Formula One’s Fernando Alonso ‘Thought He Was in 1995’ After pre-Season Crash

My note:  As “cousin Larry” perfectly put it, “Boy . . . the human brain is one amazing little gizmo.” Poor Nando! The tyranny of censorship coming to ‘Youtube.’ Watch here the “Perfect Strangers” episode on Dailymotion.

Spanish driver reportedly lost the memory of the last 20 years of his life following smash in testing.

Fernando Alonso woke up from his testing accident unaware he was a Formula One driver having forgotten the last 20 years of his life, according to reports in his native Spain.

Alonso will miss the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on March 15 on doctors’ orders after suffering a concussion. The 33-year-old was briefly unconscious after the crash at the Circuit de Catalunya and, according to Spanish daily El País, he woke up in hospital thinking it was 1995.

Asked who he was, what his job was, and what he hoped to do with his life, Alonso reportedly replied: “I’m Fernando, I drive go karts and I want to be a Formula One driver.” Alonso apparently could not remember making his Formula One debut with Minardi in 2001, or either of his world championships in 2005 and 2006.

Back in 1995, Alonso was 13-years-old and at school in his hometown Oviedo, northern Spain. Jose Luis, his father, had built a kart for Alonso when he was aged just three. Alonso has since won two world championships with Renault, rejoining McLaren at the start of this season from Ferrari.

Alonso spent three nights in hospital after his accident on February 22, before going home to his family. He posted a video on YouTube saying he was “completely fine” and had been eager to race in Melbourne but had gone with the medical advice.

McLaren chairman Ron Dennis admitted last week Alonso suffered retrograde amnesia, which he said was “not uncommon” in cases like this. McLaren declined to comment further on the reports, simply saying: “The day after the accident, we issued a press release, the chief purpose of which was urgently to correct a series of erroneous media reports to the effect that Fernando’s accident had been caused by a variety of car-related issues,” said the spokesman.

Source

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Russian Priest Feels Closer to God in Serenity of Antarctica

KING GEORGE ISLAND, Antarctica — Sophrony Kirilov pulls hard on the strings of the heavy Russian bells from inside the world’s southernmost Eastern Orthodox church, calling to Mass anybody wanting to pray on this remote Antarctic island.

The 38-year-old Russian priest is clad in a loose black robe and a vest dotted with patches of penguins and seals, marking his four years of service at the bottom of the world. Although he often misses his family and the dark winters are hard, Kirilov says there is no place he feels closer to God than in this frigid land.

“In the world there’s no tranquility and silence. But here, it’s quiet enough,” Kirilov said inside the Holy Trinity Church.

The small wooden building is perched precariously on a rocky hill above a smattering of prefabricated houses for scientists and service workers who call this frozen continent home, at least part of the year. Kirilov, who also works as a carpenter and mason at the Russian Bellinghausen base, says his passion for Antarctica is deeply connected to his love for the lonely building.

Russian priests here rotate in for yearlong stints, primarily to celebrate Mass for the workers on the Russian base, who number between 15 and 30 at a time. The priests also welcome any of the island’s other inhabitants, about 100 in winter when temperatures can plunge to -13 Fahrenheit (-25 Celsius), and 500 in the still-chilly summer months.

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• Orthodox Christian Church in Space

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