Diary of an Edinburgher

By LadyMarchmont

Well, that's a nice view...

A leisurely start to the day watching TV with my brekkie. It’s the only day I watch morning TV. Honest.

I did a bit of packing up crockery in the boxes. I do quite enjoy that. Newspaper is best.

Then we checked out the Doors Open website and plumped for the Royal Observatory. I think every man and his dog (and child) also did so. It was mobbed.

We did manage to arrive in time to hook up with a telescope in Australia, and we (the collective we) took some photos of distant stars. The young woman doing the talk looked to be about 15. Maybe 20. She told us about the Faulkes telescopes - one in Hawaii and one in Australia. This project is amazing, and it gives free access to these robotic telescopes to schools throughout the world. And so the students are involved in research based science education. They do studies, and the info is collated. Welsh students found a new asteroid and got to name it (Snowdonia).

Outside, there were queues of folk to look through whopping telescopes at the sun (with the appropriate filters on the telescopes). Lots of excited kids and young adults.

Had a wee wander up the hill, where we sat and admired the various dogs who trotted by. Some dogs on wee legs were finding the hill difficult.

As we sat there, these two lassies wandered by and paused to admire the view. I didn't even need to budge. Thanks girls. You were much more obliging than the two dogs we then met...

… a white Westie and a black Scotty dog. The owner must have been a whisky lover. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get a shot of them both together. Of course, the bright sunshine didn’t help - the exposure was wrong for either one or the other. I’ve got lots of shots of either one or other right up at the lens as I tried to attract their attention. I had to give up in the end.

This weather is amazing.

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