Not the car.
Its 07:58 here, due at 09:30. Its currently 8 octa cloudy and gloomy, so all I am going to see is more gloomy
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So this morning I'm gonna party like it's 1999...
...when it was also gloomy despite being notionally summer.
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We have a few small patches of blue sky in amongst the clouds.
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Just transitioning from sky obscured to broken here. Son's disc just discernible through the haze but looking good for latter.
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Even and complete light-grey cloud cover in Bury St Edmunds; no sign of the sun.
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Good visibility with clouds acting as filter. Currently like a bikky with a bite out of it.
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>> a bite out of it
Same here in Sunni (hazy) Cornwall
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>> Good visibility with clouds acting as filter. Currently like a bikky with a bite out
>> of it.
Cloud so heavy here I couldn't even tell you where the sun is roughly int he sky. The only bikky here is the broken one that has sunk to the bottom of my coffee and turned into primeval sludge - its soooooooooo annoying when that happens.
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It's a message from God.
He is angry with us.
He is especially angry with the Scots.
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Bright sun here now, big chunk gorn out of it, I peeked out of the window, couldn't resist it really, I can still see the image on my monitor, don't think I'll be having another peek though!
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"sun"
What sun?
My son in Swanley says there's no sun in Swanley either.
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Almost clear sky now - about 20mins to max. Mrs B trying various pinhole camera tricks - as a science teacher she's a particular fascination with this stuff.
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All I've got is clouds getting darker and dog growing more confused by the minute.
And the birds are starting to roost
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>> He is especially angry with the Scots.
The SNP demanded a bigger percentage than England.
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Same as Z here - hardly surprising since we can't be more than 25 miles apart. Getting pretty gloomy now, but no more so than before a thunderstorm. Even less to see than in 1999.
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Past max now, getting brighter and warmer by the second.
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Son's disc just discernible through the haze
Checking his brakes?
:-)
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I've just been playing this on my Strat: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RbXIMZmVv8
:}
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Don't think it actually happened here. A sort of white gloomy foggy view through the crack in the window blinds in my office that didn't change appreciably from my 7am commute to this moment.
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"I've just been playing this on my Strat"
Midi'd into a bank of synths?
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Was that it?
Little bit gloomy here in The Dukeries, but no more than a usual dull morning.
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>>Midi'd into a bank of synths?
72 channel audio console actually ;-)
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"72 channel audio console actually"
A real one, or on a computer screen?
What Strat yer got?
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>>A real one, or on a computer screen?
I was only joking Haywain. Axe is an early 80's E series Jap cream/Rosewood 62 reissue.
I just use the amps reverb for a bit of colour. Ideally I'd like a tube screamer :)
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"Axe is an early 80's E series Jap cream/Rosewood 62 reissue."
I should think you'll hang on to that, won't you? My mate had one when I joined the band; he sold it and bought a modern USA one, then swapped that one for a Hamer, then a Paul Reed Smith, then back to another USA Strat. The only one that he says he ever regretted getting rid of was the early Jap job!
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>>I should think you'll hang on to that, won't you?
I have 4 axes. A Fender acoustic (made in Korea!) jobbie I bought in Tenerife. An Ovation copy (made in Italy) I bought in Hastings many years ago. A Commodore Gibson 335 copy (made in Japan) and the Jap Fender.
I dug out the Ovation from behind the sofa last week to give it a go, but soon stuck it back again!
I like playing the Strat, I think it likes me too :)
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I've got 8 or 9 acoustic and electrics;but now my wife reckons that the arthritis in my hands is god's way of telling me to shut up.
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>>I've got 8 or 9 acoustic and electrics;but now my wife reckons that the arthritis in my hands is god's way of telling me to shut up.
Oh, that's a shame guvnor, a friend of mine is in the same boat, I sent him this www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGGcWwIv77o last week but he just can't play the guitar anymore.
