It took most of Wednesday to chill out, but on Thursday I went back to work on the book, and by last night I’d finished the first draft of the revised and enlarged history section. Today I’m hoping to finish the first draft of the new appendix, “We are Stardust”.
Spanish taxes
The Spanish government decided that I had to declare any overseas assets by the end of April. Fair enough, although I thought that a 10,000€ minimum fine for not filing seemed a bit steep. But the instructions were all in Spanish legalese. I had to call banks in the UK for information, and even once I understood what I had to do, it didn’t work. This was probably due to…
Partial lunar eclipse
Partial Lunar eclipses are quite common. Photos like this aren’t. It was taken by Ana Garcia of AstroLaPalma.com, who offer observations (tours or private), telescope rental, the “Los Indianos” tour in Santa Cruz de La Palma and tailored astronomy travel packages.
Well that was nice!
I got a rather mysterious phone call from one of the bookshops which sells my book. The owner said that she’d sold one, and the other was stained, but I had to come and see what stained it. “It’s a surprise. And I must say, the customer’s attitude surprised me.” Obviously that roused my curiosity, and I went. My best guess was that the stain was from something like an…
Book Day
It’s World Book Day, the anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth and Cervantes’s death. And as usual, La Palma is celebrating. There will be kiosks selling books all along the Calle Real in Santa Cruz (the main street, parallel to the sea front). I’m happy to say that a couple of them have my own book. The Cabildo (island government) will be leaving books scattered over the island for anyone to pick…
Beautiful picture of the Horsehead Nebula
The European Space Agency have released this lovely video of the Horsehead Nebula in visible and infrared wavelengths. The Horsehead Nebula is in Orion’s Belt. It’s an area of dust and gas in space where stars are being born.