Take several (perhaps an irrational number – if it seem arty enough – of) Henry Hoovers and place them in wilderness locations around the planet.
Record what happens to them with a time-lapse camera until they have totally disintegrated – may take thousands of years. When the last has fully returned to the earth, print all the images recorded in a flick book.
Title of the book? Nature Abhors a Vacuum.
Hopefully our great great great^n descendants will appreciate the effort for a weak pun.
I like snails. Not to eat, but as animals in themselves. I’ve even done a stand-up comedy set about slugs and snails. I find them fascinating. I don’t kill them on purpose.
Since taking up cycling to work, I have accidentally killed many snails. There is a patch of tarmac connecting Castle Green park and the cycle-path alongside the A13 (https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5327466,0.1178673,20.03z); Snails love it.
After every period of damp weather, this short stretch of path is covered with snails, many already dead from previous pedestrians and cyclists. Even at low speed, you can’t help but hit one or two.
Sorry snails.
I went sailing for the first time in 30-something years. Many thanks to Alan for hosting me and trusting me with the wheel of his pride and joy. From Thorpe le Soken to Felixstowe and back again.
O you who turn the wheel and look to windward,Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.
I’ve spent twenty weeks away from the lab, one and a half of those with a creeping infection trying to eat my right arm off at the elbow and a further four of those some form of holiday (except for the four days spent working over those four weeks).
I’ve taken to cycling to work, which takes me down the A13 to Beckton, and then on to the Greenway to Stratford. I’m really rather pleased by the cycle routes available now, definitely improved since I last used to cycle that way about twenty years ago. I’ve only nearly been hit by a white van once.
Cycling to work obviously presents me with a chance to gather data, so data gathering I’ve been doing. I’m using google fit and runkeeper on my phone to log the journey and they both agree it takes between 45 and 50 minutes door to door. I’ve have a better idea when I’ve collected more than a week of riding. The same journey on the Tube would take 45 minutes on a good day and closer to an hour typically. The one thing I’m really missing is the time to read on the train – it’s hard to multitask on a bike.
Only a single Astrophoto worth sharing this week. Five hours integrated exposure on NGC6888Â – The Crescent Nebula. This is a work in progress project.
It’s what happens when a star sheds a load of gas into the surrounding neighbourhood, then sometime later starts blasting out a ferocious stellar wind, which catches up with the earlier shed gas and ploughs into it with enough energy to make it glow in visible light and X-rays.
Oh, yeah. Writing.
I spent the first three days of week 17 (holiday week 1) virtually present at the Bone Research Society meeting. I had a couple of other meetings that week too. So much for being on holiday. The dog did get plenty of walks and treats and will probably miss me greatly when I do return to work.
Holiday week two was much more of a holiday (from work, at least). No meetings attended, no emails replied to. I should do this more often. I explored Valence Park with the dog and found he is well behaved off the lead and quite happy to come when called and generally tear around the grass like a mad thing. It goes without saying that I only do this when there is no one else around or no other dogs close by.
On Saturday of week two, I cycled from home to Regent’s Park via the London Library to meet with some friends for a socially distanced picnic. Cycle route provision in London is so much better than I remember from 15-20 years ago. After a few hours in the park, my legs were cramping up on the cycle north. The bike is now awaiting the attention of a service engineer before I start using for my regular commute.
I did a bit of comet chasing this week, including taking my camera and tripod over to the park at 11pm for a darker sky and a better view North. I was undisturbed aside from a couple of mosquitoes, and a tiny blue light in the grass that turned out to be a dog being walked at distance.
Holiday week three has flown by, more dog walking and one evening’s astrophotography.
The sky conditions look poor for the next week or so, so that’s probably the last imaging I’ll get to do before I return to work. Fingers crossed to hear more from the job application in progress.