It's a bar steward that arthritis, my wife has it in her fingers to a certain extent, her father had it very bad in his hands, due no doubt to years lugging sacks of coal about plus labouring on various building sites o'er the years.
I'm quite lucky health-wise I suppose at age 62, I don't take any pills or potions, and I haven't visited a doctor for over 20 years.
I'll probably have a myocardial infarction or a cerebral haemorrhage while doing my weight lifting one day,
with any luck :o)
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"Oh, that's a shame guvnor,"
Thanks for the sympathy, Dog. It started after I'd turned 50, in the basal joint of my left thumb; the medics told me that it was a very common place for arthritis to appear. I had injections into the joint, but they really did very little to help. I've an acquaintance who relies on his playing for his living and he had operation on that joint of both hands. There is a risk of making matters worse however so, as I don't have to play for a living, I don't think I'll bother with the op.
I used to be able to play for 4 or 5 hours, but now I cannot do barré chords nor play for longer than about 1.5hrs. These days, I have to be content with thrashing out a rhythm for a folky band.
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>> There is a risk of making matters worse however so, as I don't have to play for a living, I don't think I'll bother with the op.
It amazes me just what can be replaced these days. I always watch Supervet on Ch.4 and he does wonders with dogs & cats limbs etc.
A sad case last night though when they had to put a young GSD down due to hip AND elbow dysplasia.
I like all types of good music really, including classical. Sandy Denny does it for me, and I also enjoy Transatlantic Sessions when it comes on BBC4.
Being able to play the axe for 4 or 5 hours is going some, but I suppose if one plays in a band, that's to be expected. I heard on the wireless that the Beatles used to have to perform for up to 15 hours on the Reeperbahn.
Perhaps perform isn't the right word ;-)
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"This is my Commodore Gibby 335 copy:"
That's very pretty, Dog, I've never owned an archtop-style guitar. My downfall is that I'm a terrible hoarder and tend to hang on to things; the other guitarist in the band only ever owned one instrument - he would sell the old one as soon as he got a new one and didn't even take a spare on-stage with him. I've still got my Harmony Sovereign acoustic that I had as a student 45 years ago, and the '69 Telecaster (USA) that was my first electric. Later, I used mainly a USA Strat PDL, but the prettiest guitar is my acoustic Fylde Oberon - one of these www.fyldeguitars.com/oberon.html My only Gibson is a 1989 Chet Atkins SST.
My limited skills were such that I never climbed higher than the dirty end of the musical stick i.e. playing in a function band. I have to be honest and say that, whilst the arthritis was the final straw, by the age of 55, I'd had enough of leaving at 3 on a Saturday afternoon, playing 'til 1am, and getting home at 4am. We couldn't afford to pay roadies ...... and those amps were getting heavier! But, of course, there was a terrific camaraderie in the band, and we had some great times. I still play at occasional barn-dances, and that's fine.
At my age, I can be philosophical about life's changes, but I feel really sad when a young person suffers some sort of unforeseen setback to a blossoming career, be it in music, sport or whatever.
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You sure got some nice axes there Haywain, especially the '69 Tele.
Way back in the '70's I used to practice with a couple of guys, one on the drums, I played a Les Paul copy, but Lennie was the proper musician out of the 3 of us. I left the firm where Lennie and I worked, and lost touch with them both. I should imagine Lennie went on to greater things as he was really into his playing, he looked the part too :)
My 'creative years' were invested in damn cars from 78-92, all I thought and read about was cars, cars, cars, and so became pretty good at my game. If I had invested as much time and effort in playing the guitar as I did with cars I might have learnt to play the thing by now :o)
No regrets though, it must sure take it's toll on someone, all that racing around from city to town playing any gig y'all can get, in the early days. Plus of course for every band that 'makes it' there are 100's more that don't.
I have this idea ya know, that I've enjoyed listening to say Pink Floyds music more than they enjoyed making it. Especially when I learn that in their later years, each individual musician could just go into the studio and 'lay down' his contribution to the composition, when he felt like it, and separate to the others adding their bit.
