Mars and beyond

I well recall the excitement caused when Sputnik was first launched. Our poor colonial cousins were extremely put out since up to that point they had only succeeded in exploding old V2 rockets on the launch pad. The Russian device by contrast was an entirely new type of rocket launcher and pretty sophisticated too it seemed to us at the time.

Well of course we all know where that all led - a terrible dead end in the development of space travel. Multi stage rockets were never the way forward but it enabled the Americans to bankrupt the Russians so that was all very well.

And now I see commercial companies are offering to put you into space for just a few million pounds. Well really! Rather like sex, if you have to pay for it you don't deserve it has always been my motto regarding exotic travel. Her Majesty's Government have paid for some splendid trips in my time and I see no reason, were I a little younger, that they should not pay for a trip to Mars or beyond. I have all the requisite skills and experience, just a shame my joints and heart are not what they were.

I recall chatting to Arthur C Clarke a few years ago about this very thing, seated on a verandah overlooking the Indian ocean ans sipping rather good G and Ts. He confided in me about his idea for a space elevator. At the time I thought it sounded rather far fetched - but remember - this was the chap who invented the geo stationary satellite and we all thought that was far fetched at the time. So I am following the development of super strong materials such as kevlar and carbon fibre with great interest. The remote possibility just exists that I may yet end up buried on the moon.

Long Ago Empires

The world was very different when I was a young man and indeed was even more different when I was a boy. I was just thirteen when the Great War ground to its bloody conclusion and the map of Europe was re written. The once mightyAustro Hungarian empire fragmented into pieces, each a new born nation state- Hungary, Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia and so forth. At the time the adults around me all seemed to think good riddance but on reflection manyof the sufferings of modern Europe have their origins in the demise of that great empire.

So what has this to do with travel you may ask. Everything dear boy, everything. It is well and good to read books and study historiesbut it is far better to go and have a damn close look yourself. Of course,during the war years this was not terribly practical, though as I may have intimated, I did spend some time in Eastern and Central Europe during that unpleasentness and indeed found much to be admrable in it. Of course, in 1945, Mr Churchill's so called Iron Curtain descended and it was extremelydifficult to go anywhere interesting in the East without being certain your every move was being watched. I didn't even try - too many people in the communist camp would have gained brownie points for terminating my lease on the planet.

But, eventually the hard faced men of Lenin and his ilk were blown away by the economic factors they had thought would destroy the West. The Berlin Wall came down, the new Prague spring arrived, various dictators were deposed or hanged and Central Europe seems to have got back to doing what it does best.

"What might that be"? You ask. First and foremost, being stunningly beautiful on every single level. The landscapes,the architechture, the women. Secondly, the food. Mind, you have to have a certain leaning towards dumplings but the Slavs do things with bread and potatoes that are hardly decent. And thirdly the drink. Good, strong coffee.Necessary for recovery from a bewildering array of lethal spirits. My favourite is Um. This is actually rum, but made with potatoes. And the beer. Well,the Czechs invented lager and while I normally hold English Bitter to bethe finest drink known to man I will make an exception for Czech beer, especiallytheir mix of dark and light which they call rejann.