Rain in the desert
Hello again from the mountain. Once more it’s 6am and I’m sitting in the middle of the desert. Only this time it’s raining. Very strange. Supposedly they have only had heavy (meaning you can’t count the spots on one hand) rain here once before in the last 20 years. Just about the opposite of Glasgow. It’s been raining for over 6 hours continuously - at least I feel at home!
The plus side (for me) is that the telescopes are closed, so I can get on with some other work, and get to bed early. My visiting astronomer was not quite so happy. Also, buildings in the desert tend not to be very waterproof. About half an hour after the rain started, the residencia started to flood. Cue lots of frantic people with sandbags, mops and even blankets! My walk to my room requires walking through puddles and avoiding the large bins catching drips in strategic places along the walkways. At least the swimming pool is full.
The telescopes are better protected, as they shouldn’t even get one drop on the mirrors. That’s typical Paranal priorities - humans are far easier to dry out than telescopes.
August 30th, 2006 at 6:02 pm
Don’t tell us about rain! Did you know we came back from our holiday to find the well was empty? Leaks in very old clay pipes meant that the spring water wasn’t even getting to the well so we’ve had to dig it all up put new drains in and Dad has cemented the inside of the well so it should be working by the end of the week if it stops raining so we can waterproof the tank. It’s been a mixture of Ground Force and Time Team!
Hope you are feeling better.
William is pleased he has a new very posh bike. We look forward to seeing you very soon.
Love from us all