Solar Eclipse, Friday 20th Match

And here are the times it will be visible in different parts of the UK:

What's the best way to view it?

You should never look directly at the Sun with the naked eye, even if it is largely obscured.

Don’t be tempted, either, to wear just sunglasses or welder’s glasses, no matter how strong the UV protection. However, there are numerous ways to view the eclipse without going blind in the process:

Eclipse glasses: There are many available online, on sites such as Amazon and eBay, and they typically cost less than £10. Whether they are safe is another matter, and even if you are wearing them, do exercise caution, and perhaps still refrain from looking directly at the sun. 

It is best to consult a telescope or camera shop, which should have stocked up with suitable glasses.

Camera: It is only possible to use a camera safely if you have a solar filter mounted or have securely attached a solar filter sheet to the front of the lens. 

Sheets are available for about £20 at online stores such as Amazon, and should also be available at camera shops.

Colander: No, that’s not a misprint. If you hold an ordinary kitchen colander up to the Sun and cast the colander’s shadow onto a light surface, such as a white piece of card held about 20 in away, you will notice that the holes project an image of the Sun complete with a corresponding chunk taken out of it by the Moon. 

This is a fun and safe way to watch the eclipse without having to look directly at the Sun.

Bucket of water: This is perhaps the simplest method — fill a bucket with water and look at the Sun’s reflection on the surface. To make it appear more dramatic, line the bucket with a black bin liner.

Binoculars or telescope: Though you should never use binoculars or a telescope for looking at the Sun, you can still use them to watch an eclipse. After setting them up on a stand or tripod, point them towards the Sun — without looking through — until the light from the Sun is cast directly down their length and out through the eyepiece.

Then, place a piece of white card or paper behind the eyepiece, and an image of the Sun will appear. To bring it into focus, use the ring on your binoculars or telescope, or adjust the distance of the card.

Basic pinhole projector: Take two pieces of plain white paper or card and, with a drawing pin or similar, make a neat round hole in the middle of one sheet. When the eclipse is taking place, hold the paper with the hole in it towards the Sun and project the light onto the second sheet by holding it behind the first.

You will see that an inverted image of the partially eclipsed Sun will appear. To make the image bigger, move the second sheet farther away.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2994195/Next-Friday-morning-Britain-turn-day-night-time-century-great-eclipse.html#ixzz3ULhV4NPf
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Eletroplating

Copper electrode and a copper coin to plate!
:)
very successful.

Dry ice experiments

It turns out that what you can do with dry ice is actually quite limited- We did the normal stuff-
Dry Ice and water to make fog:

Dry ice and Sodium hydroxide to carry out a neutralisation reaction:

Dry ice used to inflate rubber gloves/balloons as it sublimes:

We also put it into film canisters to make rockets, and mixed it with washing up liquid to make detergent bubbles with fog in.

I did try and make use of my cloud chamber (The instructions are on here from about 3 years ago) It used to work really well but the gaffa tape has lots it's stickiness= no vapour = no cosmic radiation viewing.

Rosettes and Dry ice

Today I got 2 massive parcels- One I was delighted to receive and one I was rather confused by:

I was really very pleased to receive the rosettes for the STEM fair today- they look awesome and they're so bright and cheery!
:D
I took them all out of the box and lined them up to take this photo- it was the very best moment of my day!

The confusing parcel was a massive delivery of dry ice which was supposed to turn up next wednesday- due to the error we've been allowed to keep it so I'll be looking for some cool stuff to do with it tomorrow.

Home made photo bunting!

Birthdays

I'm very pleased with myself this evening! I've moonpigged a birthday card for my dad's birthday next weekend and I think it's genius.

I know this seems a bit old-hat now but my father thinks that moon pig is hilarious. I made him a card a few years ago and I don't think he's ever been more amused. 

The next step is photograph bunting of all my fathers finest moments. I cannot wait to see his reaction! My mum keeps sending me photos to use- this will be a brilliant group effort. I just have to remember to take pins to put it up with otherwise the effect will be slightly lost.

http://www.asda-photo.co.uk/product-info/370-classic-personalised-bunting

I've been trying really had this year to be better at remembering peoples birthdays (Yes, that includes family and I know that's bad). I've written them all onto the planner and everything, in pink highlighter so that I can see at a glance any upcoming birthdays. very important birthdays even have a reminder the month before in the "notes" section. Even will all this I imagine I'm probably still going to get this a bit wrong.

