Alan White wrote:

On Sun, 16 Dec 2007 16:53:17 -0000, "paulus" wrote:

...
Go outside on a clear dark night. Look up at the stars and ask your self
"will we really be missed?"

Even that's becoming more and more difficult.

The last time we saw a clear dark sky was at 14,500 feet close to the
Sikkim/Nepal border in the foothills of Kanchenjunga in 2001. Nothing
that I've seen in the UK in the last thirty-odd years compares to that
sort of sky. It's unbelievably beautiful - and humbling.

When I was a kid walking home at night in the 50s, the only street lights
were gas and they didn't light much of the street let alone the sky. Any
clear night, I could see the Milky Way, which is something I haven't seen
for decades.

I think the last time I saw the night sky properly was 1964, when I used to
walk the couple of miles from a bus stop on the A6 to work at RAE
Thurleigh. On a really clear night, it came home to me that I was standing
on the outer skin of a rock floating through space, and there seemed
nothing between me and the stars.

Nowadays, someone says there'll be an Aurora visible over southern England
and I'll say "so what; I'll never see it - the sky's always orange anyway."

--
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks., UK. E-mail: newsman, not newsboy.
"What use is happiness? It can't buy you money." [Chic Murray, 1919-85]