The bell foundry is the oldest manufacturing company in the UK, having been formed in 1570 (and with good evidence that it may date back to 1420 from earlier foundry works in the area). The foundry site on Whitechapel Road dates from 1738, originally having been The Artichoke coaching inn, built c1670.

The tour was interesting and through, we learned the bell-metal casting temperature, 1170 degrees C; the composition of the casting molds, a brick core covered in goat-hair, clay, sand and horse manure shaping mixture (photo); the number of harmonics a modern bell is tuned for, 5 – the same note in 3 octaves and a minor 3rd and a 5th.

At the back of the works, in the yard, a new set of bells and mounts (photo) were being prepared for St Dunstan in the west.To make best use of limited space, the hand-bell workshop and the woodworking workshop are built above the foundry floor. These workshops have rather low ceilings and beams – no one taller than 5’8″ works there. In the wood workshop where bell wheels are made, is the foundry “graveyard” commemorating those that have died while working (no details give for those, possibly an interesting story) and in retirement.

I’d love to re-visit when they actually cast a bell, but understandably they prefer not to have members of the public around when sloshing tons of molten metal around.

DG visited in 2008, around the time I booked my first, forgotten, tour.

It was an excellent evening, listening to a fantastic band playing some of their best music.

The audience were there for a free-thought debate / conversation, so were never going to take kindly to being shouted down at. They completely alienated themselves with their attitude – no matter what arguments they had, nobody was prepared to listen.

They were eventually turfed out by the police & campus security. The talk then began, but with police at all exits standing by to repel invaders.

As the talk moved from exobiology towards atheism, two other protestors got up from their seats, stood before the stage and tried to read out some questions or a speech. I may be wrong, but I gt the impression they were there to protest the anti-religion element of the talk (both RD and PZ being rabid atheists). The two protestors were quickly escorted outside after RD announced several times he would take their questions at the end.

When both speakers were asked what they would like the future to look like, there was a mutual agreement that they would like the word ‘Atheist’ to be meaningless. Both look forward for a time where you don’t have to state your disbelief in something, for the word to be as pointless as a ‘Leprechaunist’.

The night ended with the BHA Chair wrapping things up, suggesting we all join the BHA and thunderous applause from the audience for the speakers.

A couple of thousand miles.
Five countries.
Three-and-a-bit years.
Three mountain ranges.
Two continents.
One dead pair of walking boots.

Spending the Royal Wedding bank holiday wandering around the Scottish Highlands including Ben Nevis finally finished them off. The laces snapped at airport security and a gash in the side opened up descending the Ben. The soles have leaked since January.

Messy

Finest dandelion petals (and a few unlucky bugs)

Then boil them all up with sugar, raisins and some orange peel:

Stir and strain, stir and strain

And then hope it ferments into something nice.

glub. glub. glub. (continue for 4 weeks)

Fingers crossed, that in six months to a year, we’ll have some nice wine.
Recipe:
400g of Dandelion flowers, 1kg of Sugar, 150g Raisins, Peel of 4 small oranges, 1 gallon of water. Simmer flowers in water for 30 min, strain off flowers and add sugar, raisins and peel to solution and simmer for a further hour. Allow to cool before removing peel and straining and squashing raisins for their juice. Add yeast and decant to demijohn. Wait.

Seeing as it will almost certainly be too overcast to take photographs and I’ll have no clear view to the low horizon anyway, I’ve prepared some simulations of what you would see (or I would photograph) were conditions perfect (with no atmosphere glare either).

The Sun will clear the horizon by 8:15, but a good portion of it will be eclipsed by the moon.

Just as you’re starting work, the sun will be high enough to clear low roofs and trees, you might get to see a chunk missing from it if you’re outside or near a window.

But it’ll probably be too overcast.

9:30, and the sun is definitely high enough to see now, but you’ve missed all the action.

It’s a shame hardly anyone in London will see this eclipse, because it’s one of the best London will see for a long time. The centre-line passes right though London, skirting the west-side of central park in East Ham, passing right over Ilford station and just clipping the eastern edge of Valentines Park.

A fun toy for working out where the eclipse is visible is this map from NASA. The next total solar eclipse visible from London isn’t until June 14, 2151, so armchair eclipse hunters have a bit of a wait.