On Sat 9 Jan at 10:52am Nevillman wrote:
I am thinking that the view North from the downs has been clearer than ever in the last year. I remember thinking that I have been able to clearly see to ashdown forest and the weald regularly whereas in previous years it was more occasionally and rarely as clearly.
I would like to know if other people have a similar impression or I have just forgotten what it is normally like.
On Sat 9 Jan at 12:13pm David Stanley wrote:
Yes it's lack of pollution in the air. When I was flying light aircraft years ago it was surprising how bad visibility could be on summer days due to particles being sucked up in thermal activity. There is now much less air pollution due to lockdown and little thermic activity in this cold period.
On Sat 9 Jan at 7:30pm Nevillman wrote:
Do you mean that aircraft flying over normally cause the thermic activity that suck up the particles? But not this year.
On Sat 9 Jan at 11:31pm Tom Pain wrote:
Today? I can't even see Nevil estate, actually that was this morning but I still can't see ashdown forest or rather couldn't. After rain the air is clear of dust and you can see for miles. I was thinking today what it would be like if we had transitioned to renewables. No heating brrr, you wouldn't have to worry about infecting granny with your disease, she'd be a block of ice already. I wonder how many extinction rebels have left the heating off? I thought so!
On Sun 10 Jan at 10:10am Formerly AC-T wrote:
It's so foggy this morning that I can barely see the Nevill estate and I live there!
I certainly noticed how much clearer the air was during the first lockdown. From our first floor windows, we used to be able to see the radio mast at Crowborough Beacon, and occasionally the one near Heathfield, when it was very clear.
Last spring, we could see them on most dry days.
On Sun 10 Jan at 3:20pm Tom Pain wrote:
There's a mast near Cross in Hand ? that has three red lights at night. The Crowborough one was decommissioned a while ago, I'm not sure if it's still there. There's another with two white lights east of Cross in Hand, maybe Heathfield?
On Mon 11 Jan at 9:17am Formerly AC-T wrote:
I'm not sure, TP, without waiting for a clear day and taking a compass bearing from my bedroom window and plotting it on an OS map!
The front of my house faces more or less due east, I'd say that the transmitter that I thought was Heathfield was NE or possible ENE. In the NNE, the hill that is Crowborough Beacon is clearly visible on clear days and I could swear the (decommissioned) mast was still there last time I looked.
Further to the right along the ridge, there's a smaller hill, with a tallish building immediatlely to its left. (I was told years ago by a local resident that this building was the old windmill at Windmill Hill, but a quick look at my road atlas tells me that it's too far north to be that.) Then, a bit further to the right, is another mast that I assumed was the Heathfield transmitter.
It could be that the transmitter known as the Heathfield transmitter is actually at Cross in Hand, they're pretty close together. Intriguingly (well, I find it intriguing, but maybe I'm just sad) when I had to have a new tv aerial installed the other day, the guy who did it aligned it to point a few degrees east of the previous one (installed 15-20 years ago).
As for lights, I've never noticed any lights on either mast but then I've never really looked for them. Maybe on the next clear night, I'll see if I can spot any.
On Mon 11 Jan at 2:59pm David Stanley wrote:
Yes the mast north of Cross in Hand has 3 red lights on it ( or it did.) It lines up with the runway at Herrings Farm strip which is disconcerting the first time you take off there. It's on the west of Markleys wood.
On Tue 12 Jan at 10:09am Formerly AC-T wrote:
I have now ascertained that the mast that I thought was the Heathfield one has 3 red lights, so must be the one at Cross in Hand.
The one further north, that is in the right direction to be at Crowborough beacon, also has 3 red lights on.
On Tue 12 Jan at 6:36pm Nevillman wrote:
Am I the only one who can't see any lights on crowborough hill? I don't ever recall lights there.
Are we agreed that the skies are clearer since last march.
On Tue 12 Jan at 11:33pm Tom Pain wrote:
I can only see one with three lights. I was reading about perception management the other day. Witnesses of crimes , uncoerced come up with different versions all the time. In experiments it has been observed that one strong, definite, high status person influences others to change their stories after they have given them. The urge to conform to the most socially acceptable stance is very strong. I bet that in the current zeitgeist of climate change, most people will say the skies are much clearer now. Very few people look around them in the age of smart phones, they hardly look where they are even going judging by the amount of phoniacs that nearly get run over.
On Wed 13 Jan at 10:29am Nevillman wrote:
I agree that humans as social animals have a desire to conform to socially accepted norms but that has nothing to do with whether the skies are actually clearer at the moment or not Tom. You walk on the downs. Do you think they are or not? I would prefer if you could just answer that here and make wider points about climate change or phone use on a separate thread.
On Wed 13 Jan at 10:11pm Tom Pain wrote:
OK Nev, no. The lockdown has made me more garrulous,solitary confinement is a punishment in jail and I can see why. Now it's a reward for compliance to fascist diktats from the corporate dictator.
On Thu 14 Jan at 3:57pm Nevillman wrote:
I think we can extrapolate from my scientifically conducted survey above that 75% of Lewes residents think the skies are now clearer. I have now done what I should have done in the first place and googled it. Yes the skies are clearer. Tom. Your eyes are getting worse.
On Sat 16 Jan at 11:07am Tom Pain wrote:
That's it then. The science is settled. Don't believe your lying eyes, take the expert's word for it.
On Sun 17 Jan at 2:57pm IDM wrote:
I agree completely with 13 Jan 10-29. If people stuck to thread subjects, this place would be much easier to use. Sometimes I don't know where to put a post (like this one!).
On Sun 17 Jan at 10:55pm Tom Pain wrote:
I could make a suggestion.