There is still so much more we did on our trip to England that I want to show you, but first up is our our new internet system that will make it all possible without me pulling my hair out.
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| New receiver dish on our roof. |
We got what is called "dedicated internet" from our mobile phone provider. We have a receiver dish (I guess it must transmit as well as receive for uploading).
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| The dish is more than 40 feet above the ground. |
The dish is aimed toward the nearest tower 12 miles away where its partner dish, which is aimed right at us, is mounted. The service is called "dedicated" because we are the only ones who can use the paired dishes and their reserved bandwidth. It is not cheap, but that is another cost of staying connected while living so remotely. I was very impressed with how quickly the 2-man installation team got it all set up and aimed correctly. We opted to go with the slowest speed which seems OK and is considerably less expensive that the next step up. We have used it for a month now and are very pleased.
Back to Bath Spa now, for a trip through a canal lock. I think it was our first evening there that we watched a narrow boat navigating through a lock. It was fascinating to me, so I took lots of photos. You will be pleased to know that I narrowed down the selection in consideration of you, my readers. The gorgeous light of a mid-summer evening was beautiful.
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| Waiting for the lock to fill. |
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| The top of the narrow boat is still lower than water of the next level. |
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| At last the water is the same level and the gates of the lock can swing open. All those people standing and watching the folks pushing the gates are my family. |
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| Almost open enough to clear. |
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| And she's through! |
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| The gates were closed behind her. |
I'll mix in more of our holiday in upcoming blogs.
Were you able to watch the lunar eclipse night before last? I thought cloud cover was going to keep us from watching it, but the clouds thinned out for part of it. I got a few shots worth sharing. I used my new camera, which I am still trying to master. I'll have to write a post about it some time soon, too. It doesn't have telephoto lens per se, so these are highly cropped.
Oh - Happy New Year!
Thank you for the nice windows into your life and travel, Wilma. What an amazing thing that you can be connected to the world through that dish.
ReplyDeleteHope you are feeling better, Mary. Being connected is so important to our quality of life. Many things here are cheaper here than in the US, but internet is not one of them!
Deletei always enjoy reading your updates!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jen! I really must increase the frequency, but some how life intervenes. You know how that goes.
DeleteHappy New Year, Wilma!
ReplyDeleteI didn't see the lunar eclipse, but I'm assuming this last photo (especially) is better than anything I'd have seen on my own.
Be well.
Thanks, Robyn. It was pretty far away! A telescope would have been best.
ReplyDeleteSo excited about your new dish! I love the way it reaches into the sky. And the locks... I could watch boats go through locks for hours. This one is especially charming. We have a friend who used to live on the Ballard Locks in Seattle. Boats of all sizes. We could watch from her window or just walk outside. So much fun. (And quite a bit of skill required to maneuver!)
ReplyDeleteThese poor folks were having to backtrack to find an overnight mooring. They had already been through this series of locks only to find all the spots taken and had to go back through 5 locks! What a workout. It was fun to watch, though.
DeleteI guess the dish has to be high up to get a level line of sight. An iffy internet connection is very frustrating.
ReplyDeleteNo Lunar eclipse shots here - total cloud though, to rub it in, the next morning was completely clear.
Forgot to mention how much I enjoyed reading about your turtle visitor in the last post.
Yes, the line of sight is important and there is jungle all around us. But worth the effort because it works so well. Glad you enjoyed reading about the turtles. Forgot to mention in this post that we had another nest hatch 44 live turtles, so we are well and truly psyched about it.
DeleteA lovely read Wilma. Like the eclipse photos.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Marc. I enjoyed taking the photos and seeing what this camera could do. So many gorgeous shots of it on the internet; it was a sight to behold.
DeleteLovely photos of the locks, funnily enough, despite living in England all my life I've never been near one.
ReplyDeleteWe had near perfect views of the lunar eclipse here where I live and it turning an orange colour.
Your new internet connection on the pole is brilliant but it does seem a tad prominent should you get strong winds, will it survive such an event.
So far, so good with the dish on the tall pole. We have had some high winds, but no real storms yet. Some guy wires wouldn't be a bad thing.
DeleteHow interesting, Wilma, to see the lock at close quarters. I used to go to Bath often for hospital treatment (there was even a bit of Roman mosaic inside, in the foundation). Thank you for your kind comment.
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