As I get older, my ability to manage without sufficient levels of daylight diminishes. So this brilliant little internet ‘thing’ brings me great joy.
The sunlight optimism calculator allows you to enter a postcode of your choice and then provides relevant evidence to confirm the days are now slowly getting longer.
Bravo to Matthew Somerville and Julia Cushion for providing optimism at a point when it’s very much in demand.
Latitude: 57° 54′ 10.308″ N Longitude: 5° 33′ 31.758″ W | Mellon Udrigle
A few weeks ago, Mrs Weir and I travelled North.
A long way North.
And living as we do near to a very handsome coastline, we decided to travel over 500 miles up country to replicate the experience we have at home, albeit within a landscape with a significantly greater number of contour lines than the flatlands we normally inhabit.
Latitude: 57° 49′ 59.748″ N Longitude: 5° 40′ 59.232″ W | Firemore
Latitude: 57° 51′ 21.6″ N Longitude: 5° 37′ 55.32″ W | Mellon Charles
The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.
Over the last few weeks, my much-missed dad has been on my mind more than usual, which has been largely as a result of a number of less-than-typical happenings in the natural world.
The first of these was the BBC’s weather app going somewhat haywire, seeing it predict hurricane-force winds of up to 16,543 knots – strictly speaking not an unusual happening in the natural world but as a man who was mildly obsessed with the weather this would have been big news to my dad. Next was the reappearance of the Northern Lights – following what we assumed would be a once-in-a-lifetime show earlier in the year. As it happens my dad and I had spotted them one night while we stood and chatted on my doorstep 20-plus years ago – and while they were incredibly faint, the fact that we could see them made it a moment to remember.
Then we had the (disappointingly named) A3 comet, last seen on Earth over 80,000 years ago, which we eventually spotted out on the horizon slowly disappearing from view. And then the arrival of the brightest supermoon of the year, the Hunter’s Moon.
Each one of these happenings would have been red letter days in my dad’s calendar.
So despite his absence, his presence was never far away.
Although it appears that I don’t own a single record by the Pet Shop Boys – albeit I am more than happy to be considered a fan – I was pleased to stumble across the recent Imagine documentary on them over on the BBC iPlayer, Pet Shop Boys: Then and Now
Mr Lowe and Mr Tenant seem like good company.
Reminded me of their appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test back in April 1986, which I clearly remember watching (and enjoying) at the time – almost forty years later it still sounds great.
Another addition to my increasing collection of television titles that might come in useful for future (albeit quite unlikely) PowerPoint presentations.
Particularly presentations that follow the suggestions that Russell Davies makes in his excellent book, Everything I Know about Life I Learned from Powerpoint.
Earlier this week while I was sitting considering what to ignore next on my to-do list I stumbled across Forest, Field and Sky: Art out of Nature over on BBC4, a programme that you may have already seen given that it was originally broadcast on the 3rd May 2016.
The programme saw art historian, Dr James Fox taking “a journey through six different landscapes across Britain, meeting artists whose work explores our relationship to the natural world”, and finishing up at James Turrell’s Skyspace at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
Sadly I’ve not managed to get to this particular iteration of Turrell’s work, however, I have managed to visit the one that’s located a few miles from Weir HQ at Houghton Hall, and Mrs Weir and I also made it to the one that’s hidden deep in Keilder Forest while staying in Northumberland.
Our visit to Keilder was only a brief one, and the various visits to Houghton Hall are always limited by the hours the house and grounds are open to the public for, so I’ve never managed to experience the length of time, and as a result the level of change that Dr Fox did.
That said, even with my relatively limited experience of Skyspace I’d agree without any question that “this is one of Britain’s most inspiring artworks.”
Must get back there soon.
Today marks sixteen years of doing this.
Which also means that it marks sixteen years of not knowing what ‘this’ is.
I don’t think there’s a great deal to celebrate in respect of the efforts I’ve made in the last year, but the fact that I’m still here and able to do something, anything, is probably reason enough.
The A16 starts in Peterborough and travels North to Grimsby.
It’s too bad nobody told you guys that everything here is bullshit.
Helly Rigg – Employee code 08-988
Mrs Weir starts a new job today – having worked in the last one for over twenty-six years – I hope her new employer understands how lucky they are.
So here’s to Mrs Weir, and to following her lead along paths less travelled.