8 April 2011 (Friday) - Telescopes, Measles and Cards

On Wednesday night I missed an impromptu telescoping session organised at the last minute by the astro club. There was (nearly) one organised for last night. I would have missed that one as well. Such is life – I would have gone to both if I’d had more notice, but the problem with things organised at the last minute is that you don’t get much notice.

I’ve had a brainwave: we could formalise telescope sessions. One way of working it would be that we could meet at (say) Wye Downs on the first Monday of each month, Woodchurch on the second Tuesday, Folkestone’s East Cliff on the third Wednesday and SEKAS’s site in Canterbury on the fourth Thursday. That way, even though people have work and social commitments, everyone should have at least one session each month they could get to.

Hopefully we might find someone who lives near each of the potential venues who could advise on cloud cover each time. There seems to be a lot of interest in the idea: at the same time it’s staying lighter much later in the evenings as Spring is drawing on. Maybe we might keep things ad-hoc until September/October when it starts getting dark and introduce a telescoping rota then?

I’ll run the idea up the committee’s flagpole and see if anyone salutes (!)

I was offered an immunisation against measles today. Apparently there is an outbreak of measles on the continent, and it is feared that the UK population are to be stricken with spots soon. Interestingly when I searched on-line I could find no mention of French measles, only Warwickshire measles. But be warned – this could be the plague to end all plagues. Bearing in mind I’ve seen the end of the world promised from HIV, Hepatitis C, CJD and avian & swine flu, I’m sue my loyal readers will understand that I’m a bit disappointed to find that the plague to wipe us all out will be measles.

And then to Matt’s for a game of poker. In the past we’ve played Texas Hold’em, and had a few rounds of Omaha Hold‘em at the end of the evening. This evening it was Omaha all the way. “My Boy ^TM ” pulled four nines to win a round, and not to be outdone “Daddies Little Angel ^TM ” had a full house or two. Playing with Star Trek cards was fun, even if the sixes and nines appeared almost identical. And I couldn’t believe that my nines & queens was beaten by nines and kings. I was second to be knocked out, and was amazed I lasted as long as I did.

Cards night is always something of a feast night, and there’s no denying I overdosed on the peanuts. I *love* peanuts, even if they disagree with me. I predict a serious toilet adventure ahead…