The message
from Sacha contains these words:

I just don't like lighting in gardens, except if you're in them, using the
light to eat or read by and that's rare in this climate. It's a form of
pollution, IMO. Scads of children don't know what a clear night sky looks
like because of street lighting and other artificial light so my vote is for
the 'no lights' brigade. Each to their own and all that. The only time we
light our garden is when we have a church 'do' in the tea room and people
have to find their way up the path from the church!

Years ago a lad of 12/13 was staying with me in the wild Norfolk Outback
and we had been out somewhere and returned late. It was even later by
the time we'd fed the wabbits and I'd milked the seven in-milk goats,
and going back to the house Steven looked at the sky...

We spent a good hour looking at the brilliant stars in the black velvet
canopy. His first remark was "We haven't got stars in Harold Wood!"

I explained about light pollution (heavy pollution in the case of Harold
Wood innit) and pointed out constellations, connected them (where i
knew) with legends, showed how to locate Polaris (the Pole Star) from
Cassiopaea and the Plough / Great Bear, where the ecliptic was, and
which points of light were planets, and which I thought they were, and
to cap it all (which was why we spent an hour or so) we saw several
meteors.

I'd never seen him so excited - more so than when we spotted the tracks
of a big cat in the snow a couple of years before that.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
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