City of the Moon

As my final moonwalk of 2009 approaches, I'm locked away in my study planning for the big night. New Year's Eve. The bluemoonwalk. And where will moonwalk number 13 take me? Why, back to London of course. Where this adventure began all those months ago.

Charged with energy (and full moon juice) after my fantastic moonraking adventure in Wiltshire earlier this month, I began to research London's lunar links. I knew the Royal Observatory connection, because of my first trek from Greenwich to Waltham Abbey along the Meridian in January. I knew the Thames could be interesting - it being a moon-pulled, tidal river and gateway to England's capital.

But how was I to know London could harbour so many lunar treats? Honestly, it's quite unbelievable.

Without giving too much away, here's what I'm hunting for on New Year's Eve, for the blue moon of 2009.


The Temple of Diana, Roman moon goddess. The Temple of Isis, Egyptian moon goddess. The mass MJ moonwalk of 2009. The London MoonWalk. Moonrise from Canary Wharf. A lunar Millennium marker. A terrifying London landmark. And much, much more.

Many, many miles, all in one night. Among friends and strangers. I just hope the clouds part and Lady Luna smiles upon us all.

As Big Ben strikes midnight, and the country celebrates the arrival of a new decade, I'll be celebrating the end of a capital adventure, the end of an astronomically successful year. And the beginning of a year that has gigantic shoes to fill. I think I'm up for the challenge.

(Oh, and I'm now the proud owner of the moon. Well, an acre of it. I'll tell you more after my birthday...)

Moon Man in the USA...sort of

Night-Time London Under Snow

As the year creeps through slushy snow to its conclusion, and Moonwalking (the year-long adventure) prepares to hang up its tatty, battered boots (bear with me here), I seem busier than ever. Busy planning. Busy planning a memorable finale to my year. And, as my little project has helped create, a finale to the International Year of Astronomy.

Last night, I appeared on Astronomy FM with two lovely people I met through Twitter. Tavi and Rob, who run an amateur astronomy website (a website about amateur astronomy, not an amateur website about astronomy) called A Sky Full of Stars invited me onto their radio show. One problem - they're in America, in North Carolina. And I'm not. But why should we let a few tens of thousands of miles ruin the fun? we thought.

At 1am this morning (GMT), 8pm on the east coast of America, the world became a smaller place. Just for an hour. But what a fun hour it would turn out to be - full of stories, questions, technical challenges and moon union (moonion?).

By 9pm, I was tired. By 11pm, after a day of editing the same sentence a few hundred times for my day job, I was shattered. By midnight, I was asleep. But thankfully by 1am, I was full of life - or, more accurately, full of tea. And an odd concoction that the pharmacy promised would unbung a blocked ear that, for the last week, has been causing me to say "Uh?" far more often than usual.

So with a mute ear, an echoey laptop, a pair of rather cheap earphones and another cup of tea to my side, I connected with Tavi and Rob over Skype. I then entered an interactive presentation room with lots of attendees who wanted to learn more about moonwalking and, more specifically, this New Year's bluemoonwalk.

After an hour, success! The ear had begun to unblock. Oh, and the show ("Moonwalking with Rob Self-Pierson"), was building to a climax. We showed videos and photos and talked lunar gardening and lunar fishing and horror and lunacy and violence and bras. We shared stories. We reminisced about times we'd found the moon shining down upon us, sparking memories in our minds, warmth in our hearts.

And I realised what I've done. What I've achieved.

I've made it. I've survived a year of challenges and come out of it with a big smile. Each photo that glided through the slideshow reminded me of the people I've met - the paranormal investigators, the drunk Highlander, the pen enthusiasts, the pencil enthusiasts, the hikers, the lunar gardener, the moonrakers, the astronomers, the mediums. And reminded me of the stories - about the mythical waterhorses, the Roman legion, the Devil, lunar harvesting, smuggling, bombing, warring. And highlighted those connections to the moon that are still such an important part of our lives today, even if we don't realise.

This time last year I was boning up on EB White and lunar phases and the biological tides theory. Since then, I've crossed Great Britain by the light of the full moon to make the human connections and discover a side of life that's usually kept quiet. Night life. Moon life.

It's been fantastic. Thank you to Tavi and Rob for helping me to relive some of those memories.

Merry Christmas and Lunar Blessings to you all.

10% over North Carolina, USA

Many thanks to Tavi Greiner from these beautiful photos of the crescent moon over the Shallotte River Inlet, southeast coastal North Carolina.

The blue moon is a mere baby in these photos - just three days, ten hours and 43 minutes old!

Moon and Jupiter - Shallotte River Inlet, North Carolina (photo by Tavi Greiner)

10% Waxing Crescent (photo by Tavi Greiner)

The Road to the Blue Moon will move to www.bluemoonwalk.org tomorrow, with a fancy new gallery (if I can work out how to install it!)

9% and waxing...

My attempts at catching a falling moon at sunset:

Moon Over My Neighbour's House, Waltham Abbey, 19.12.09

 

Upside Down - the 40x Telescope View, 19.12.09

 

Off to Sleep, 19.12.09

6% crescent and growing!

Here are two more fine shots in the build-up to the bluemoonwalk this New Year's Eve.

Wherever you are, however good your camera, take a snap and send it on! And see your photo published on the blog. Please email any moon photos from the next fortnight to rsp[at]robertselfpierson.co.uk

Saratoga, New York (photos by Louis Suarato 18.12.09)