The (lack of) clear memory of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 post

I write this knowing that at this exact  time 50 years ago I was keenly watching Armstrong step onto the moon.  But as I have confessed before, despite my great interest in all space related news as a child, my 8 year old brain did not record permanently enough whether I was watching at school or at home. 

I know I saw some Apollo stuff at school, but I am pretty sure the lunar step was not the only time they got the TV out.  I also am pretty sure I watched some of the lunar walk at home,  and what might have happened is that I saw the first part at school and the rest at home, having been allowed to go home early.  Even staying at school all afternoon, I might have caught the tail end at home.  Or did they allow us to go home when there was some uncertainty, I think, as to when they would leave the module?  I have an idea that someone complained about how long it was taking for them to get out, but was that my Mum or a nun?  (I'm leaning towards Mum.) 

There are two people from my class that year that I could probably track down.  One was a best friend that I lost all contact with  from the age of perhaps 16 or 17.  He went to a different high school and (so I was told by the other person I could probably contact, as I met her again 10 or 15 years ago) had become a bit of a wannabe, or actual, Lothario as a teenager.  People change, obviously; but I was pretty much the opposite, so it may have a case of a hormonally induced loss of friendship even if I had seen him much as a teenager.

So, this post has gone off a bit more personal than intended!

Anyway, I am pleased to see how much attention the anniversary did eventually attract.  A pity Armstrong himself didn't live to see it.  

Modern technology should address the memory uncertainties I discuss here.  Any kid watching today would probably have at least some selfies showing him or her watching it.  That's at least one advantage of the way technology has evolved that is perhaps under-appreciated.

Update:   I was somewhat surprised to hear a man on ABC News saying that he was in Britain, working on a satellite project, at the time of the moon walk, and despite his great interest, was asleep at the time of the moon walk because it happened there in the "middle of the night" (yes, I checked - started just before 4 am) and he thinks the BBC has closed for the night and didn't carry any live telecast anyway!    I had sort of forgotten about TV ending overnight and, even on this occasion, apparently refusing to break that rule.   I guess that would not have seemed odd at that time if it had happened similarly in Australia, but the 24 news cycle - and even 24 sport -  we have all become used to now makes it seem a very antiquated world.

Update 2:   going back to the topic of the fallibility of memory, I remember being particularly amused by Spike Milligan, in one of his WW2 memoires, talking about a particular incident in which he couldn't remember a detail, leading him to ring his old mate who had a completely different recollection of the incident in total.  Spike then joked about what this might mean for the real history behind some of the Bible, giving a comedic example.   That did strike me as a good point, and that one should be cautious about recollections, be they your own or someone else's.   In fact, it started to bother me that scepticism of their own memories is not very common amongst people, when psychological studies, and incidents like Milligan's, teach us that we should be.