Monday April 22nd 2013 - S is for Stars and sillyness

This post is part of the A to Z Challenge.

I've never been particularly interested in astrology or astronomy; as far as astrology goes I think if there was any truth at all in horoscopes you could pick up any magazine or newspaper on any given day and they would all say the same thing, but as they don't then I'm afraid I just think they are a complete waste of time and only useful to those who want to believe what they read. 

Where astronomy is concerned, while I don't doubt that it's a fascinating subject for many people I've never really been 'into' it - I can just about recognise The Plough because of its distinctive shape and I can list the planets in order but that's about as far as my interest goes. I must admit though that I do enjoy staying on a camp site where there is little or no light pollution; there's something slightly mystical about a late night dog walk round a quiet site underneath a star-filled dark clear sky, and I could sit outside my tent for ages and gaze at them even though I don't know their names. I do have a friend though who is very into astronomy and it was she who caused a lot of hilarity several months ago.

She had accompanied me on a camping trip to Northumberland last August and one night came to join me in my awning for a couple of hours chat over a glass or two of wine. At the end of the evening we stood outside the awning for several minutes gazing up at the sky while she named almost every star and planet up there before she set off back to her own tent at the other side of the nearby hedge. I was just about to take the dogs for a quick walk a few minutes later when I heard her voice outside the awning, and the conversation went like this - "Are you still there?" "Yes, why?" "I can't find my tent" "What d'you mean, you can't find your tent?" "Well I went to where I thought it was but it's not there and I've just walked into a tree!"

Now had I done the same thing myself I could have blamed the wine as I don't normally drink and I'd had two large glasses, but though I was perfectly okay my friend, who drinks the stuff regularly and only ten minutes before had named all the stars in the sky, seemed to have suddenly gone completely woolly-headed. We blamed the large dose of fresh country and sea air we'd had that day and once we'd stopped giggling I escorted her back to her tent and made sure she went in it. When we met for breakfast the following morning we had another laugh about the previous night's events and I told her that with all her knowledge of the stars she should at least have been able to follow them back 'home'!