It feels like every year goes faster and faster- I can't believe it's already March- What happened to January and February?!

It's no wonder I can't remember what the date is, I'm struggling enough with the bigger measurements of time.

Is this what it feels like to get old?!

My favourite holiday photos

these 2 photos are from our Sicilian holiday (Don't get excited, I haven't been away again already!) I have no idea why I didn't include them in my original post as they're probably my 2 favourite photos!

I love this photo as it's me and 2 of my besties- even if it does look like Hayley and I aren't speaking to Jay. 

It's very unlikely I'll ever get Jay, Sah, Hayley, Kirstie, Trist and Ray together in the same room so there isn't too much hope of an all bestie photo- 2/6  will have to do!

I really like this photo of me, although I suspect I may be pulling a face... it's difficult to tell under those massive sunglasses. Ah well, I look like I'm having a nice time.

House guests and Si Puo Danzare

My sister came to stay on Friday night- She was working up in London and as I haven't seen her in ages I was excited about catching up with her.
We just spent the night chatting rubbish and gossiping- It turns out that my father has taken up cookery with a fair bit of success now that Ray has introduced him to the hairy bikers cook book, and he's trying to be a bit more healthy, Much to my mothers delight.
I'm excited to experience his new healthy cooking. His speciality used to be pie and chips- as long as the pie and the chips both came out of the freezer and just went into the oven.

On Saturday we went into town- Ray wanted some summery clothes for her holidays and we needed to get some bits and bobs for my Dad's upcoming 60th Birthday.
We got balloons, badges and bunting.
More bunting!
My mum sent us a message asking us tp buy "Party Ra's" this turned out to be a typo of "Party table cloth" (I don't even know, so don't ask) but the illusive party Ra  instruction kept us rather busy.

Confusion cleared up, we went to TK Maxx for summery stuff. Ray ended up buying a back pack and flip flops (Although she did get strappy tops and skirts in primark so we did win!) I ended up buying 2 pairs of shorts- one from the ladies section (Which remind me of knocker bockers) and one from the mens section which have a pattern of fishing lures on them. Delightful.

I sent this picture of them to Jay and he just replied "Oh god".
I think that means he'd like to borrow them.
:D
I like mens shorts much better than the ones in the women's section- if I wanted to run around with my bum out, surely it'd be more effective to just wear nothing? Besides, I'm almost 30 I'm far too old for showing that much flesh (Besides, it'll only upset the bystanders).

We did all our shopping and managed to get back to the flat for 11:30 when Helen arrived. We had a catch up and some lunch, the headed off to our dance class and to meet Tats.
We infiltrated the Bedford Early Dance and Music Society- I went to one of their sessions in September which was regency dancing so we thought we'd give renaissance italian dancing a go.
http://www.dhds.org.uk/bedm/
I'm not a very good dancer but I did enjoy the challenge and it was quite good fun. It was much slower and less formal than the regency dancing so it was easier to pick up.
the session ran 2-6pm and by the end of the 4 hours I had some unusual aches.

This was the style of dancing we learned today- all feet, no arms!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7cediL_X18

We walked from the community centre to the white horse- as in my infinite wisdom I'd forgotten that it was miles away (Actual miles, not literal ones).
Traff and Karl had to wait almost 45 minutes for us to arrive but it was worth it- they had a man chat and got some beers in so they couldn't really complain.
We really earned our fried dinners and yummy puddings (The white horse is my favourite pub because it sells an amazing burger and the pudding menu is awesome)
Post pub we all went back to the flat and chilled out to some smashing pumpkins.
I think that counts as a successful weekend.

The weather was gorgeous, if we'd known we would probably have gone paddle boarding instead of dancing- fingers crossed for a sunny evening soon so that we can get back out on the water!

