Heatwave Eclipse

Yesterday there was a partial eclipse, I think about 90% of the sun was covered. Fifteen hours later the following day we were in a heatwave, the temperature rose above 35°c. This is the 5th heatwave of the year and there has not been a single drop of rain throughout the whole summer on this part of England. The draught is taking a toll on everything, some business that rely on water like hair dressers and various manufacturers have stopped making profit. The water companies are worried about running out of water for domestic use. It feels like we're in a desert. There is dead and dry grass and bushes everywhere. 

I learn something new every day, the last few days are no different. I always thought the river Thames : pronounced "tems" was a seamless flowing water mass, that a boat could just go from Windsor to Oxford; I was wrong. There are partitions in the river that are sectioned off by wiers and locks. You would have to bring your boat into a lock to make significant progress upstream. You would need to bring the boat into the lock, then shut the lock doors and wait for the lock to fill with water and then open the exit doors to the lock. 

The other thing I learnt is there is another BT advertisement board outside high Wycombe hospital, on the side of the board is a dial pad with a microphone and speaker in the panel, if you lost your things and found yourself stranded and far from home, you could make a free emergency phone call to a friend or family member to rescue you. You could even call the police or ambulance. 

I also learnt that some of the built in games on the Evercade-Alpha have a persistent score board. It's more than an emulator, they added some code to allow the score board to persist after you have turned the console off. I find that is useful because I would try to beat my best score every time I turn it on. 

Seeing things

I don't know if it is just me but I notice innuendos in ordinary everyday things. I think that is part of being human, we see things that are not there, we see faces in grains. We see shadows of people when there are no people. We see shapes in the clouds and we see animals in random boulders.

In the Royal Air Force museum in the UK there is a deactivated 'blood hound' surface to air missile in the car park. It's job was to shoot down missiles that are fired at the UK.  Luckily it was never used. Anyway, I am the only person I know of that noticed that it was pointing at the near-by housing estate. The housing estate in Graham Park was over crowded and neglected for many years. I felt like they were trying to say the place should be demolished.

I am also the only person I know of that noticed the shamrock leaf impression embedded in the wall of the high Street parade in between St Georges shopping center and the Pub in Harrow on the hill town center. You see, that spot is the way to the older high street. I feel like it was put there  because the builders wanted shoppers to have good luck before walking close to angry drunk men. This is probably wrong, but I thought that way.

I look at the new one pound coin and I notice that the outer edges of the coin is made of Brass and the inner circle of the coin is made of Nickel. It is like the coin is a Nickel coin wearing a Brass Tuxedo. It is like the Bank of England is trying to say that the English pound is over valued. Like they are lying about how much gold they can pledge to people with money. In the UK Nickel coins have less value then the brass 1 and 2 pound coins.  Obviously I am seeing meanings to things that are fabricated in my head.

I'm not all that different to the ancient people that would think an eclipse was some sort of sign. Or would think a woman clapping too loud is a Wich and set fire to her. The difference is that I suppress my superstitious side and use reason to think more clearly.