pre-Solstice Sunset Somethingorother

[akicif]

Well, there seems to be a small break in the weather as far as the rain goes, but the clouds are still more or less 8/8.

Still in Edinburgh, I'm looking at finding a vaguely high place that's not too incredibly far from a nice warm pub (where "nice" here is short for "has good beer and no telly").

Come to think of it, if the rain comes back I may just head to said pub. Suggestions?

Comments

[autopope.livejournal.com]

I think you want The Regent on Calton Road -- this time of week it'll be mostly empty. No TV, no juke box, good [cheap] food, GBG grade beer, and it's at the base of Calton Hill.

If you end up there, text me and I may come out for a pint.

[feorag.livejournal.com]

It's not on Calton Road, but at the top of Abbeyhill.

[akicif.livejournal.com]

And it never rains, but it - er - rains.

According to aurorawatch, we've an Amber Alert tonight, meaning that if the weather was nice and clear, and we were far enough from streetlights, there'd be a chance of seeing some pretty lights in the sky....

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

You know, in the US, an Amber Alert is about a kidnapped/missing child. It's named after a child who was kidnapped and killed. Amber Alerts go up on highway signs, out on emails, all over.

[akicif.livejournal.com]

Didn't know that, thanks. Here "amber" is the colour between red and green on traffic lights, and hence the penultimate alert colour.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

We usually call that color on traffic signals "yellow."

[akicif.livejournal.com]

I used to wonder why we used "amber", thinking once that it was a way of avoiding having to use "orange", but when I came to the mainland, they called the middle light "amber", too. It's so ingrained now that I don't even think about it anymore.

[rhialto.livejournal.com]

In the netherlands that light is also called orange, not amber.

[camies.livejournal.com]

Aurorawatch 'not currently registered'. I used to subscribe to an aurora-alert feed but it was precious little use in Hammersmith! ... according to the diary I kept at school we saw the aurora from there (in Sussex) but fiendishly I can't remember it (possibly I was shortsighted even then and so couldn't appreciate it) and so have no memory of ever seeing an Aurora.
(Sorry, previous non-logged-in comment was me)

[akicif.livejournal.com]

Oops - aurora_watch (thinks: maybe I should post a list of communities and feeds I read someday - it might provoke other folk into doing the same!).

I think I remember seeing the aurora from the Belfast to Liverpool ferry on a school trip to London, but it's not impossible that what we saw was the lights of Isle of Man seaside resorts reflected off a cloud. Then just after Hallowe'en a couple of years back, a group of us went from Edinburgh to Glasgow to provide torchbearers for the launch of the new river lighting scheme, and as it had been an aurora_watch red alert, we detoured onto a wee B road in the middle of nowhere and stopped until we had our nightvision.

I can only describe what we saw as barely-flickering shades of black: either we had a rather depressing consensual hallucination, or the aurorae as seen on TV and film are speeded up time-exposures....

We certaintly didn't see any last night, but then as it was still twilight almost all night, I'm not awfully surprised (I could read a paperback by ambient light at 11pm, and also at 3am).

(am deleting the anon comment "for tidiness" as the content's the same)

[purplerabbits.livejournal.com]

Me and Jon will be at the Holyrood tonight with some anarchists. You're welcome to turn up there or text me and let me know what you end up doing...

[ophelia-complex.livejournal.com]

>anarchists

Do they actively practise anarchy? if so what do they do? During the make poverty history campaign there were groups of "anarchists" selling T-shirts with random anti-capitalist slogans written on them. Oh the irony of it! Still, it sums up nicely what I think of "anarchists".

[purplerabbits.livejournal.com]

Since you have just told me what you think of them without meeting them I don't see why I should tell you any more

[wolfette]

I'm still feeling a deep affection for my kitchen window - Harrison is up a hill (though not very high) - I even have a bottle or two of wine to keep me company.

[akicif.livejournal.com]

Sun's out. Heading to Calton Hill now....