Tullamore AS Perseids Report

Hi all,
well, like last year, the long range forecast was a hit and miss affair! Was it going to be cloudy or not? It changed from around 40% cloud cover on the night, to clearing up as the night wore on. That was the main worry!

The other was, will people be able to find the site alright?!?! Some who had been asking for directions to the site, it was their first time down this neck of the woods. For the most part, everyone got the directions fine!

On Saurday evening, people arrived, tents were pitched amid a flurry of wasps, honey bees, and a red ant colony! Poor John Murphy found the local ant life easily, inadvertently, when he literally pegged one corner of his tent beside the entrance to the ant colony! Oops!

Leo Daly was walking around the clear area we had for the campfire, to almost stumble onto the wasp nest that made itself at home on the ringside, forcing Leo, his son Mark, and John to retreat to their cars for a litle while!

Then I and Dave MacDonald arrived, and we all agreed if we minded our own business, TAS's free tenants will mind theirs - otherwise they could have met a nasty eviction! ("flame war" anyone? :lol:)

Later, more that came included Michael and Denise, Darren Dempsey with his fishing stories, Ronan Newman from cold Mayo (I was getting regular forecasts from him throughout the day of its cloudy here, its cold here, sure I'll head down anyway!

It turned out to be a cloudy evening, but we all took our turns on the bar-b-q, and sat around the campfire in our easy-chairs, confident the wasps would be kept at bay by the amount of smoke raised by the bar-b-q ()...and the campfire! Later, David and Yvonne Brannigan also made it down and soon we were all enjoying bar-b-q cooked food and stories around the campfire.

Cloud was everywhere, yet the forecast was for clear spells. We did get a few clear patches where we could recognise some of the constellations we had a view of. And the only meteor we say of the night was a fantastic and bright one through part of Aquila. I thought myself, during the night when I had my little radio on that I picked up 2 faint 'bursts'

Still, the drinks kept flowing and the Pringles crunching - as well as the marshmallows a-roasting! We didn't retire till almost 3am!

In the morning, around 8:30am, we all awoke to a stunningly beautiful day - with clear skies even 4 hours too late! :x

Still, as a Perseids Watch, there's really nothing to report. As a TAS Star-B-Q, despite cloud keeping some folks away, we had a great time, that it has been requested by all to do the same again in the next couple of weeks, or by the end of September.

TAS will keep you posted!

Seanie.

Sounds like ye had fun despite the cloud. It was the same here in kerry, clouded out saturday night but some clear spells on Fri and last night.

Sorry I couldn't make it.

Out of interest, has the TAS BBQ ever been held on a clear night?

Out of interest, has the TAS BBQ ever been held on a clear night?

:lol: It has! The last 3 were patchy cloud for the better part, in 2002 and 2003, it was raining.

Poor John Murphy found the local ant life easily, inadvertently, when he literally pegged one corner of his tent beside the entrance to the ant colony! Oops!

I thoroughly enjoyed the night, despite a couple of nasty acid burns (or whatever it is they do to you) from the red ant population. Despite the cloud, it was still great to talk to people with a like mind. Advice aplenty was on offer, as well as a bottle of Jameson courtesy of Michael O'Connell. Cheers to all who turned up, I'll definitely be back for the next one.