Hiking- Milton Keynes

Today Tats and I did some more hiking- This time we did a flat 4 miles as the weather looked sketchy along the "Circular Millennium walk".
We started out at The Milton Keynes Discovery Centre, and followed the footpath an the back of the buildings (Behind the creepy looking monk tree carving which I was too traumatised by to remember to photograph) and followed the railway line to the right.
we crossed the railway line in what is clearly a very depressed area- I've never seen so many bars and spikes and coverings to keep people on the bridge and off the line.
:S
Tats was telling me that theres a stretch of footpath which goes over the railway line near ally pally which is actually called "Jumpers lane"- Cheery conversational topic for a saturday afternoon.

Once we'd crossed the railway line we turned immediately left and followed the footpath (We did take a slight detour to have a look at a church and to laugh at a pub named "The Prince Albert". How unfortunate.

The walk was really pretty even though it's still not quite spring-

We did see some signs that the season- and therefore the rubbish weather- might change soon.

The end of the walk was where all the good stuff was- Tats found us the only roman remains for an awfully long was to enjoy- well worth the walk!
I always think that it's amazing that anything as old (Or older than) the roman remains have survived this long- and look how good then are- you can see all the rooms and everything!

We also got to sit on the concrete cows- This was marred a bit by the rain.
So worth getting a wet bum in order to sit on the cows!

After dropping Tats home I headed into town to do a spot of primark shopping ready for our trip to America- So now I'm all packed and ready to go! I treated myself to a new handbag too! :D

Night Hike

On Monday night Tats and I took the Brownies on a night hike through the woods- I completely forgot we were going outside so I had to go on a hike in my work clothes and wellies- as did Vicky. oops.
We did both have wellies in the car- otherwise my boots would have taken another muddy battering from the great outdoors.

We also had glow sticks. this was useful as I also forgot my torch.

We hiked through the woods hoping to hear some owls, but all the shouting about werewolves probably scared them off- after all, who wants to spend time in woods with a were wolf?

We played hide and seek in the paddock. Hiding was easy as it was so dark you couldn't see you hand in front of your face! It ended up being sardines with everyone in the same hiding place (mostly hedges) huddled together for warmth.

Then we had a treasure hunt- Tats had made each child a CD with their name on in big letters- they had to find their CD using their torch and not tell anyone else where their CD was. This was really good fun- I'd happily do that again!
After shouting warnings about looking where you're going, I was the only person to run into a tree. very scratched arms, thankfully my face was unscathed.

We went back indoors for hot chocolate to finish the evening off. I think a good evening was had by all!

Nolegs wasn't feeling the glow sticks- this is him hiding from them. not a disco fish.

Sicily

On Tuesday we went to Sicily to Visit Josh and Katie who are teaching there. Before we went, I was a bit worried as all the websites warned that this was "the coldest month" to visit in, and how awful the weather would be- This was proven to be true when the pilot took two attempts to land the plane because of the strong winds.
Very bumpy landing!
When we disembarked, it was also raining sideways.

We went from the airport to the car hire place (Autonoleggio!) and picked up the keys for the hire car. At this point I was starting to think we were mental. We had to drive one side of the island to the other (Palermo is not near Messina, it transpires). We got the car, put the postcode into the sat nav and it immediately found several hundred places called "Villa franca". I had a paddy and Jay rang Dai and Josh for the longitude and latitude coordinates.
Once we got on the road it didn't improve immediately. We had to drive through Palermo and it was really busy- they clearly don't have rain like that often, as people were all over the places, and you couldn't see the road markings for all the standing water. Before we got out of the town there was an accident with a jackknifed lorry, and we had to drive on the pavement to get round it (We were directed to!) by the time we got onto the motorway I was a nervous wreck.
Then we had the roadworks, Detours, tolls and rubbish signage to contend with. Jay was a very calm navigator and map reader. Even when I had a minor panic attack about crossing a level crossing with no barriers.

Driving on the motorway was actually really quite good and straight forward. It was just the crazy mountain roads that were awful!

When we reached Vila franca we found josh by accident- He was on his way back from the shop. He got in and directed us to the B&B- I've never been so grateful to park the car and go to bed in my whole life!

In the morning when we went for breakfast Hayley and Dai were already there, so they showed us how everything worked and we had nutella on biscotti with our tea and faggotini.
I loved the italian breakfasts!

