Back in the UK - The Moon and Sirius

I drove from Portsmouth to Lancashire yesterday - the weather was very sunny compared to the downpours that I encountered in Bilbao when trying to locate the port exit from the A8 - but extremely cold! The crossing was not particularly comfortable in that the sea was rough - I got more than an inkling of this when I was advised to make sure that the handbrake was on my vehicle as it was going to be rough and the chocks placed inder my wheels. En-route to the cabin a lady member of the French staff guiltily refilling sick bag holders in the corridor was another clue. My cabin was on deck 7 at the bow end in the centre so I could see exactly what the captain upstairs (I don't think that is a term sailors would use) could see. The movement of the head of the flagpole at the bow gave an idea of the movement of the ship as it moved up and down vertically with respect to the horizon. It was worse overnight but I seem to have my sea legs now - although I slept through most of it. The most annoying thing was that at the bottom of the trough it sounded as though a large piece of resonant metal was being hit with a huge sledgehammer - quite a bang! This must have some effect on the integrity of the hull and I suppose is a a factor in the lifetime of the ship.

As I approached Winter Hill to my right from the M6 I could see the Moon fairly low to the horizon above the hill with a phase (Waxing) of 90% and exhibiting the apparent Moon enlargement that is often talked about.

Later that night I could see Orion to the South East and Sirius. A clear night but with my telescopes still packed in the truck - no chance for telescopic observing or imaging.