Hot electric premiere.

[caddyman]

So yesterday as usual I sloped off early from work for games night. A good thing, too – the heat would have been unbearable on the tube if it was packed. I have yet to decide how best to approach the same journey tonight, I guess it will be back to the post 6pm train in the hope of missing the crowds. I can’t keep disappearing home from work early (though I’d like to).

Getting home was fine. Getting in to find that the power was off was a bit more disappointing. I fancied a cup of coffee, but frankly I was damned if I was going to stand by the stove and boil water in a pan. So I did the only sensible thing left to me. I went upstairs, got changed into a tee-shirt and shorts and flaked out on the bed. When I awoke some 2 hours later, the power was back, colonel_maxim having arrived back at the Athenaeum Club during my kip with the recharged prepay for the meter (I wish we had a proper electricity meter). This is good if for no other reason than I really need the electric fan to give me the illusion that I am being kept cool at night. I guess I should eventually doze of anyway, given that I managed it when I got home, but…

I remain perplexed by simple laws of physics.

Today the Earth reaches the aphelion of its orbit around the sun. It is over three million miles further out than it is in January when we are closest. Why then, the extra distance can’t make up for the fact that that we (in the northern hemisphere) are tilted toward the sun is beyond me. In winter, when we are tilted away, you might be excused for thinking that despite having the sun’s rays hit is at an angle, being more than 3 million miles closer might compensate. It doesn’t, or at least not enough to notice.

I shall just have to hope that the Met Office is correct and that we shall get thunderstorms from tomorrow.

On a final note, I see that Keira Knightley attended the London premier of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest yesterday and nearly forgot to wear a dress. As my mother would say, it was a daring little thing that she just threw on and nearly missed. It was quite fetching in a “this will be exciting if the wind blows” sort of way.

She could probably do with a good meal with lots of suet in it.

Comments

[ysharros.livejournal.com]

mmm Keira. I think t'was manamar who used to refer to such confections as "gownless evening straps".

mmMmmMmMMMmmmm, Johnny Depp. Had to be said. I'll just get me coat.

[sack-boy.livejournal.com]

There's a couple of factors, both as a result of the tilt, that affect the heat. Firstly, as you say, in the winter the angle means that the amount of the solar energy per square metre is reduced compared to the summer. Secondly the shorter days in the winter mean that there is less time to warm up the area with that reduced energy supply.

The earth's perihelion (1.02 AU) is about 1.04 times further out than the aphelion (0.98 AU), by the inverse square law this comes out about 1.083 times less energy. In contrast the average length of a summer day (~15 hrs) is about 67% longer than a winter day (~9 hrs) which is significantly greater than the variation in solar energy. Add in the increase in energy caused by the angle of incidence then you will have a much greater greater affect.

Well, that's my theory, at least.

And I agree re meals with suet in, scrawny bean poles are not nice.

[queenortart.livejournal.com]

I remain perplexed by simple laws of physics.

Me too - that frock defies gravity.

[bluesman.livejournal.com]

Yes, Ms Knightley seems like a nice girl, but the poor wee thing really could do with some meat on her bones. Dr Two-Dog prescribes a couple of carne asada burritos from the Mexican supermarket across the street from our church. Eminently tasty and gloriously greasy.