please empty your brain below
I wonder if you went there yesterday for the Winter Solstice -an alternative to Stonehenge!
You even got a photo of the sun.
Now looking forward to lighter evenings soon.
If you watch the 1961 Cliff Richard film "The Young Ones" you can see a musical number filmed at Ruislip Lido when swimming was permitted there. It is on Youtube if you want to see the Lido in the 60's.

John | 22.12.16 - 7:20 a.m. | #

Ruislip woods was my playground in the mid 50's to very early 60's. Those were the days that children played out ALL day WITHOUT constant adult supervision.
I remember when they filmed "A night to remember" at the Lido.

Michael | 22.12.16 - 7:37 a.m. | #

Of course the children were playing out unsupervised in the 1950s. The roads were much less busy, the men were at work or in the pub, and the women were doing the shopping, cleaning, washing, baking, cooking, etc etc. And child and domestic abuse were unheard of. They existed, but just were unheard. Happy times.

Andrew | 22.12.16 - 8:25 a.m. | #

My children have better things to do than play outside ALL DAY.

John | 22.12.16 - 8:50 a.m. | #

I was going to go there for Solstice Day yesterday too!

When I moved to the area 5 years ago, the Ruislip Lido circuit quickly became a favourite walk - until I discovered and downloaded the excellent Ruislip Woods Walks maps (mentioned in yesterdays post) which are much less crowded and noisy!

Will have to pop back and see the planets now. I'm long overdue a pint at the Water Hole anyway!

Cornish Cockney | 22.12.16 - 10:42 a.m. | #

"Pluto isn't a planet any more"

It never was a planet: it was merely erroneously recognised as one and then, after being found not to be a planet, kept on the list for ages due to inertia and nostalgia! ;)

Also, if they had something there for it, they'd have to keep moving it due to the erratic orbit.

Si | 22.12.16 - 1:55 p.m. | #

Neil de Grasse Tyson was on BBC Radio 4 - The Life Scientific this week, because Pluto has enough mass for gravity to form it into a sphere (as opposed to an irregularly shaped rock) it is now classed as one of the 'dwarf planets' - he even described it as a 'world' following the recent NASA mission.

The episode currently available to listen to on the BBC website, it might be broadcast again on R4X this week - but I'm not sure.

Still anon | 22.12.16 - 5:06 p.m. | #

Well, Pluto has a diameter of about 2,400 km, and although it is only about 0.2% the mass of the Earth, it is still massive enough to be round, so "world" makes sense. Ceres is round too, but only about 950 km across, and very few would consider it to be a proper planet. A few other asteroids are roundish, and dozens of objects in the outer Solar System are probably in the same box as Pluto, not least Eris which it probably more massive than Pluto.

Andrew | 22.12.16 - 5:36 p.m. | #

Good place to visit i like the idea with the planets :). About the Pluto yeah its not a planet anymore, I think its too small to be a planet too.

XLondonFun | 22.12.16 - 6:11 p.m. | #

I was brought up in Ruislip and remember the televised water skiing with Mike Hazelwood and others on Grandstand, you used to have to pay to get in but we knew where the gaps in the fence were.... lots of YouTube videos including this one https://youtu.be/YPkWAjjuJ6U no package holidays or cheap flights meant this would be a holiday destination.
I'm staying in Ruislip tonight so might take the dog to the woods tomorrow.

Roger | 22.12.16 - 6:52 p.m. | #

@Si

It was once a planet. It only ceased to be one when the definition of "planet" was changed.

timbo | 22.12.16 - 6:58 p.m. | #

The only plausible definition of a planet which would include Pluto but exclude Eris would be one which lists the worlds which were deemed to be planets. Unless you consider that Eris was a planet between when the word planet was invented and when its meaning was changed, but no human being was aware of it at that time.

Malcolm | 22.12.16 - 9:16 p.m. | #

These comments are going to the dog.

| 22.12.16 - 9:55 p.m. | #

By almost any reasonable definition of a planet, Pluto is not a planet, and neither is Ceres or Eris.

If we are saying that Pluto was once a planet, then Ceres was a planet too, as t was considered to be one for a few decades after it was discovered.

Andrew | 23.12.16 - 9:40 a.m. | #

As one of the designers I appreciate the comments and if anyone wishes to be told when our next public observing session in the new car park please send me an email with the subject subscribe. That will do the trick. next event by the way is in March to follow BBC's Skywatching Live.
By the way, semantically, Pluto is STILL a planet. What it is no longer is a MAJOR planet, it is now as stated above, a dwarf planet so you CAN get away with calling it a planet still!

STEWART COULTER | 23.12.16 - 5:20 p.m. | #











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