A little internet story ......
Bidston Observatory, on a cold October's evening, the heating is not working, no phone yet to be installed. It got so cold in there that the floor would creak as the sun left the top of the hill. The sun would drop beneath the tree tops, the hill trying to call her back, all to no avail.
When I first had internet there in 2005, BT had to switch it on down by The Holy Cross Church, they couldn't believe how far away it was! (paper cup and string comes to mind ...). Although by now the building's on Bidston NERC site had been under Camelot Property Management control for some time, it was still odd that there was NO internet nearer than Holy Cross. Needless to say, even in 2005 the bandwidth was like sucking hot chocolate through a straw; I'd pace up and down, the modem speaker chirping away like some caged bird. All my music gear in the NW dome was analogue and the computer/ midi equipment I used still 'Atari'-styled, so I'm glad I was that side of the cusp in tech as the Pro tools et al just does it all too easy and needs the 'net' for updates, that would have put all the lights out in the North-End back then.
Since then I've led a nomadic life, but seemed destined
to take care of the Observatory, and I did until 2012, coming and going,
working in London and beyond. I moved over to the USA in 2006, and when I
returned my bicycle was still where I left it, even though I'd officially left as a
tenant for 6 months (I had locked it to the stairs though).
At one time I came very close to buying the Big 'O', but
she was just a little too far out of my budget. I didn't want to buy her
through some kind of lottery funding or 'visitors centre' pipe dream thingy, I
wanted it as my home. I'd spent 8 years there, and the last night there was a
hard farewell. From the bedroom I climbed onto the inside window ledge and
peered out over the treetops, craning my neck to see Liverpool, saying
goodbye. That was August 2012, followed by many excruciating months driving
down the M53 and having to say 'I used to live there'. I felt like you do when
you think you've won Mayfair only to land on Old Kent road, but life goes on.
Oh, the internet story I hear you say? Ah yes, that was
never resolved; however I would come home to Bidston, no internet save some
very bad data-driven 02, and lo and behold my laptop would pick up a Netgear
signal; it was so strange, the signal was approx 3 bars, decent strength, but
there was no router in the building that we knew of that was active,
everything NERC was effectively switched off in 04', and yet there was
this signal bouncing around merrily
into the night in 2011. My only theory is that it was antennae on the roof of
the still present Joseph Proudman Building, still switched on, a little like
the Voyager Probe, into the darkness and there was I to intercept it's signal.
Me? I think it was free internet from the heavens,
thanking me for keeping the grand old lady safe.