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Had a full day on Thursday with a visit to a friend whose mother recently passed away. She had been a great fan of my book and the Moon. Then it was onto the Library for a light lunch with Caroline and her father before viewing some of the best books from the Lady Lockyer Bequest. We were left alone with them…for 3 hours instead of the usual one. The time was well spent in enjoying the glorious and exquisite illustrations in the botanical and Japanese books, reading extracts, and just generally enjoying being allowed to handle and browse the collection.

Iryna and Kara Malton gave a magnificent performance of a variety of songs and arias, with piano solos from Richard Lucas, who also accompanied them. The audience really lapped up the Cats’ Duet and, apparently, were still talking about that later in the day. I was just relieved that a reasonable number of people came and over £400 was raised for the church heating fund. With match funding, the total was well over £900. A great result.

And, to round off the week, I took a walk in the pale autumn sunshine and kept on walking, up and up, until I reached the top of Roundball Hill. This is something I have not done for too long and was really pleased that all the exercises I have been doing targeting my legs has paid off. It was a tad difficult coming down though with my muddy gloves bearing witness to a rather slippery bit. But I did not slip over completely and used my walking pole to aid my descent. I was surprised as to where the path emerged….evidently a new route has been added since I last lived here, or I had been using a less amenable route back but, now I know, I can venture up either way to the top.

Simon Reeve’s illustrated talk at Torquay Theatre went so quickly and I would have loved a conversation with him. He is inspirational and exhorted us all to invest in green ethical companies and to travel and meet people. The next day is was Robin Ince at Exeter Library…so excited as he has agreed to come to an event I am organising next year. Lovely man, approachable, inspirational, and held a question and answer session.

A poem I wrote about my grandfather won first prize in a local competition organised and sponsored by Shoobridge Funeral Directors – lovely, friendly people 🙂 And I was presented with the prize today and celebrated afterwards with cake and wine…

What a brilliant day yesterday (Sunday 13 October) at the NLO for the Sidmouth Science Festival. I was impressed by the serious interest displayed by lots of young children – both girls and boys around age 5 and upwards – in the wind tunnel model of Blue Streak. We also got to see on a big screen the launch in real time of the Spacex rocket and recapture. Emotional! There was a wonderful buzz around the site.

What a wonderful weekend full of harvest celebrations, pasties (yes, at church :-)) and lots of communal hearty singing of old harvest favourites. Brings back memories of my dear Dad who loved singing ‘We plough the seeds…’ Miss him very much. Harvest is certainly a time to make sure we are winter ready in respect of our health, our larders – in case of another Beast from the East, power cuts and shortages – and praying for peace before the worst of the winter weather in Ukraine. If you can get to a fundraising concert given by and sung in by Iryna Ilnytska, then do so, you will not be disappointed, as well as raising money for the good cause, she deserves a wider audience.

Autumn leaves are great for rustling through and seeking out bright delights in the hedgerow such as those pixie toadstools or spotting squirrels scurrying away with acorns. Bright jumpers and scarves will brighten your day and bring cheer to those around you. And you will be spotted more easily by those hasty cars in the narrow lanes.

Happy Harvest!

Thanks to the Met Office for flagging up potential cloud cover around the time of the maximum, I was able to see the beginning of the partial eclipse ahead of the impending cloud cover. At 0230 it was like daytime outside, but by 0330 it was dark due to the clouds. Was it worth it? Of course it was

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If any of you came along to the NLO last night to hear me give a talk about Lunar Eclipses and were disappointed…you are not alone. I did give two talks but one group missed out due to the scheduling. I left feeling deflated and disappointed. But do not let this put you off attending future events; I am working hard in the background to improve things.

The talk itself was well received and Roy heard people say how clearly I explained the event and how much they enjoyed it 🙂

Sunday lunch had been booked for a family lunch but sadly, Mum came down with Covid. It is still rearing its ugly head now and again, despite precautions and despite vaccinations. However, Roy and myself met with my son and his partner at the Crown near Avalon Marshes. The food was amazing, the staff were friendly, and we had a lovely catch up, followed by a walk around the marshes. We heard lots of birds but only swans and a buzzard were birds of any note.

I’m still absorbing the news of the death of a friend last weekend. Life is indeed short and I get quite panicky over how little time may be left. My father died at 85 yrs from dementia which, if genetic, terrifies me. Carpe diem indeed.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks with a virus, a trip to Wales, and a busy week. During all this we enjoyed a concert by Ralph McTell at Sidmouth Folk Festival during which I was entranced by his amazing guitar skills. His songs and reminiscences of times past were thought-provoking.

Last week we listened to our church organist give a delightfully varied concert of splendid organ pieces on the Tickell organ in St Paul’s Church, Honiton. Soup and cake added to the nice experience.

Iryna Ilnytska directed, produced, and starred in a production of Orfeo e Euridice at Exeter Castle. The audience were moved and exhausted by the performance. A lot of money was raised for the volunteers in Ukraine.

Last night I was on duty as Telescope Presenter at the Norman Lockyer Observatory, Sidmouth where we had unprecedented 130 people turn up to our open evening. I lost count of how many times I gave my spiel about the telescope and Norman Lockyer but the visitors all left with smiles on their faces. Having recently visited the Old Library at Exeter University to look at the archive papers of Sir Norman, I had a lot more to tell them.

Well, what adventures have been had this week. Not all of them good. I bought an advance ticket for train travel to and from Cardiff but had to reschedule as we were unwell. It turned out the ticket I had bought had limited validity and it was only the return that was flexible. A costly visit as I had to buy duplicate tickets.

Cardiff was, well, could have been better. The hotel we stayed in had changed from last time and one had to pay extra each time to use the lovely swimming pool. It was quite a walk in our current state of unfitness to the restaurants so we tended to buy sandwichs and snacks to eat in our room. We did have one meal out, a delicious chicken dish with many flavours, in a ‘Bill’s’ restaurant. This was on a very humid day which saw me flagging and needing to sit down a lot. But, on leaving the restaurant we were soon cooled down by the stormy downpour and hurricane-force winds! Such a change within a couple of hours literally took our breath away.

Pontypridd park was a bit disappointing as most of it was sectioned off or still under the weight of many large marquees from the recent Eisteddfodd, which curtailed our pleasant stolling and chatting with Roy’s family.

The shops in Cardiff came up trumps on the list of items on my shopping list – a lovely green summer dress, a bright top, and a neutral skirt.

Was it worth the cost? Not really. But it did make Roy happy to see his family again after a bit of a long time of not being able to visit. Will have to think carefully how we manage such visits in future.