Tennis balls and trampolines
Jan. 20th, 2007 05:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
todayiamadaisyI often feel that my career as an astronomer has been cruelly thwarted by the fact that I live somewhere that is so frequently cloudy. My space watch newsletter has been full of excitement about Comet McNaught, spectacularly visible to all in the southern hemisphere except those of us in the City by Sea. We can't even see the sky, let alone any celestial bodies swanning about in it. Galileo may have had cloudy horizons, what with the trouble with the Church and all that, but at least he had clear skies.
On a completely different note, I went for a walk yesterday evening and stopped to talk to a friend who was weeding her front garden. As we stood and chatted, the three boys who live next door came out to play a game of cricket in their driveway, which they blocked off at the entrance by standing their trampoline on its side. With the batsman standing in front of it, the trampoline thus acted as both wicket and wicketkeeper, and also prevented the tennis ball they were using from going out onto the road.
So, first ball: the bowler started his run near the garage end and bowled a rather wild delivery that hit a tuft of grass on the driveway and bounced high over the batsman before rebounding from the trampoline onto the batsman's head. His two brothers were much amused.
Second ball: a faster delivery than the first, this one bounced off the trampoline and back onto the bowler. His two brothers were much amused.
Third ball: defeated by the trampoline, they changed ends and batted in front of the garage instead. All spectators were much amused.
On a completely different note, I went for a walk yesterday evening and stopped to talk to a friend who was weeding her front garden. As we stood and chatted, the three boys who live next door came out to play a game of cricket in their driveway, which they blocked off at the entrance by standing their trampoline on its side. With the batsman standing in front of it, the trampoline thus acted as both wicket and wicketkeeper, and also prevented the tennis ball they were using from going out onto the road.
So, first ball: the bowler started his run near the garage end and bowled a rather wild delivery that hit a tuft of grass on the driveway and bounced high over the batsman before rebounding from the trampoline onto the batsman's head. His two brothers were much amused.
Second ball: a faster delivery than the first, this one bounced off the trampoline and back onto the bowler. His two brothers were much amused.
Third ball: defeated by the trampoline, they changed ends and batted in front of the garage instead. All spectators were much amused.