Big Brother Is Watching You!

I was told yesterday that the International Space Station would be passing directly overhead of where I live, and would be visible in the night sky. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, it being the start of the Wimbledon fortnight, any view of the space station was obscured by dense rainclouds.

Coincidentally, the image (left) released by NASA at the weekend, is a photograph taken from the space station of the UK on a rare cloudless night, in which virtually the whole country is lit up like a gigantic oil refinery. On examining the image closely, I became puzzled by what seems to be a large area of blackness  where my hometown of Sheffield should be.

In considering this, the amusing answer finally dawned on me. It is undoubtedly a widespread, typical reaction of the majority of Sheffielders along the lines of how they would have reacted in the days when many city folk lived in close proximity ‘two up-two down’ houses, where privacy was at a premium. As would have been the indignant reaction then to a reviled ‘nosey parker’, the gruff, no-nonsense, but typical response to the intrusion from the sky would most likely have been, ‘That bleedin’ space station’s at it overhead again. Switch them bloody lights off Mother, and stop the bleedin’ thing from gawpin’ at us’.

IR 21/06/11