Last night the Royal Observatory at Greenwich held one of their Observing Evenings. So it seemed only right to let Mycroft get along there and have a look through their massive telescope [A 28-inch refracting telescope] Shit! how do you even DO that, Mycroft? I'm typing - it's scary to see words I'm NOT typing coming up on the screen! Stop it! Get your own blog if you want to.
Anyway, the weather wasn't perfect (when is it?) But they had loads of interesting things to look at, and there were occasional chances to glimpse some things - obviously it was Mycroft looking, but he seemed pretty impressed. Which was nice to see.
I'll admit that's not the best picture in the world - it's from another bloke's telescope, just a guy outside who was observing too. And it's taken on my 'phone. That isn't the whole moon, being round, that's just the tiny bit of moon he was focussed on, and it's round because the lens is round, obviously. I think he said the shadowy line was called The Terminator [the terminator. Lower case. It's not a terrible film starring an ex-bodybuilder.] WHOA! STOP IT! Anyway, it's the bit where the line between dark and light is, and it's really interesting to see the hills and mountains and craters. I can see why Mycroft enjoys stargazing. [Astronomy]
Anyway, we went over there in the afternoon, with the dogs etc., let them have a run about, then Mycroft and John went in whilst I looked after Sherlock and the dogs - and got chatting to some of the guys around. I've been before, so it was only fair.
I'm thinking that while I'm on nights I might expend some energy in the day painting the boys' rooms - if they want. You've seen Danger's pictures of the wallpaper downstairs - well, upstairs is slightly less eye-gouging, but not much.
You up for it boys? And what colours do you like? Danger, I'll require assistance, and tea. Lots of tea. And maybe we could do your room sometime. The colour of the woodwork in there actually gives me nightmares sometimes. (It's brown. Not a nice rich brown, the sort of brown that makes your mind go to bad places.)
42 comments:
I voted for telling you in the comments, but I bet you can guess my answer. You do also plan to sleep at some point, right?
Yeah, I knock off at 7am though, I hate sleeping in the day much, so I'll get a bit of kip, then I'll get stuck into something. More will be done at the start of the week at the end, I assure you!! Shop for supplies and prep on Monday, get stuck in Tuesday. If the boys have survived this long they won't be in too much of a rush!!
than at the end... why can't I edit comments?
I've always loved Earth's moon. That is my secret answer in the poll! (the moon would still count, right? Heavenly bodies, not only planets? ::loves Pluto deeply and unironically and regardless of labels::)
The moon totally counts. I put Uranus, because I'm a child at heart, but the moon is beautiful, especially now I've seen it up close. And the Sun is pretty special too! But the poll couldn't include everything! Much to Mycroft's annoyance.
I voted for Saturn as it was the first thing I ever saw though a telescope. Actually seeing the rings for myself made it suddenly more real than seeing it in pictures ever was. Not that I ever thought people had made it up or anything. Just that I've always been a science fiction fan and when I was young sometimes it was easy to forget that some of what I was looking at and reading was actually fact.
I'm more than a bit jealous of Mycroft getting to look through a 28-inch refracting telescope.
I'll show you some paint colours on my computer.
They all have such ridiculous names, which bear no resemblance to the colour it describes.
I think something blue, possibly with mauve hints. So warm, yet relaxing. Perhaps tomorrow you could get some testers, so we can assess the colours with the light in my bedroom.
Thank you. I do find the wallpaper slightly distracting.
I think the moon is my favorite heavenly body as well.
It's very generous of you to offer to paint the bedrooms. I find Mycroft's precision and choice of color amusing.
Oh, how nice! Sounds like it was a lovely evening. I voted for Jupiter, though I was tempted to vote for Mercury just because Sailor Mercury was my favourite Sailor Scout. :P
If Mycroft ever decides to get his own blog, I'd read it and annoy him with my grammatically-challenged comments. :D
I voted for Pluto purely because I'm still miffed that they de-planetified it. Poor, unloved Pluto. Also, because you didn't make yourself an option on your poll, D.I. Brooding. ;)
I agree with you on paint chip colours, Mycroft. Sometimes I think that they deliberately choose the worst names just to embarrass people who want to order buckets of the stuff.
He showed me a chip earlier called Undertoe. Seriously.
L - am I going to assist in the painting or just provide tea and sandwiches? Can I take photos of you looking rugged and paint splattered?
John--yes. Take pictures.
I am also voting for DI Guyliner. (He is over 18 in that photo, right? Yes.)
"I am also voting for DI Guyliner. (He is over 18 in that photo, right? Yes.)"
@Terran - we all hope so, else we are going to the special hell. ;)
DI Guyliner.....Ahahahahahahaha!
I'm pretty sure I wasn't over 18 actually. 17 probably.
Danger, you'd be more than welcome to help, definitely. No need for photos, though.
