Comet waiting

The rain and clouds are stopping us seeing an evening comet in the west of the UK as the sun sets. Details can be found at http://www.spaceweather.com

It looks like it’s going to be a beautiful and hopefully naked eye comet although as it moves away from the sun it will fade and rise higher in the sky. I’m not sure but I think it’s come in from the Oort cloud on a long trajectory. I want the clouds to clear, soon!

Putting the heating on.

Mines older!

I’m limiting how long I have the heating on each day. I have a timer on my central heating that can be set to quarter hour intervals. I have set it to one hour in the morning, one in the evening and about half an hour at two other times. That way I can get the temperature up slightly for washing up and bathing while I wear warm clothes to stave off the cold.

My oven no longer works and I only use the hob on the top plus a microwave and an air fryer. So I can heat up food, and I have an oil filled heater near me if I’m getting really cold.

Why? My income is too low to pay out as much as when hubby was here. He had a seperate income. But just because I’m a bit cool doesn’t mean I’m uncomfortable. I can cope. Things will change. I will try and manage. I just hope for a warm winter! Not a good idea as the globe warms, but at least my carbon footprint is quite small!

Lady in the Van

The Lady in the Van is a 2015 British comedy-drama film directed by Nicholas Hytner, and starring Maggie Smith and Alex Jennings, based on the memoir of the same name created by Alan Bennett

I’m watching the film, The lady in the van starring Maggie Smith who died recently. She was famous for her portrayal of the elderly homeless woman called Miss Shepherd who camped out for years in her van on the driveway of Alan Bennetts house.

It’s very surreal seeing her dressed in a “bag lady” costume as she was well known for her roles in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Harry Potter and Downton Abbey. As the film progresses we learn more about the lady’s history and how she got into the predicament she was in.

I won’t give too much detail incase you want to watch it.

The whole country except me!

Last night sparkling red /pink /green auroras shone over the UK and I missed them! They apparently were around at about 10.15pm, I normally look out after midnight. Suddenly my Facebook feed was inundated with photos. Oh I was miffed. I tried to take some pictures but not much was visible, the aurora had clearly wandered off somewhere else. Then as I was going to bed at about 1.30am I just caught a glimmer of a glow in the sky. Rather than going outside in the freezing air I looked out the kitchen window and managed to get some shaky shots. Well there may be another chance tonight xxx

Going

These were my plants in summer, now they are starting to wilt. I will be sad when they are gone. I want to time travel to next summer till the next lot of flowers can be planted. I might get some winter flowering pansies to cheer the yard up in the meantime.

I’ve bought loads of bulbs to put in the big garden for winter/spring. Somehow I need to get them planted.

Shall I leave X?

When a billionaire takes over a social media company what do we expect? Impartiality? Caring? compassion?

Seeing what’s happening recently I am trying to decide whether to leave it. X I mean. Seeing him standing next to the Orange one on a stage is worrying. If he is endorsing right wing politics and banning investigative journalists then how many voices will be silenced? There is also a loss in the value of the company since it was bought by Musk. Doesn’t that indicate it’s changing status?

I’m not a big X/twitter user, I barely have any followers, which does make me wonder why I’m on it. I posted a bit of art and sometimes try and add witty replies, but is anyone even listening? Thinking about it.

Losing photos

I decided to optimise my photos as I haven’t done it for a while. Now it looks like 50% of my photos were taken today. Plus they are all mixed up. If I go back a few hundred they were suddenly taken in March. I wish it wouldn’t do that, I’ve been searching for something for half an hour because I wanted to share it? Can I find it? No, so I just decided to post a photo of an old factory from a few months ago. And great to see an undemolished chimney.

At a Youth Hostel

Tell us about a time when you felt out of place.

My hubby and I were on holiday in the South West but the weather was bad and so we decided to stay our last night at a local youth hostel.

We arrived and booked a double room. But were then asked if we could stay in dormortaries as a group of foreign students had arrived and the teachers wanted to sleep seperatly from their pupils.

We agreed and I politely tried to say I only spoke a little of their language.

Evening meal and then bedtime. The girls I was sharing the dorm with started talking and continued chatting and giggling late into the night. I had absolutely no idea what they were saying and spent two or three hours with the pillow over my head trying to block out the sound.

It was awful, I felt so out of place, I barely slept and had a long cycle ride ahead of me in the morning.

Would I do it again? Yes to be polite, but I might have to think about it first