An Exercise in Frustration

Well here I am in the canaries to look for a house. I have been here almost one week and how many houses have I seen.... ONE. Yep one and only one, We should have been to see some others but the estate agents haven't been back to us yet. One of the places we wanted to see we think has been sold already. The place we did see wasn't to bad but does have a few problems, See my other blog http://casa-estrellas.blogspot.com/ for details.

Today we went for a drive to go look at a few estate agents and to talk to them only to find that they are all only open from 10 in the morning till 1 in the afternoon..

Going to the Chapel

From a sad occasion to a very happy one.

Today was the day when me and my partner Helen put our relationship on a formal footing by registering our Civil Partnership. The setting was Lambeth town hall registry office in Brixton. While not the most glamorous of locations it was just right for the number of people we were inviting.

While the service was short and fairly full of legalese I was very happy to finally have some substance to the relationship. Part of the reason why we are doing it is because were are moving out to La Palma in a few months time and having the legal grounding to the relationship might make somethings easier in the long term.

I will have some photos of the event at some point but for now try these ones from one of the guests:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47422705@N00

Goodbye.....

Today was a very sad day for me.

This morning my Smart ForTwo was picked up for its return to Smart. I have had the car for 2 years now. It was sad to see the car go we have had lots of adventures and met lots of people just as crazy about the cars as I was. Some of these people have been very good friends and I shall also miss them as much as that car. My partner has prommised me that we will get another but in the canaries they may be hard to find.

Lazy Days

If only the above was true. Since I finished work on Friday I haven't had a chance to stop. I have been rushing backwards and forwards getting things ready for us to move permanently to the Canary Islands in March. This time next week we are going over to La Palma for 6 weeks house hunting. I am hoping that after the initial rush is over and we have a house purchase going through I will be able to relax and de-stress a little.

The End

Today is the end of an era.

I am leaving the telegraph after 6 years. While my time here has not always been the best I am sad to be leaving. As to what the future holds well the is a different matter. We will shortly be leaving the UK to go and live in the Canary Islands. We are going to live on the island of La Palma. You can follow our adventure on our other blog at http://casa-estrellas.blogspot.com/

Winding Down

Well, Things are starting to wind down at work now as it is my last week before I am made redundant. While I am looking forward to having the freedoms of working for myself and the challenge of going to live in another country, there is a little bit of me that is scared stiff. We at least I have managed to stay of the cigarettes.

The long and winding road

Well having not had a cigarette or worn a patch for the last week or so things are going well. There are odd occasions still when I think to myself "Oh I'll go and have a cigarette" and then I remember and feel bad for a while. But after a while the feeling passes. I fact writing this now is giving me some pangs of withdrawal.

I am also getting a little down about the fact that in 21 days time I am being made redundant. Now I know that it will enable me to fulfill the dream of going to live in the canaries, but also I will miss a lot of the people I work with here.

I am a little scared about what the future will bring, but also excited about the opportunities ahead.

Possible Future Home

So Far So Good

Well I have not had a cigarette since last Thursday night. It has not been easy the last few days, I have found the worst times to be the mornings and evenings. Saturday night was particularly bad with some minor financial worries and being up late packing boxes.

This morning I had an incident that almost made be buy some cigarettes, I was walking down to the station in the wind and the rain when my foot slipped and I twisted my ankle badly. This was very painful and I struggled to walk for about a hundred meters, While limping down the road my thoughts returned to smoking again, luckily by the time I got to the shop by the station the pain had eased and I was able to control the urge to smoke again.

Starting Again - Continued

Well I have decided that as of tomorrow I will again start to give up smoking. I know that it is not exactly the right time to be giving up smoking at present with everything that is going on. I'm going to try the patches again as they seemed to work last time.

Starting Again

As some of you may remember it started this blog a while ago when I was just starting to give up smoking. Well as I have mentioned earlier I fell off the wagon recently and have been smoking again since August. Well I am just about to start again.

Now life at the moment is still pretty stressful, my partner is still battling depression, I get made redundant in January and then we are planning to emigrate to the Canary Islands. So while now might not seem to be the ideal time I would like to be able to stop before we go off house hunting in January.

Busy Week

Well the last week has been very busy.

On Wednesday last week I discovered that both my partner an I have been made redundant.

My Partner was made rudundant from friday and I will be made redundant on the 12th January 2007.

With this and the sale of the house that went through on Friday aswell, it gives us enough money to go ahead with our plans of moving to the Canary Islands next year. But there is a big down side to all this , there is a ton of paperwork and arranging that will need to be done before we can move.

Then there is the problem of what to do with the rest of my life, I'm not sure that I wish to remain in IT, but I will probaly end updoing something to do with IT but not in a massive comercial sense.

An Admission

OK I have an admission to make. I have recently started to smoke again after nearly a year. OK there it is I've said it. Now I know it's not good for me and all that, But at the moment it gets me through.

What started me off again, well it was my partner going into hospital after episodes of self-harm and suicide attempts.

Now I do intend to stop again but it's going to take a little while until I can get there.

