Time

It's strange to think how many million light years it takes for the light of the stars to reach us.

We are just little specks of dust floating around in this big old universe.

This little speck of dust has decided that it's time to move on.

A little bit of closure occurred today. A Memorial service that had at least 800 people present, organised in the space of 48 hours, with military precision by one of our colleagues. Supported by friends of the school, families of current and former students, the staff and students today said "Farewell" and celebrated who Geoff was. Poignant from start to finish, made all the more so for the strength and dignity of Geoff's wife and children who attended.

Our students did us proud, and Geoff's wife commented on how proud and thrilled he would have been to have been the centre of so much attention from so many people in the school that he loved.

A solo performance by one of our students of Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge over Troubled Water" filled us with pride and caused the tears to flow but we know that it was so appropriate as he thought that this particular young lady has talent - he is right and she was a star all day - first thing this morning, she had no lyrics and no background accompaniment - youtube and google to the rescue, and after a couple of hours rehearsal she belted it out like she'd been singing it for years.

Seeing the poise of Geoff's family and the open warmth that they have for the school has, I think, allowed a number of us to begin to make some steps towards accepting and moving on a little bit. It will hurt, and the tears will catch us all out, no doubt when we least expect it. But after laughter this afternoon and images reminding us of a man, larger than life, who believed in work to live, not live to work, I think we are ready to move forward.

The image - a section of the night sky. Levels tweaked and a bit of sharpening. Lots of noise, but it's pretty. It's in the section of sky where Cassiopeia is found. A shooting star plummeted into this section of sky about a minute before I pressed the shutter! Typical.
Issues with the webcam attachment for the telescope - drivers not Windows 7 compatible - will sort that at the weekend. No more looking at the stars tonight though - batteries are dead in the telescope!

Thanks for everything these last few days. Colleagues, friends, blippers. You're all fab :-)