While Zimbabwe votes, two ‘up in the air’ events have been on the news here.

The first happened in Pakistan, where some teenage school children and two of their teachers, were trapped in a cable car high above a gorge for fourteen hours. The footage made the situation look so precarious and perilous, the car swinging from just one cable, as first a military helicopter attempted a rescue, and then rescuers on a zipwire. The helicopter managed to extract one child, but the wind conditions and the effect of the rotor blades on the dangling car, were too dangerous for the helicopter mission to be repeated. Thankfully those on the zipwire managed to save the rest.

Meanwhile, neighbouring India has just celebrated the world’s first successful soft landing near the south pole of the moon. This too is being widely celebrated, except perhaps by those who hoped to get there first. Russia’s rocket, attempting to do the same thing, crashed landed a few days earlier.

To me these two events show so much about the extremes of life, and us as a species. The cable car rescue, set against the backdrop of rural necessity, showcased deep humanity and courage, while the landing on the shadowy side of the moon was all about the precise execution of soaring ambition.

Somewhere in between the two are most of the rest of us, holding on tight.

(The photograph at the top of this is of a full moon in London, and, if I remember correctly, I caught it shining through the bars of a crane).

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023