Murphy, and more...
Since my last entry I have been over to Germany for a few days, and had Alex and F to stay here for just over a week. They flew back last Thursday.
It has, for most of the time, been hideously hot. We got some rain yesterday evening, and today, while sunny (for now), is much cooler than any day in the previous three weeks.
My trip over to Germany suffered from slight delays (at least when compared to the delays being reported in the last few days). I arrived a couple of hours later than I'd originally expected. This time over I finally got to have a look at Sparrenburg. We also had walks round a few cemeteries, and I got my first taste of Pokémon legendary raids. The drive back from went much more smoothly, and we got home earlier than I'd expected. I even managed to get to the radio club meeting on the evening of our arrival.
In the (excessively hot) week following, we visited Knole House, Ightham Mote, Shoreham Woods, Dover Castle and the White Cliffs, and Scotney Castle. On our way back from Dover we spent well over an hour stuck in a traffic jam. Eventually I had an opportunity to head out along back roads, and from then on the journey was relatively smooth.
I've managed to catch most of the Thursday morning Morse practice sessions, though I resorted to catching one via a recording. I've not had much time to do any other Morse practice, though. German practice, on the other hand, has fared a bit better, though I need to find a mechanism to go along with Duolingo, as I've got to the point where I know Duo's tricks, and can get the correct answer without understanding why, linguistically.
We got to one evening's gaming, and played Castle Panic in co-operative mode. The following morning we joined a reasonably successful five-raids Pokémon party in Gravesend (though the parking was tight). I used one special pass, so took part in six, and caught four of them. The next day we also got to NMC, which didn't go too badly, considering the heat.
I missed this month's astronomical society meeting, and last night's eclipse was clouded out. Well, I guess, if one night in six weeks is going to be cloudy, and there's an eclipse, that simply has to be the cloudy night, or Murphy doesn't get paid...
I also didn't have the energy (and had too much else on my mind) to go to gaming last night. I did, however, manage to catch a radio club Net I usually miss because I am at gaming.
This morning I was awake too early, opened up the house for a bit to try to cool it down, then went back to bed, and slept til rather later than usual, probably thanks to finally being cool enough. Apart from laundry and meals I've done very little. I have managed to catch a couple of SOTA activators on 20 metres CW. However, when I switched to 40 metres my antenna wouldn't tune. A little investigation ended up with the wire element on my kitchen floor. It is broken in at least two places, so some fixing is in order.
It has, for most of the time, been hideously hot. We got some rain yesterday evening, and today, while sunny (for now), is much cooler than any day in the previous three weeks.
My trip over to Germany suffered from slight delays (at least when compared to the delays being reported in the last few days). I arrived a couple of hours later than I'd originally expected. This time over I finally got to have a look at Sparrenburg. We also had walks round a few cemeteries, and I got my first taste of Pokémon legendary raids. The drive back from went much more smoothly, and we got home earlier than I'd expected. I even managed to get to the radio club meeting on the evening of our arrival.
In the (excessively hot) week following, we visited Knole House, Ightham Mote, Shoreham Woods, Dover Castle and the White Cliffs, and Scotney Castle. On our way back from Dover we spent well over an hour stuck in a traffic jam. Eventually I had an opportunity to head out along back roads, and from then on the journey was relatively smooth.
I've managed to catch most of the Thursday morning Morse practice sessions, though I resorted to catching one via a recording. I've not had much time to do any other Morse practice, though. German practice, on the other hand, has fared a bit better, though I need to find a mechanism to go along with Duolingo, as I've got to the point where I know Duo's tricks, and can get the correct answer without understanding why, linguistically.
We got to one evening's gaming, and played Castle Panic in co-operative mode. The following morning we joined a reasonably successful five-raids Pokémon party in Gravesend (though the parking was tight). I used one special pass, so took part in six, and caught four of them. The next day we also got to NMC, which didn't go too badly, considering the heat.
I missed this month's astronomical society meeting, and last night's eclipse was clouded out. Well, I guess, if one night in six weeks is going to be cloudy, and there's an eclipse, that simply has to be the cloudy night, or Murphy doesn't get paid...
I also didn't have the energy (and had too much else on my mind) to go to gaming last night. I did, however, manage to catch a radio club Net I usually miss because I am at gaming.
This morning I was awake too early, opened up the house for a bit to try to cool it down, then went back to bed, and slept til rather later than usual, probably thanks to finally being cool enough. Apart from laundry and meals I've done very little. I have managed to catch a couple of SOTA activators on 20 metres CW. However, when I switched to 40 metres my antenna wouldn't tune. A little investigation ended up with the wire element on my kitchen floor. It is broken in at least two places, so some fixing is in order.