I've voted for Ganymede. It's one of Jupiter's moons and it's made of a mixture of a frozen mix of silicone and water. I find it facinating that true water has been found somewhere other than Earth.
I adore Spiral Galaxy NGC 2841. Mostly because it looks like THIS:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110219.html.
Sheer glory that. And Mycroft, you color choices sound very sensible. Unlike my own. My bedroom spent years as a color called Electric Melon. It looked something like a traffic cone lit from the inside. Really, appallingly orange. I blame my colorblindness and my shopping partner. I held out five chips and said "I like these and they all look the same to me. Which one is least offensive to real humans?" And she chose Electric Melon.
I still loved it, though.
Tinkerty-tonk!
Bronwyn
RED
Uranus spins on its side. How awesome is that?
J
I'm not sure red is a good idea for a bedroom. Maybe one wall reddish, and a colour that's a bit calmer elsewhere? John?
BRIGHT RED. ALL OVER. And black.
Oh my god, Sherlock, it'll look like a crime scene.
Or is that the idea?
Isn't everything stimulating enough without THAT, Sherlock? There's some evidence to show that the color red can actually increase your heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle tension. Blue and green are better bedroom shades because they lower these values; we subconsciously find cool colors relaxing.
Yeah, we're sort of fighting the red idea. However you telling him it'll look like a crime scene has probably strengthened his resolve!
At the moment we'll just try to strip the vile wallpaper off. The battle of the paint colours can continue tonight. Hopefully when I'm at work.
And the next person to refer to DI Guyliner may well find themselves suddenly wanted for a random crime. Don't think I won't.
Sherlock - no. One wall, possibly, as Lestrade said, and not primary red either. The idea is to make the rooms more bearable to the human eye, not less. Look at the one called "Old Blood". Isn't that nicer?
DI Guyliner. ♥
Sally, put out an arrest warrant for John Hamish Danger Watson. Wanted for Cattle Rustling. Cheers.
And Danger, stop blogging and come and help me strip.
One of these day I'm going to actually do exactly what you tell me to do, and you will get in so much trouble.
Sally, I've been waiting for the day you do what I tell you for what feels like half my carter. I will celebrate it.
Career! Bloody predictive text!
Oops...Sorry Lestrade. :\ One of these days I'll learn to watch my typing...
Does "being wanted for a random crime" include being handcuffed? Carted off to solitary? Possibly shoved up against a few walls along the way? If so, you're not exactly helping your cause here.
And now we all know what the "G" stands for really...
CATTLE RUSTLING. <3 <3 <3
Oh god, painting rooms. We had to paint the entire house when we moved in two years ago. It got so very, INCREDIBLY tiring. Especially attempting to paint those ridiculous ceilings that are all splattery-rough-uneven ARGH. :/
(Have fun!)
Sherlock: I wanted to paint my room red and black too! But my father wouldn't let me. So now it's white, with a light blue ceiling... to make my room look bigger, apparently. It's actually fairly nice.
As for the poll, I voted for Earth, but really, Earth and Moon are tied as far as I'm concerned. :) (Yes Mycroft, I capitalised those on purpose.)
I can't promise i'll be up to much by the end of the week, admittedly, but I enjoy DIY and decorating. And the boys deserve better decor.
I don't know how no one jumped on the "help me strip" comment.
Danger jumped on it, I can assure you.
Sherlock - I wanted a red-and-black room too. My mother put her foot down and I ended up with "pinky-peach" walls, but she got me red-and-black carpeting, so we were both happy.
So I picked the Earth and Mars, but I also want to add the Moon, the Sun, the Oort Cloud, Sirius, the constellations Orion, Pegasus, and the Big Dipper, the Milky Way, and...Halley's Comet.
Re: room colors. A cousin of mine had a neon turquoise room. It was like sleeping in a tropical fish tank. Especially with that weird plastic statue of a scuba-diver in the corner...
Don't let them get you down, Sherlock. My bedroom is currently deep scarlet with mustard gold molding and black silohuette stencils of creeping vines around the midline. It's warm and incredibly soothing.
Tinkerty-tonk,
Bronwyn
I think we've bargained down to one red wall, Bronwyn. And hopefully not the pillar-box red, but something a little more friendly on the senses.
Other colours may still be in dispute.
The walls in our rooms as kids were a horrible pale blue over woodchip. But we covered them in posters, mainly of footballers. Daniel because he liked football, me because I liked fit men. Although at the time I obviously never said that!
*laughs* Bargain away if you can and more power to you. My parents actually figured out I was colorblind because of my decorative choices, so that tells you how fashion forward I'm capable of being. Also, what does it tell you that I refuse to stop wearing bright, shiny colors even though I'm not always sure what bright shiny color I'm wearing?
Tinkerty-tonk!
Bronwyn
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