There’s very little point to this post other than to test WordPress iPhone geotagging. Which isn’t to say I’m going to apologise and say ‘Fooled you!’, ’cause I’m just not.
Anyway, the rain’s clearing after another frustrating day at the professional wheel. At times I feel like changing career tack and selling ice cream. This would undoubtedly bring a lot more joy to a lot more people. And make them very fat indeed.
Last night I stood out by the local pond and looked up. At 11.23pm, two specks of light moved rapidly across the sky from the west. The uppermost brighter (white) light was Space Shuttle Endeavour, the second dimmer and noticeably orange light the external fuel tank slowly falling back to Earth. I didn’t get photos – my cameras and lenses were just not up to the job in the sodium glow of a London night.
Other than getting close and personal with the Enterprise prototype at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, I’ve never seen a space shuttle before. There was a very wet and cold afternoon in the early 80s when my dad and I looked up from Staines bridge into cloudy skies, straining to see Columbia strapped to the back of its 747. The pass had been publicised in the press, and there were hundreds of us all equally disappointed and let down by useless weather. This time I’m really glad I’ve seen it, and will be looking out for the ISS and docked shuttle as they spend the next couple of weeks floating overhead..the conjoined bulk of metalwork, tubes, robot arms and solar panels being so massive and bright, it’ll be hard to miss.