Sundial In The Shade

Well, I'm feeling a little less tired than yesterday, which is a start. I called work to keep them informed of the situation (told them about my doctor's appointment etc) and they of course asked when I would be returning to work. I was thinking about going back on Thursday, but this evening I was checking myself out in the mirror and noticed something a little worrying. I feel, well, different on my left side than on my right - there's a sort of bump about where the pain is, and it feels hard, like bone or something. I'm sure I didn't feel like that before and I'm sure I was a little more symmetrical in the past, so that's started to scare me. Think I may have to wait until my doctor's visit until I return to work, for the sake of my mental piece of mind if nothing else. Friday can't come soon enough...

To happier thoughts, then. I finally managed to get a picture Groupie bought me hung up - rather than bang a new nail into the wall, I just took down an old cork noticeboard I never use anymore and did a little re-arranging. The BBC Test Card F is now adorning my wall, a sight I am well familiar with from my childhood. It was often broadcast for much of the daytime back then, accompanied by some light music. I've got a fridge magnet with this design also (another Groupie gift - she knows what I like)

Groupie came round today to see how I was, and wanted to know if I was feeling up to a little trip to the Cruickshank Botanic Gardens, which we found out about recently. It's been around for over a century but we had no idea of its existence until last week! To be honest, there's not much point in visiting a botanic garden at this time of the year but we went anyway to check the place out. It's a small site, only about 4 hectares of land, but it's very peaceful and I can imagine what it must be like in late spring or summer with all the flowers in bloom. We'll have to revisit then, and have a picnic!

One of the sights which is visible all year round is this magnificent sundial, which I took a picture of. I'm actually quite fond of sundials - they're actually a lot more accurate than people give them credit for! Most people don't realize that sun time and clock time are two slightly different things, for example, at this location and at this time of year a sundial will be about 15 minutes behind a properly set watch. For different locations, and different times of the year, the difference will be - well, different :) - but if you can allow for these, sundials can be made pretty accurate... In fact, there are precision sundials called heliochronometers, and they can be accurate to within a minute, which is about as good as you can physically get with a sundial. Sadly, it was cloudy so I had no chance to test this one out, but you have to admit it looks magnificent.

Hey, now I can add inline images in my blog! Only took me, what, a year and a half...

culture club

time (clock of the heart)

kissing to be clever 1982