Blogs from Garstang, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

3D Sun Alert: A coronal mass ejection (CME) hit Earth's magnetic field at -0200 on Oct 2nd sparked a G2-class geomagnetic storm. G2 Class Definition: Strength: Moderate Power systems: High-latitude power systems may experience voltage alarms, long-duration storms may cause transformer damage. Spacecraft operations: Corrective actions to orientation may be required by ground control; possible changes in drag affect orbit predictions. Other systems: HF radio propagation can fade at higher latitudes, and aurora has been seen as low as New York and Idaho (typically 55° geomagnetic lat.)**. PostScript: I was in South Iceland looking at the sky at -0200 on Oct 2nd. In fact, I was looking at the sky at -0300, -0400, -0500 and -0600 before it started getting light. And I could... read more

Joe n Moi xxx... read more

T Minus 1 day. Starting to get real. Just checked in, sitting near the emergency exits, parachutes packed. Window seats, no balcony. So, tomorrow we fly into the future. 5 and a half hours into the future actually - 1st stop Delhi. ( Didn't know that Delhi was 5 and a half hours ahead, how does that work then ? ). Might treat ourselves to an Indian ( food, not person ). Next time we update this, it will not be from Garstang. Watch this space . . . . . ( well, not this one, next one ) . . . .... read more

Summer 1983. It starts with - "Let's go round the world !" Pause for 30 years while we have kids, get jobs, buy houses etc etc then . . . So, where shall we go ? Whistlestop tour - if Phileas Fogg can do it, so can we. Here's the list . . . UK -> India -> Nepal -> Cambodia -> Thailand -> Malaysia -> Australia -> Peru -> Galapagos Islands -> Brazil -> UK Stopping off in a couple of bonus places along the way. So, we then went to see a very nice man at Trailfinders who has sorted it all out for us. Starting Jan 17th 2012 . . . . Two weeks to go ! Gulp - what have we done ?!?... read more