Chris.B:
Over the years the trees surrounding our garden grew until I could
only just see a tiny little bit of sky directly overhead. Where a dark
cloud seemed to hover all year round despite the almost constant
hurricanes sweeping across our area. Then a neighbour caught paranoia
and installed several hundred kilowatts of security lighting directly
south of me. I wouldn't have minded that, so much, but he fitted robot
machine gun towers along our perimeter fence and my yard became a
pockmarked no man's land.

Then the pair of shire horses, which I used to drag my massive
mounting to the only dark spot seventeen miles down the road, died. So
the axles on the wheels of my mounting rusted up until even a local
farmer's giant, Case II, caterpillar tractor couldn't move it. It just
sank deeper and deeper until it needed another Case II tractor to pull
it out and they both went off in a huff. Now they shoot at me if they
see me on the road. Then a Martian meteorite scored a direct hit on my
telescope and my priceless 30mm f:57 Zeiss APO was no more.

After 13 years of inactivity I used 73 gallons of neat WD40 on the
mounting with the intention of offering it to to the local astro club.
But they disbanded rather than take on the responsibility for
disposing of it as toxic waste. So now I just keep the curtains closed
and ignore the deep lake surrounding my mounting caused by the
tractors. I bought a rowing boat with an outboard motor to go out
there once. Just to see if anything could be salvaged. But the boat
foundered in a storm and was lost with all hands. The huge crocodiles
which had begun to infest the lake cleaned up the mess but the boat
was never seen again. Then the local authority made a compulsory
purchase order on the little island surrounding my mounting and
stacked nuclear fuel rods out there to "cool off". So I haven't really
done much observing of late....

Do you know of Rodney Dangerfield?

Davoud

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm