Baby Update (20 week scan)

I had a day off on Tuesday so I could go along to the hospital with Liz for her 20 week scan (yup, she's 20 weeks, so half way through). Luckily, the scan wasn't as early as the last one, so we got what almost resembled a sleep in. 


We got to the hospital on time (despite getting a different bus than last time which went a slightly different route) and went to the scanning reception, which we now knew how to get to and told them we were here. We went to their waiting room (last time we went to the antenatal area) and waited to be called (they were running a bit late). 

Star gazing

After my recent failed attempts at trying to spot the ISS, its orbit moved such that it wouldn't be visible from the UK. Earlier today I found a site that was recording the brightness of stars in the sky, to see the effect of light polution in different places.

I don't remember much in the way of seeing stars from my previous times I had gone out to look (although we did see the bright moon recently), so thought I would be able to contribute by informing them that Luton is pretty bad for star gazing. I went outside to have a quick look and was amazed... I could actually see some stars!

I went back inside to put some shoes on for a proper look, and made a quick sketch of the constellation the site was interested in (Leo). Returning to the garden, excited at actually being able to see something but clouds for once, I started searching the sky for constellation I had sketched...

From what I got from the site, I was supposed to be looking south, so pointed myself in that direction using the tricorder app on my phone (I already knew roughly which way it was, but it makes the Star Trek noises). While it was possible to see some stars in the sky, there were not as many as I was expecting, and not enough to make the constellation I was searching for.

I turned around to face north, in case I had made a mistake about the direction I should be looking in, but there were even less stars there, and the red glow coming from Luton town centre wasn't helping one bit. I turned around to search all over the sky, but accepted that the stars were not bright enough to be able to see that much.

Somewhat dissapointed, I went back inside, and filled out the form to indicate the visibility in this area, not the worse as I could actually see some stars, but the second worse as there were only a small few that I could actually see.

It is a bit unfortunate that there isn't much to look at in the sky in Luton, but I'm seeing the positive side that at least I got to see a few stars, instead of just dark clouds in an empty sky.

Looking for the ISS

Have started looking out for the ISS passing over Luton in the evening, to see if I could see it. Tried last night but is was too cloudy. Tonight me and Liz went out to see if we could spot it, but it was still fairly cloudy out. Liz commented that as it was cloudy out we wouldn't even be able to see a plane fly over (which is apparently what the ISS would look like). A moment later, I turned to the side and pointed out a plane landing at the airport about half a mile from the house, clearly visible and huge.

Obviously, it wasn't what she meant (she was talking about planes high up not landed), but the timing of it did make me laugh :D

Health

It took a while, but we eventually got around to handing in details to be registered at the local doctors. We'd had the paperwork for a while, but seemed to have trouble getting it to the building. We finally got around to it a few weeks ago though, and set up some appointments (general check-ups as we're new to the place). 

Unpacking

Have slowly been unpacking since moving to Luton. I've been moving house at least once a year for the past five years while at Uni, so never really had a huge amount of stuff to unpack all at once, because I'd only have to pack it all up again a few months down the line. That and I'd usually only have one room to unpack into, limiting what I am able to bring along anyway. 

End of the Masters

Have been quite busy since my last post, mainly focusing on my Masters thesis. Lots of writing and some last minute changes later, and it was gradually printing out ready to be handed in. Printing took a while (lots of appendix pages), but it was all eventually done and handed in (I handed it in on the original deadline as it had been pushed back a few days) on the same day I moved out of the Hatfield flat. 

Third year (placement)

Picking up where I left off (I believe some-when around the end of August), from September 2007 (seems so long ago...) I started working for a years placement at Anritsu in Luton. The degree I was doing at the time included a sandwich (mmmm) placement year, and that was to take place between second and third year.

Before starting work, myself and Dave (who also had a placement there) went looking for houses and soon discovered the main difference between student renting and non-student renting. With student renting, houses are allocated for a year ish (about 9 or 10 months usually) and are allocated from January, for that September. This is because the academic year is fixed, so student will all be started to move in at the same time, for 9 or so months, and all move out again over the summer (so the landlords can fix up any issues with the house (*cough* hole in the wall *cough* simon *cough*) for the next lot of student to move in). Unfortunately for me and Dave, anywhere that doesn't rent to students, will only give you about a week from reserving a place until you move in. So even though me and Dave were trying to be cautious and make sure we had somewhere to live for a year in advance, we had to wait around for ages until just before we were to start work for us to find somewhere. Luckily we managed to get a place reserved for two weeks before moving in, and I moved in about a week before starting work. We had a nice little place, about 5 minutes walk from work, 5 to 10 minutes from Luton town centre (although right at the top of a fairly steep hill), and fairly close to one of the bus stops of the Uno bus route. The flat itself was a living room and kitchen on one floor, and two bedrooms and bathroom up some stairs, with the flat itself being part of a larger house.