how have you busied yourself during the poor weather

[ArmyAirForce]

I've been busy processing all the data I've captured since the start of January. It really hasn't been poor at all this year, at least not for me in the North East, with 19 imaging sessions since Jan 1st. I still get frustrated when it's cloudy, but really can't complain about 2014.

[Niels]

I Just looked in the back garden and the fence has blown down so I guess that will give me something to do.

Same here! And it partly shields me from the neighbours lights.

[DazC]

Don't keep your eggs hobbys/pastimes in one basket

one of my other enjoyments is cycling......rain,wind ,floods ?????....so I bought a turbo trainer and now cycle in the garage

Me too!!

D.C

[MrFinster]

spent money on equipment that I cant use until the clouds go away.

On the bright side, Its given me chance to tidy up some cable issues I had with the scope and heater driver leads, they are now tied together and attached to the scope arm via self adhesive pads and tie wraps to remove strain on the power socket which was giving me problems with an intermittent connection. 

Also devised a cunning way to mount my laser pointer which saved several pennies, made a dew shield for the telrad and improved the efficiency of the dew heater at the front end of the scope.

A bit longer and I may solve cold fusion, get Stanley Mayers water powered car idea to work and devise an irrefutable argument proving that Marmite is fantastic on toast. 

[Mr Spock]

Got the Bob's Knobs fitted yesterday - need some clear sky now

[jonathan]

When not working, I've been playing with the fuelling maps and injection durations on my Audi 2.7 turbo. Getting my head thoroughly immersed in ecu tuning and the vagaries of VAG program language has at times tested my patience - but have been rewarded by a significant boost in powaaaaaaar, whilst keeping all the engine parameters in the 'safe zone'.

Fuel economy has taken a bit of a dive.........

  well now you know why those settings were that way.  If it was me I probably would have optimised for better fuel economy, at the sacrifice of top end acceleration or something like that (I usually only get up to 60 anyway on the work run).

[JonF]

Getting my new (ish) bike to the standard I want.

I commute by bike, and used a BMW R850GS for the last few years. Late September (having done 100,000 miles on the thing), coming home from work it stripped the splines off the gearbox/clutch shaft. It's a fair job to fix, so I sold it and bought an R1150GS Adventure, big beast of a thing. Since then I've removed the intercom kit, bike to bike comms and the sat nav, removed (and sold) the sat nav mount, taken off the panniers and rails, sorted out the headlights, fitted a tobinator screen adjuster and replaced the silly locking oil cap with a proper one. I've also ridden it for 5,000 miles through the wettest winter on record. I can testify to the fact that it will go through deep water without any trouble.

[Baffa]

Havent really had any good weather since september - early november. It's been really bad... Instead I went back to my other hobbies, building plastic model kits, got myself some new hardware like a airbrush etc.
But, as I thought I would, I coudn't resist this astronomy thing. So, last night I went ahead and bought a few things.

• ASI 120MC to be used as guider and occasional planetary/lunar work.
• 80mm guidescope
• Qcam8L, same camera as the QHY8L - I went ahead and bought this despite what quite a few people think about this camera here. I looked up on all the quirks and had a long chat with the dealer so now I'm confident it will be alright. At least better than using a DSLR, that's for sure! If it turns out I can't use it, or don't like it I can send it back!
• Assortment of cables, adapters, velcro tape, silicon beads and lots of other small things I might need.
• Also bought PixInsight and started the rather steep learning curve, need som data to work with though....

So, everyone, please don't buy any new scopes! I want clear skies in a near future! OK?! ;-)

[Baffa]

.. doh, I of course meant late october not september...

[MrFinster]

Having a good read of "A Sumerian observation of the kofels impact event" by Alan Bond & Mark Hempsell,

Very interesting read, also had a trip to the British museum to get a look at the clay tablet itself, very impressive indeed.

Bungielad.

Watch yourself, the Egyptology crowd will have you disappeared for heresy. 

[jonathan]

I too have been indulging my model hobby a bit recently - I put the stickers on my Tamiya Lunchbox.  I know it sounds daft but it's just one of those things that fills me with anxiety - what if I mess it up?  What if I don't like it?  Anyway, I took my time and now it looks fab!  Daren't run it outdoors now though as it looks so nice.  The chassis has upgraded suspension and alloy body mounts, plus the fifth shock modification at the rear, plus double wishbone suspension modification at the front too.  Might get a 'runner' body shell for it at some point, one that I don't mind getting scuffed.

I'm going to buy the re-release of the Tamiya Fox (renamed NovaFox), I had a much smaller version of this as a kid (simple on/off switch, no control) and was one of my favourite motorised cars.  Building the full size 1/10 scale version should be fun!

[Expat_tony]

Owning a telescope has turned me into a near complete fatalist as far as the weather's concerned. The only time I can remember being frustrated was recently when the SN was sitting there in M82, and day after day there was 10/10ths cloud. Finally able to check its magnitude on Day 9 after discovery. Usually though, I know I've got at least two months to see most of my targets, so why fret? Currently I'm using the time to build a barricade that'll stop a pine marten using our roof as an abode - they chew the lagging.

But when there is a clear night, I'm ruthless.  The wife has given up protesting and taken up watercolour painting