A day in the life of a Middle Manager...

A day out...

Not a Grand Day Out but a more modest day out at Jodrell Bank which, I now realise, is fewer than 30 miles from our house and we've never visited. Shame on us!

After paying the very modest fee to get in (only £3 for a car, not per person) we had a wander round the small site (you're only allowed up to the radio telescope and in the arboretum really) and stood in awe looking at the massive Lovell Telescope which stands around 215 feet tall.

Every now and then you'll hear a whirring sound -- if you look at the telescope reasonably closely when you hear the sound you'll find it's moving round on its tracks very slightly to reorient itself with whatever is being observed; the telescope automatically adjusts for the Earth's spin.

One of the interesting facts on the information boards that are located near the telescope is that if you had a mobile phone turned on on the surface of Mars the telescope would be sensitive enough to detect it. This is why you're asked (although it didn't seem to be DEMANDED) to turn off your mobile phone when you enter the facility.

If only there were more "Mobile Free Zones" around, perhaps then we wouldn't have to suffer people walking round supermarkets asking whoever is on the other end of the conversation what type of bread they wanted them to buy...