After a rather busy few
days I slept like a log last night. I would have slept longer had I
not woken with my CPAP device's air hose tangled all around me. I got
up shortly after 7am and was rather amazed to find "er
indoors TM" had got up too. She had a plan
to make egg muffins from bananas; apparently they are made from
bananas. Not eggs. One lives and learns. I lurked about and looked
hopeful and my efforts were rewarded with an egg muffin. It was
ratheer flatter than I would have expected, but I'm not complaining.
I took "Furry
Face TM" for a walk. We got as far as the
wetlands park, but it was more than wet. Flooded to the point of
being impassable, so we diverted to pavements and then the rain got
so heavy we gave up and came home.
I gave my latest
wheri-game a final once-over and then submitted it for review. Let's
hope it gets the thumbs-up. I have an idea for what I might wheri-do
next.
I set off to Folkestone;
pausing only briefly on the way for geo-reasons. I picked up "Daddies
Little Angel TM" and her associates and we
went for McLunch, and then on to the hospital where littlun had an
out-patient appointment. We were in and out in less than twenty
minutes; all was fine.
Mind you my piss was
boiled by the half-witted scratter in the waiting room. Openly
admitting her child was under the specialist for ongoing chronic
malnutrition, this half-witted scratter was demanding to know the
symptoms of all the other children and then offering her advice on
what foods these kiddies should be eating. I didn't actually tell her
to get knotted, but I think she got the message.
Back to Folkestone for a
cuppa; aand then home again. As I drove home I realised we'd done
right in avoiding the motorway when we left the hospital. Operation
Stack was in full force; traffic was queued back for over five
miles.
Once home I had another
cuppa with my dog curled up next to me. He didn't seem cold, but he
was shivering. I hope he's not sickening for something. We both dozed
in front of the telly for an hour or so until it was time for sax
practice.
Sax practice went well,
then I popped to Tesco to get some ingredients. Whilst there I was
chatted up by some chap. He struck up a conversation and on seeing
all the makings of curries I had in my trolley he commented that he
wouldn't want to kiss me after eating that lot. I said he'd have to
kiss me before, and I minced off coquettishly. I'm taking that
little episode as a definate result (!)
We then had astro club
committee; we've planned the year's programme. We also watched
bellowphone videos. And I
was told exactly where to look to see this comet. I couldn't see it
from Park Farm, but once home in my darker back garden and with my
binoculars I focussed in on the sky just below the Pleiades. After a
few minutes I found it. it looks like a rather indistinct blurry
smudge.... (engage rant mode)
As a child I can remember
the total disappointment surrounding Comet
Kohoutek in 1973. Billed as the comet of the century, it never
amounted to anything. At the time my grandmother told me that when
she was a girl there were loads of comets. She was right - in 1910
there were five comets visible to the naked eye; and visible in
daylight too.
If you go back through
the historical record as well as lots of rather mediocre comets all
the time there is (on average) one really bright comet every
ten years. On average(!) In the last fifty (and a bit)
years only I've only seen four comets. None of them visible in
daylight, two of them not visible at all to the naked eye.
Comet
Lovejoy is a disappointment. I'm not asking for something to
light up the sky in bright daylight. I'm not asking for something
brighter than the full moon. But a comet should be obvious; you
should be able to look up and see it *without*
having to know exactly (to
within a degree of arc)
where to look and *without*
needing binoculars.
And according to wikipedia comet Lovejoy is "one
of the brightest comets located high in a dark sky in years".
Over
on the astro club's
website you can see I'm pencilled in to give the lecture in
November. Currently the title is "TBC" (to be
confirmed). The title is actually confirmed. It will be "Why
Comets are Shite".
All
that remains is to defeat the censor...
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