With the aid of Pete’s orienteering compass and my grandfather’s telescope, we managed not to see last night’s lunar eclipse very well at all.
The problem is that the tripod legs don’t stay put, so when you’re standing on a railway bridge wearing a coat over your pyjamas, the telescope gradually sinks towards the ground, so that you find yourself focusing on the railings.
We attracted a small crowd of two mildly interested passers-by. Fortunately none of them called the police.
May 5, 2004
The whole of the moon
They were probably admiring your PJs.
I can understand you attracting the attention of passers-by – after all, the only people I know who stand on railway bridges in little more than their overcoats are the sort that like to flash their bits at the commuters on the 1852 out of Waterloo.
Not that I, er, know anything about this. Obviously not.