Viewing The Moon
Hi, it’s Widley here again (that’s me on the right, to take you back to my main page, remember). Sue’s trip to Japan meant that she and Andy were apart for longer than a working week for the first time sine they got married eighteen years ago, and with a nine-without needing to link up by ‘phone. One case where the time difference worked out for them was the full moon. Andy has a moon phase calculator on his computer, and when it was going to be a full moon, Sue would have a brief sightseeing trip, so he planned that they could both look at it and share the images. He’s dead soppy that way, and "Viewing the Moon" is a special hand in Hanafuda, which they play a lot.
Sue phoned to say that she?d got this shot of the moon between the antennae of a skyscraper, taken from the Metropolitan Government Offices, of all places - free access to an observatory 45 floors up. It was still daylight in Southampton so of course we couldn't see the moon.
The previous night in Southampton had been clear, but we went outside to look and it was eight-eighths overcast. Andy was clearly disappointed but I told him that although he hadn't photographed it, it had been pretty close to full when he saw it. He ate some food, looked out at the sky again and went to bed.
But just after three in the morning UK time, he woke up and I went through to get some water. He came back all excited; lo!, there was the moon dappling the landing, coming in through the textured glass. He ran down to get the camera but the battery was flat. He stuck it in the charger for about ten minutes and made a cup of green tea, then took me outside. In the ten minutes a set of beautiful Newton's rings had appeared and he got three shots, which he emailed to Sue who was already at work. Sue say this is her favourite. She says it makes the moon look like a blossom springing from the leaves of their tree.