The Herstmonceux Science Centre Astronomy Festival 2006

The Herstmonceux Science Centre Astronomy Festival 2006

THE BIGGEST ASTRONOMY WEEKEND IN THE UK!

September 29th, 30th & 1st October

Main event days Saturday and Sunday

To include:
Friday & Saturday evening - Viewing through the historic telescopes (weather permitting), visits to the Space Geodesy Facility & radio Shack plus prize astronomy quiz on Saturday.
Saturday - 5 lectures, tours around the telescopes, visits to the Space Geodesy Facility & radio shack
Sunday - Family fun day with rocket making and launching, desk top rocket demonstrations, Storm Troopers, Pluto treasure hunt, visits to the radio shack

All this plus trade stalls, viewing through solar telescopes, over 90 hands-on science exhibits, astronomy societies, Beer tent & refreshments, an opportunity to visit the grounds of Herstmonceux castle, Raffle & much more!

Great raffle prizes and treasure hunt prizes have been donated by the sponsors

Many amateur astronomers will be camping over the weekend under the backdrop of the telescope domes at the UK?'s home of astronomy

For further information contact the Observatory Science Centre (details below) or visit our website www.the-observatory.org

Prices: camping £10 per pitch per night (max 4 people per pitch), weekend registration £30 per adult, £28 senior, £25 child (includes entry into the centre on Friday evening, Saturday day and evening, Sunday until 6pm, ticket to the gardens and grounds of Herstmonceux castle, souvenir and identification lanyard).

Alternatively turn up on the day (usual entrance fee applies) or evening (£8.50 per adult, £6.50 per child)

Herstmonceux
Hailsham
East Sussex
BN27 1RN
Tel: 01323 832731
fax: 01323 832741
email: info@the-observatory.org www.the-observatory.org
Registered Charity Number 298542

Annular Eclipse from South London

This morning was an Annular eclipse of the sun. So off we went Telescopes in hand up to the top of streatham common where we set up to record the event from the corner of the car park. After a few technical issues we managed to capature some reasonable images.

View the gallery Here

Also these images were used by www.telegraph.co.uk

The Autumn Equinox Sky Camp - Kelling Heath, Norfolk

Extract from Philips Dark Sky Map for Kelling Heath

This weekend we were in the far flung reaches of north Norfolk. Why? You may ask, The reason is we were escaping the incessant sky-glow of London with the hope of glimpsing the night sky in all it's glory. We arrived on Friday just as the rain stopped for a short while put up the tent and settled down. As it got dark we soon realised why we were there, the full Milky Way stretching across the sky, But as all so often the cloud rolled in. However when I got up in the morning around 5am to answer the call on nature I was able to view Saturn and Mars through the telescopes of those able to get up at such an early time. Saturday was much the same only the rain was even heaver. Then before you know it Sunday arrives and it's time to mop the water from the tent and pack up.

London to Brighton

Today was the 5th annual London to Brighton Smart Run, With over 2,000 Smart Cars of every colour and description leaving Thorpe Park at around 10 o'clock and arriving at Brighton several hours later. Brighton being busier than normal partly due to the fact that most of the sea front was courdoned off by armed police due to a small thing like the Labour Party Conference. Again I will get some pic's up once I have time.

Update: Pictures are Here

Astronomy - seeing predictions

Well the two links below point to some experimental seeing predictions. NOTE These predictions seem to not be updated frequently...

Astronomy - Seeing prediction for Kelling (Well Close enough)
This link gives and estimate for the seeing conditions at a location just off from Kelling Heath

Astronomy - Seeing prediction for London (More like Watford but close enough)

Looks like the swiss need some lessons in geography!

Herstmonceux Science Centre Astronomy Festival 2005

The Observatory Science Centre, Herstmonceux, East Sussex

Well this is where we were last weekend, The Herstmonceux Science Centre Astronomy Festival 2005. Not only was this the first star party that we had attended it was also the first time that they had held an event at this location, so there were a few things that weren't quite ready. The main thing that was missing was showers, these were not available due to a lack of water pressure at the site which will be fixed for next year, along with the povision of electricity to the camp site. Never the less despite the weather being clouded all weekend, it was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend with a good friendly atmosphere.

I will post some photos once I have them...

Update: Photo's are now online Here

Week 5 & Bank Holidays

Week 5 is over and done with. I have now got to the stage were I am going with out patches most of the time unless like yesterday when I went to a party at the house of a soon to be ex work colleague. This weekend is a Bank holiday which means that I actually have a free day, but like most things I am so tired and stressed that its not until this afternoon that I have been able to sit down and do things.

Next week should be interesting as I have a new boss starting at work and nobody knows what is going to happen. I have decided that I will give work to Christmas to improve and if not the I shall think about moving on to some thing else

Bexhill Beach Party

Well, Just got back from a weekends camping down at bexhill. Weather on Friday was absolutely foul but just as we pulled into the campsite the rain stopped and out came the sun. So Saturday it was down the beach for a day in the sun, BBQ for lunch, in the evening we all took a drive up to Beachy Head. With around 20 - 30 Smarts in convoy it was some sight. Then back to the campsite for lots of drinks and frivolity.