Friday 4th

[hobsey]

Who's out tomorrow evening?

Looking pretty good so far.

[Rustysplit]

I am leaving for SGL9 this morning, so no can do Ant. Hope it stays clear for you.

[hobsey]

Cheers, I forgot about that.

[Rustysplit]

Did you get out Ant? We had a good friday afternoon solar observing and a couple of hours of early eve cloud dodging before it all got blanketed out.

[hobsey]

No, not really.

Only out the front of the flat with the bins, trying them out on the monopod.

Glad you managed to squeeze at least a couple of hours.

[swamp thing]

Back from SGL9 now ant.

Trouble is I have no transport at the moment (my vans engine siezed). May be a week or more before I'm up n running again.

[hobsey]

No worries Steve.

I'm going to contact National Trust in Surrey to see if they have any recommended spots in Surrey that will be safe to go by yourself where you won't get idiots pulling up in their cars causing trouble.

I'm too reliant on other people to go out in safe numbers and I'm not getting out at all.

[Rustysplit]

Have you had any trouble whilst out then Ant?  I guess this is the biggest issue with meeting in car parks. It is where all sorts go to carry out all manner of activities. The problem of headlights really bugs me too, you never get dark adapted properly.

[hobsey]

Have you had any trouble whilst out then Ant?

No because I haven't been out by myself yet as I'm not the biggest bloke to defend myself against a group of people.

I have been out a couple of times with the otherhalf and taken my weighted golf swing trainer with me as "protection" to make me feel a little safer but I shouldn't have to worry about things like that.

[Rustysplit]

I wonder if sometimes "the perverted fear of violence...." stops us from doing stuff? Maybe getting off the beaten track is the answer? If you could walk a little way from the car park, or park alongside a road and observe from a footpath say, the chances of seeing anyone is greatly reduced, and the dark adaption would be less affected too.

[hobsey]

Yeah, maybe.

I will be stopping off at a dark spot on the way back from the in-laws with the other half this evening to try out my new camera lens to see if I can get a good widefield milkyway shot, no scopes.