After breakfast Katie and Josh met us and took us to the weekly local market for a look around. All of us bought sunglasses.

I really wanted to buy some trashy boots but stopped myself because I had no way to get them home.
Green spangly snakeskin. oh yes!

After the shopping trip, We went for Gelatto and coffee. The others went to the arcade to play some air hockey, Katie and I went to the bank and she showed me around the town.
In the afternoon, We took the bus to Melazzo and the plan was to go and see the Volcanoe Stromboli and some of the volcanic islands. Unfortunately when we got there they said thet the weather was too bad (?!) so they weren't taking any boat trips.

We went for a pizza to think through a new plan- I had Ham, Gorgonzola and Pears on mine (Kirstie, I take it back, Fruit on pizza does work- I might even try Figs. But pineapple is still disgusting!)

After eating more food than I think I've ever eaten in one sitting before we decided that the best thing to do would be to walk up the enormous hill and go to the castle on the top.
It was worth the walk for the views.
That I will concede.

In the evening, we took the last bus back and sent the boys to buy some beers. Hayley Katie and I went to the shops to get me some new leggings (Mine broke! ) and to get some balloons and beers for little surprise do for Josh's Birthday.
We had cheese and wine and nibbles and played 10 questions- were you stick the cards with the names of famous people to your head and have to guess who you are by asking "yes or no" questions.
It's much more difficult that in looks.
It was made even more difficult by drinking fraggolini which is a delicious strawberry wine.

I had a very bad head on Thursday.

Katie and Josh had to work on Thursday so Hayley, Jay and I took the car to the Roman theatre further up the coast.
Jay drove- which was really good of him because I never wanted to see another road ever again after Tuesday night- And the views were amazing from the motorway- We knew we were driving the coast road, but because we'd done it in the dark we didn't realise that to the left of us the whole way from the airport was the sea and all the volcanic islands.

In the evening we bought more fraggolini and mooched about in the B&B. This time Hayley cooked us pasta for dinner, so I was rewarded by not having a very sore head on Friday Morning.

On Friday, Katie took us to see the Castle in Villa franca and for a walk up the mountains behind the town. I think friday was the hottest day of the trip- All of us ended up sunburned to hell!

On the way back to town we had Ice cream- I am now a gelato connoisseur - I highly recommend the tuti fruity, nutella, Tiramisu and one which looked like trifle (It had bits of cake, raspberry ripples and some kind of sherry like alcohol on a creme anglais flavour ice cream- AMAZING) however, they do one called "English cheesecake" which tasted very strongly of bananas. eurgh. Lesson learned.

We went to the beach for a bit and looked for volcanic rock (Mine caused my bag to be searched at customs) and other interesting beachy things (Hayley has been collecting sea glass).

Then we went to the games arcade! Katie and I had a go on the dance machine and then we all played air hockey and won loads of tickets which Hayley exchanged for sweets (Although the lady did try and persuade her to have a london phone box key ring..)

Katie and Josh had to work in the afternoon so we went for a mooch (And I had a nap) back at the B&B. We met up with everyone at about 9:30pm for dinner- we went to an american style diner called "Happy Days" and it was amazing!
Hayley and I shared Prosecco with our trashy burgers and potato wedges.
We did not have room for pudding.
After a lengthy and delicious dinner we went back to the B&B for more drinks to toast Josh's Successful application to teach English in Munich- So, when they finish in sicily they'll be jetting off to a slightly colder part of Europe.
Hayley and Dai have been applying for jobs in Europe too- I'm feeling very unadventurous.

Saturday was a day of travelling. Massive drive back the length of sicily to the airport, return the car, get the bus to the airport, flight home.

We landed about 11pm and then we had to get the train. This is usually pretty straight forward.
We got done over by engineering works and had to get a train to london bridge, then the tube to St Pancras and then the normal train home! Urgh. It took about 2 1/2 hours rather than the usual  1hour 40 minutes. we rewarded ourselves with a shish kebab (My first one ever and it was quite delicious!) from millennium take away and a taxi home.
We finally went to bed at almost 4 am. About the same time that Hayley and Dai made it to Cardiff.