20 Milestones

[On the Left Wing]

On the back of the Shot That Shook the World thread, what are your 20 milestone moments in your life (days or moments you will never forget!)

Here are my starters:

1 1963 JFK assasination
I was only 7 years old but remember the sense of numbness in the entire house and at school and that ALL TV programmes on both ITV and BBC were cancelled

2 1967 First day at Secondary School
God, I was so scared!

3 1967 First Albion game v Torquay at the Goldstone with a crowd of 20,000
I was hooked!

4 1969 Apollo moon landing
Awestruck

5 1972 Seeing colour TV for the first time
Truly amazing

6 1972 Getting absolutely black-out pissed for the first time
Only 30 plus years later did I realize it was the first step to becoming an alcoholic

7 1978 Seeing Bob Dylan live for the first time
Numbstruck in awe and wonder – he sounded even better than he did on vinyl!

8 1979 Albion win promotion on same day I get engaged to be married
Bitter sweet memory today!

9 1980 Death of John Lennon
I had been listening to Double Fantasy on the way to work then someone told me he had been shot … I couldn’t believe it.

10 1983 That cup final … and replay
Smith must score … but he didn’t

11 1984 Birth of first son
So excited and also so terrified about what the future may hold

12 1985 Birth of my daughter on my birthday (it was fate!)
Yet denied access by her mother to even see her – something that would last 18 years

13 1985 First article published in a national magazine
I bought dozens of copies and framed the article – I was so chuffed

14 1987 Diagnosed with cancer for the first time
Sheer terror – a year later was told I had a 1 in 10 chance of survival as it spread to my lungs and I prepared for the end

15 1993 Win first major press award and taken on by a national newspaper
For the first time in my life I felt I had achieved something

16 1997 Death of Diana, Princess of Wales
Shocked, but convinced from that same day that it was deliberate

17 2001 9 / 11
Visually and emotionally shocking moment

18 2001 Birth of my youngest child
Sheer joy – I was a dad again at 45!

19 2003 Meet my eldest daughter for the very first time
the most momentous personal moment, then my second wife denies me access to my two middle daughters

20 2004 Admit publicly that I am alcoholic and begin recovery
Personally a bigger battle than having had cancer

 

[Pevenseagull]

1970 being conceived

1971 being born

1987 first shag

1993 - took some drugs and watched a Bill Hicks video

"The world is like a ride at an amusement park. It goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it's very brightly coloured and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question: Is this real, or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say, "Hey – don't worry, don't be afraid, ever, because, this is just a ride ..." And we ... kill those people. Ha ha, "Shut him up. We have a lot invested in this ride. Shut him up. Look at my furrows of worry. Look at my big bank account and my family. This just has to be real." It's just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok. Jesus murdered; Martin Luther King murdered; Malcolm X murdered; Gandhi murdered; John Lennon murdered; Reagan ... wounded. But it doesn't matter because: It's just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money. A choice, right now, between fear and love.

The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one. Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace"

 

[enigma]

2004 Admit publicly that I am alcoholic and begin recovery
Personally a bigger battle than having had cancer

Can I just say, I don't know you but I have enormous respect for those who confront their problems. How is it going so far?

 

[Herne Hill Seagull]

Christ OTLW, you've packed a lot in ain't ya? Good luck with the ongoing stuff mate....

 

[Charlie_g]

1. 1969 Moon landings. First memory. Didn’t have a telly so went to a neighbours to watch it on a black ands white.
2. 1977. Delivering papers on my paper round with the headlines The King is dead.
3. 1978 Moving from Forton Lancs to Brighton saying goodbye to my friends and knowing I would probably never see them again. I was 8. Now back in touch with one of them thanks to Friends reunited.
4. 1979. First day at Dorothy Stringer. Scared.
5. 1979. First game at the Goldstone in the Northstand with my mates. ‘Come and join us over here’ ‘oh shit there coming’
6. 1980 Firt gig ‘Duran Duran’ at the Dome. Aged 12. Awestruck. This is before the release of Girls on Film.
7. 1980 First date. Took her to the Dolphinarium and walked back to Friar Crescent. Always remember I was too scared to hold her hand!!!
8. 1980 John Lennon murdered. Remember half the girls in the class at school didn’t turn up. Consoling their mums I guess.
9. 1982. Beat Surrender The Jams final ever gig at the Brighton Centre. Wasn’t there best but how could it ever be. Didn’t take my parka off the whole gig. Must have lost at least a stone.
10. 1984 Joining the Royal Navy. Had to get my Dad to sign the papers as I was only sixteen. Never seen him move so fast. ‘It will be the making of him’
11. 1985 Meeting my wife to be at Coasters on Christmas Eve. Dancing to the resident band Zoochi 2 – I think not. Do remember the girls behind the bar used to dance on it on occasion.
12. 1987 Finishing my apprenticeship and being given my first draft to HMS Southampton. Joined her in Portland on first day of B.O.S.T. ‘What have I done’
13. September 3rd 1988. HMS Southampton crashes into a tanker in the Gulf. Im thrown from my pit and cant find my steaming boots in the dark. Adrenilin rush as I thought we were going to sink.
14. April 1992 Left the Royal Navy. I had to serve 18 months notice and was so pleased to be leaving then on the day actually felt quite sad. Look back on that time with fond memories but you only remember the good bits don’t you.
15. August 1997. Day I moved house back from Portsmouth to Brighton. Got up at 5 and had radio whilst shaving to her Diana had died. Conspiracy?
16. September 2000. Got married having been together 15 years.
17. September 11 2001. At my parents watching it on telly. Knew that things had changed for ever.
18. September 2002. First son born. Unbelievable feeling of love and relief
19. March 2005 Second son born. As above.