"And that Shallot."

When Ah waz a lad.... We had "The Lady of Shalott." read to us one day by "Eel-teeth Bob", the English master. I've just checked ... 19 verses and every one ends with the word "Shalott", except the one which ends "Sang Sir Lancelot.", 13 of them (including the last) end "The Lady of Shalott".
A bit of a wit was old Bob, he ended with
".......... The Lady of Shalott. And that's shallot."
(For the couple of Furriners "That's yer lot".)

There is one, 100% guaranteed, way to ensure 9 or 10/10 cloud cover over Penrith and that is to inform the country that there will be a celestial/astronomical event of any kind whatsoever.

"The new moon will set around 10:30, so they'll be easy to see. They'll be at their best in the early hours." or words to that effect.

Double fault.
1. By bed time I couldn't see a single star, shooting or static.
2. I am now at that age where I can almost guarantee being awake for a few minutes at "Piddle o'clock": that's situated between 02:30 and 03:30 as a general rule.
N.B. The operative word being "almost".
On the night in question Piddle o'clock fell at approximately 06:15, broad bloody DAYLIGHT.
:¬((