The Saturday List #495 - Ten amazing sights and sounds that will never happen again

 I was feeling a tad nostalgic earlier in the week. We travelled down to St Pancras on Thameslink, to watch Joe Stilgoe play as part of the Coal Drops yard festival. It was rather good. My mind went back to 1969. My Dad & I jumped on a train and we saw something that will never be seen again. It got me thinking, what other things in my life have I experienced, that no one will ever do again? It seemed like an excellent subject for a list.

1. An RAF Harrier lands at St Pancras Goods yard. It was part of a transatlantic race. Dad, being an ex RAF pilotwas incredibly excited to see the jet in action. I wasonly seven at the time, I thought such things happen all the time. Sadly they don't.

The goods yard was actually designated as an RAF base for the day. The goods yard has been built over. The RAF, rather foolishly in my opinion, scrapped the Harriers and Dad has gone to the big airfield in the sky. But it made a strong impression on me.

2. Manchester City at the League two playoff final at the old Wembley Stadium. I took my nephew Alex to the game. With 89 minutes on the clock, City were 2-0 down. It seemed like the club were in terminal decline. Then a miracle. Two goals, no score in injury time, then keeper Nicky Weaver became a legend in the penalty shoot out. League two became League one, when League one was rebranded at the Championship. The old Wembley with the Twin Towers was knocked down. That City team became legends, but in truth were probably the worst City side ever. It didn't matter. We were happy, City were back in the 2nd tier of English football. It may sound strange to the glory hunter fans of today, but if I could only keep one Manchester City memory, it would be that day at the old Wembley. The new stadium is soulless and lacks any real character.

3. Concorde at Heathrow. As I mentioned, my Dad was a former pilot. When the Concorde started its service from Heathrow, Dad took us all down to Heathrow to watch one take off. There was a car park that you could get a clear view from. I remember Dad saying "This is the future". Sadly it was a false dawn. If ever I saw Concorde pass overhead, I always felt rather happy. Perhaps the only other planes that do that is the RAF Lancaster and Spitfires when they are on memorial flight duties. Concorde only exists in museums now.

4. Photographing the Empire State building from the World Trade Centre. I've been to New York a few times. I would always make a trip to both the Empire State Building and the World Trade Centre, to take piccies. I always got a real thrill going up both of these. I preferred the view from the WTC as you could see the Empire State building in all its glory. Sadly, Osama Bin Laden and his merry men destroyed them. They were massive, it seemed incongruous that they would simply disappear from the NYC skyline, but disappear they did. 

5. The Tall ships race on the Thames in 1989. This was spectacular. The ships can no longer access the upper reaches. As I recall, it was raining and there were dozens of them. It was well worth a drenching to see.

6. Princess Diana's funeral procession passing my back garden on the M1 to her final resting place in Northamptonshire. My Mum was still around and healthy. We watched the funeral on telly, then went up and stood on our balcony, which overlooks the M1. You knew it was coming because of the helicopters following it. It seemed like a moment that would not be repeatse.d

7. Solar Eclipse in London. In 1999, there was a near total solar eclipse. I was working in an office on Leman St and we all went up on the roof. At the peak of the eclipse, London went dark and you felt the temperature drop. London was quiet. It was a spiritual moment. After it passed, we all went to the pub, it didn't seem right to just go back and do mundane work. The office I was working in has been knocked down. The next total solar eclipse in the UK will be in 2090, so I won't be around to see it.

8. The Ramones, Talking Heads and The Saints at The Roundhouse on June 6th 1977. This for me is the key moment in my life. Until then, I'd not been that interested in music. The Roundhouse then was very different to the amazing arts centre we have today. It was run down and grubby. It suited punk rock. Sadly all of the Ramones are dead, as is Chris Bailey, Lead singer of the Saints. I wanted to include a musical event in the list. There are a few, but this is the pivotal one for me.

9. Sailing out of Gothenberg harbour, on a ferry with the sea frozen and the sun setting turning it red, watching in awe, with my mate Paul Hircombe. Now I guess that you could probably see this, if you timed your journey right, but the trip was at the end of the False Dots Scandinavian tour. I have never seen a sight so beautiful in all of my life. I said to Paul "Do you think it will ever be this good again?". Paul looked at me and said "I hope so, why not". I don't know if it has been. In this day and age, I'd have a million pics of it on Instagram. Paul died in 2012, it exists only in my memory. When I go, that will be erased forever. 

10. The aftermath of the Baltic Exchange IRA bomb. In April 1992, the IRA blew up the Baltic Exchange in the City of London. My mum had told me stories of the biltz, the devastation was immense, I've never really seen anything like it. It was spectaular, if horrific. The bomb was massive and it is hard to explain in words just how large an area was devastated, windows blown in etc. I'd walked down this road the day before. Again, these days I'd have a stack of pictures. It is almost unbelieveable that only three people died.