Random Daily Banter

[briantrumpet]

I think if I didn't have a Velux window in the kitchen ceiling, I'd want to install a waterproof microphone on the roof to alert aurally me when it's piddling down... so often I'm messing about on the laptop, maybe with plans to go out, hear the noise, check the rainfall radar, and change plans.

 

[briantrumpet]

Not banter, but just mulling over my next French getaway, hopefully replumbed by then...

Having found Valence - Lille - London - Topsham by train much less stressful than doing the middle bit CDG-BRS by plane, I'm looking at options & prices... I reckon if I got to St P in the evening, stayed in the cheap-but-OK hotel right near the station, caught the early (7.04am) Eurostar to Lille, then the mid-morning TGV to Valence from there, I can do it for £45 + £55 + £50, plus the hotel for about £50. I'd leave Topsham lunchtime, and arrive at my place early evening after the local train (£10) and a walk. Those prices are based on looking at a random mid-week date in March. Timings are actually similar to flight option (longer on the move, but less time needed for safety margin), and prices not wildly different.

Very tempting.

This should, of course, have gone in Mr Penguin's excellent travel thread. Sorry.

 

[Stevo 666]

I think if I didn't have a Velux window in the kitchen ceiling, I'd want to install a waterproof microphone on the roof to alert aurally me when it's piddling down... so often I'm messing about on the laptop, maybe with plans to go out, hear the noise, check the rainfall radar, and change plans.

Most of us rely on this great new method called 'looking out of the window' ☺️

 

[PurplePenguin]

Not banter, but just mulling over my next French getaway, hopefully replumbed by then...

Having found Valence - Lille - London - Topsham by train much less stressful than doing the middle bit CDG-BRS by plane, I'm looking at options & prices... I reckon if I got to St P in the evening, stayed in the cheap-but-OK hotel right near the station, caught the early (7.04am) Eurostar to Lille, then the mid-morning TGV to Valence from there, I can do it for £45 + £55 + £50, plus the hotel for about £50. I'd leave Topsham lunchtime, and arrive at my place early evening after the local train (£10) and a walk. Those prices are based on looking at a random mid-week date in March. Timings are actually similar to flight option (longer on the move, but less time needed for safety margin), and prices not wildly different.

Very tempting.

You are treating it like a commute where you aim to minimise time and cost. Why not enjoy yourself along the way e.g. there must be something in London you'd actually like to do.

 

[Pross]

Superb display of Northern Lights right now for anyone interested. Get out of the light pollution and they’re visible by eye. It’s quite cloudy here but they’re blazing through the gaps

 

[Pblakeney]

View attachment 12403

View attachment 12404 Superb display of Northern Lights right now for anyone interested. Get out of the light pollution and they’re visible by eye. It’s quite cloudy here but they’re blazing through the gaps

I presume that compression has ruined them?

 

[Pross]

Loo

I presume that compression has ruined them?

Looks fine on my iPad but it’s just a quick hand held mobile phone shot whilst my camera was firing off on the Intervalometer and the top one was ruined by some dick that parked behind me with their headlights on.

 

[Pblakeney]

Loo


Looks fine on my iPad but it’s just a quick hand held mobile phone shot whilst my camera was firing off on the Intervalometer and the top one was ruined by some dick that parked behind me with their headlights on.

If those two are handheld on a phone then that makes sense. I await the camera shots.
Maybe I should have ventured outdoors myself as the sky was clear earlier.

 

[briantrumpet]

If those two are handheld on a phone then that makes sense. I await the camera shots.
Maybe I should have ventured outdoors myself as the sky was clear earlier.

Wasn't clear here. Cloudy haze in the Exeter direction which only picked up light pollution from Exeter.

OTOH, it was clear to the south, but the aurora australis is a bit too distant, even from Devon.

 

[Pross]

M

Wasn't clear here. Cloudy haze in the Exeter direction which only picked up light pollution from Exeter.

OTOH, it was clear to the south, but the aurora australis is a bit too distant, even from Devon.

My 12 year old nephew took one looking south not really knowing what he was doing and it had a bit of diffuse (I could see Orion in his photo so told him to turn around and he got it properly). The oval is right down over the UK so it’s been overhead and visible in other directions. I had to go up a bit higher to get above some light fog but the foreground wasn’t very inspiring. I should probably have gone further afield to a better location but with the cloud I wasn’t sure it was worth travelling. It should be a bit clearer in the early hours but don’t know if it will still be as strong by then.

 

[Pblakeney]

M


My 12 year old nephew took one looking south not really knowing what he was doing and it had a bit of diffuse (I could see Orion in his photo so told him to turn around and he got it properly). The oval is right down over the UK so it’s been overhead and visible in other directions. I had to go up a bit higher to get above some light fog but the foreground wasn’t very inspiring. I should probably have gone further afield to a better location but with the cloud I wasn’t sure it was worth travelling. It should be a bit clearer in the early hours but don’t know if it will still be as strong by then.

Better than me. I went out and saw absolutely nothing. My wife at that precise moment shared photos that friends took just an hour earlier.
Doh!

Not my photo but just an example of what I missed to prove the point. Dammit!

 

[Pross]

Better than me. I went out and saw absolutely nothing. My wife at that precise moment shared photos that friends took just an hour earlier.
Doh!

Not my photo but just an example of what I missed to prove the point. Dammit!

View attachment 12409

I think the magnetic field flipped the wrong way shortly after I finished. Everything was still strong but it meant earth’s magnetic field didn’t connect with the solar particles. Everything is still looking good so it may still be visible tonight.

 

[Bazzer]

View attachment 12403

View attachment 12404 Superb display of Northern Lights right now for anyone interested. Get out of the light pollution and they’re visible by eye. It’s quite cloudy here but they’re blazing through the gaps

My son in law and I were both very neatly placed under a thick bank of cloud. Which was annoying as my phone was going nuts with alerts.

 

[briantrumpet]

I think the magnetic field flipped the wrong way shortly after I finished. Everything was still strong but it meant earth’s magnetic field didn’t connect with the solar particles. Everything is still looking good so it may still be visible tonight.

It had cleared here by about midnight, but I couldn't see any action at all then, not even a faint glow.

 

[Pross]

I presume that compression has ruined them?

The top one does look shite now I'm on my laptop, weird as it was OK on my phone and iPad other than being over-exposed by the car behind's headlights. The shots from my camera are much better, just in the process of creating a timelapse from them covering 20 minutes.