tranquillity and immediately fluffed his lines. Instead of saying one small step for ’a man’, he said ‘one small step for man’ and dribbled the meaning away by being almost but not eloquent. Big occasions can have that effect and considering that they had almost run out of rocket fuel looking for a suitable landing site I think we can be relatively kind to the astronaut who died in 2012. Personally I am crackers about space and my oldest friend was involved in the quite right hoo-ha about first imaging the black hole earlier this year. His name was on the paper, along with about 250 other people, but that is the nature of science discovery these days, they are team efforts and the days on the lone pioneer are long gone.  Today there is no room for the likes of John Logie Baird the Scottish inventor of the television and colour TV tube. He first demonstrated the first working television system on 26 January 1926 while working in a bedsitter.

An Inventive Race

The list of Scottish inventors is hugely long, perhaps the largest for any nation, never mind a small one. Alexander Graham- Bell the telephone. James Watt the steam engine. Alexander Fleming who is famous for penicillin then John Boyd Dunlop who invented the pneumatic rubber tyre and that giant John Napier the discoverer of logarithms. And add to that list add a windy crofting community on the remotest tip of the island aiming to be Britain’s version of Cape Canaveral. The UK Space Agency  has chosen Dounray in Caithness as the location of Europe’s first vertical-launch spaceport. By 2025 the plan is that as many as 40 rockets will be launched here a year, taking both satellites — and Britain’s space industry — into orbit. There is some local opposition in Oban who want the honour for themselves and the jobs that go with it, but 2025 seems like an age away in times such as these. One of the advantages of the site is that any stray rockets are likely to hurt no one at all as the area is fairly remote. I bet they haven’t banked on the Scottish weather either, “Houston we have a problem,” yes it’s the driech.

One Great Leap

But we here at James Pirie know that when Armstrong first set foot on the moon we were already 79 years old as a business and had been around since before the dawn of flight. It was an incredible achievement to go Lunar only 68 years after the first Wright Brother’s Flyer, but we reckon longevity counts too. And a piece of news for you. If you add sale10 to your order of fine goods in our already great sale you will get an extra 10% off.   It’s one small step for James Pirie, but one giant leap for our lovely customers.  These Saturn glasses, named after the giant rocket that propelled men to the moon perhaps are at a lunatic (after lunar - Latin for the moon you know) price already with 70% off. Houston we have no problem!

https://www.jamespirie.com/sale/saturn-2-crystal-rose-wine-glasses-presentation-boxed.html