Man takes 26 years to solve Rubik’s Cube...
Oh, good grief! Talk about needing to get a life! Holy cow, buddy!
Finally done: Graham Parker with his cubemetro.co.uk
It has taken most of his life – but, after 26 years, builder Graham Parker has finally solved the puzzle of the Rubik's Cube.
When he bought the toy in 1983, Yuri Andropov was leader of the Soviet Union, breakfast TV was a novelty and music CDs were in the shops for the first time.
'I cannot tell you what a relief it was to finally solve it,' the 45-year-old from Portchester, Hampshire, said. 'It has driven me mad over the years – it felt like it had taken over my life.
'I have missed important events to stay in and solve it and I would lie awake at night thinking about it.
'I have had wrist and back problems from spending hours on it but it was all worth it. When I clicked that last bit into place and each face was a solid colour, I wept.'
Wife Jean, 47, said it had felt like there had been three people in their marriage.
'When I met Graham, he was already obsessed with the cube – spending hours on it every day,' she said. 'I have often thought about getting rid of it but I knew he would not rest until he had solved it.'
A spokesman for the governing body for competitions involving the puzzle, the World Cube Association, said it was 'definitely the longest it has taken' to finish the cube.
Anyway, 26 years? The man is in serious need of life counseling... not to mention the fact that the solution is all over the Internet!
When he bought the toy in 1983, Yuri Andropov was leader of the Soviet Union, breakfast TV was a novelty and music CDs were in the shops for the first time.
'I cannot tell you what a relief it was to finally solve it,' the 45-year-old from Portchester, Hampshire, said. 'It has driven me mad over the years – it felt like it had taken over my life.
'I have missed important events to stay in and solve it and I would lie awake at night thinking about it.
'I have had wrist and back problems from spending hours on it but it was all worth it. When I clicked that last bit into place and each face was a solid colour, I wept.'
Wife Jean, 47, said it had felt like there had been three people in their marriage.
'When I met Graham, he was already obsessed with the cube – spending hours on it every day,' she said. 'I have often thought about getting rid of it but I knew he would not rest until he had solved it.'
A spokesman for the governing body for competitions involving the puzzle, the World Cube Association, said it was 'definitely the longest it has taken' to finish the cube.
~ ~ ~
I guess I shouldn't introduce him to my 13 year-old grandson then, should I? The little boy who's been solving Rubik's cubes since he was about 10? The child even takes the entire puzzle apart... piece by piece... and puts it all back together again. He has a six-sided one that he has no problem solving either. He's truly a mechanically-inclined phenomenon, in my humble, grandmotherly opinion.Anyway, 26 years? The man is in serious need of life counseling... not to mention the fact that the solution is all over the Internet!
Labels: well I never
posted by marianne @ 4:01 PM
2 stopped by
2 Comments:
This makes me giggle and snort. We just our 9yo, who loves to solve things, a keychain model for Christmas. So far, he's mixed it up, but he's not obsessed with solving it. Yet.
There is absolutely NO way I'd have that kind of patience.
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