Anyway, I'm off prog rock lately, and have discovered Smooth Radio on DAB.
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>>my wife reckons that the arthritis in my hands is god's way of telling me to shut up.
I'm sorry about that Haywain. A miserable end to an enjoyable past time.
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>> I'm sorry about that Haywain. A miserable end to an enjoyable past time.
Me too. The LAd's twanging on his electric via an amp drives me mad but I'd not want it stopped - just turned down. On his late Aunt's acoustic he's actually rather good - and mostly self taught.
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Bit annoying really. Cloud cleared here at about 20% eclipse so set up camera on tripod with two 8 grade welding glasses in front of camera. Captured some promising test shots then daughter "claimed" the welding shields to go down to a hill in the village with friends so they could all watch in a hippy kind of way.
So I lost my filters and couldn't take more shots... frustrating but you've got to put the kids first.
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Heavy mist down here but it cleared in time. Everything went eerily gloomy and the birds disappeared into the trees thinking it was night again, then came back out looking all confused.
I was working in the shop for a few hours and sales of the Sun went up as they were giving away a free sunscreen. The other papers all missed a trick there.
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Chicken Licken - the sky has fallen in!
The moon will still go round us and we'll go round the sun. What's so special?
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Much like Bromp we had light cloud cover with a few breaks. The clouds made a good filter and allowed easy viewing for short periods.
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Travelling between Reading and Bath 9-10 so had a variety of cloud conditions; IC125 turns out to be pretty good for eclipse viewing :)
Astronomical society member Mrs F had bought(?) a number of those eclipse viewers for the family, which was useful for the clearer conditions on the train. But she was stuck in Reading in the smog. Not happy.
Last edited by: Focusless on Fri 20 Mar 15 at 10:39
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>> Astronomical society member Mrs F had bought(?) a number of those eclipse viewers for the
>> family, which was useful for the clearer conditions on the train. But she was stuck
>> in Reading in the smog. Not happy.
Smog sums up here too. It just turned a bit greyer is all.
Bah humbug, going to cook some Hot X buns to make up for it.
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Sun's out now. Never mind, there'll be another one in 75 years.
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Our local news Britain plunged into darkness.A bit exaggerated.
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Just clouds here in Arcadia...didn't bother looking for the Sun.. Got a bit too dark to read the paper without a light on but my pension won't run to daylight illumination.
99 was much better, clear of clouds here...I used me arc welding mask with gas goggles on me face behind it then
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I did a short journey in the car during the eclipse, easy to tell which cars had auto lights.
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Slight cloud cover here but managed to see the eclipse through the cloud.
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Missed it, damn. Was up early enough to catch some but didn't get round to trying until it was over.
No problem though, when you've seen one you've seen them all so to speak. The 1999 one was later in the day and quite long-lasting. I observed it in the street, in Tottenham Court Road actually, with a pinhole through a page of Motor Sport projected onto some comic held in my other hand. Passers-by were intrigued and shared the observation.
When I got home to Highbury it was still on, and I was a ble to peer at it briefly through some blue-stained glass in one of the outside doors.
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Somewhere I've got a load of photos taken of the 1999 one. Used a pristine welding glass and it brought the light level just about right for the camera.
This mornings though was a non-event in St Albans, complete cloud cover. You don't actually notice the loss of light though, your eyes compensate far faster than the eclipse takes place and unless you use a light meter, or are somewhere indoors where light levels matter, you'd never know.
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This is topical I guess. Sort of an informational video :-)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsAyyOKoTik#t=68
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What eclipse? Dull morning in Poole, no darker than usual for overcast conditions, and bright sun this afternoon.
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I watched the eclipse through a colander and I think I've strained my eyes.
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Nice new crescent moon tonight.
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Eclipse! - WillDeBeest
