Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexN
Gary, Im sure Mark will be very happy when he reads your post... I don't know if he has access to the net from where he is staying in L.A., But I dare say he will be in contact with you as soon as he reads it..
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Thanks Alex!
As you can appreciate, we get to talk to quite a few enthusiasts and a common
theme we have seen over the years is generally how supportive spouses are
of their partner's hobby.
Some have even gone as far to say that they support their spouses interest
in amateur astronomy as they would prefer them to be out at night with the
telescope rather than out on the town elsewhere!
Many have also expressed how proud they are of their spouses in being
so smart with their knowledge of the stars, planets and universe.
Anyone who has attended a star party will know that the demographics of
amateur astronomy is currently you are more likely to be male. However,
as we know here on IIS, there are quite a few very active women enthusiasts.
One of our most regular visitors from the U.S. is a fabulous lady from Texas.
She comes to observe from Australia once or twice a year and in her case her
husband who is not an enthusiast attends to running the business back home
whilst she comes down. A very high percentage of the guests we get from
North America come with their spouses.
For those here in Australia with young families, the very mention of theme parks
like Sea World, Dream World and Movie World tends to get the kids excited
straight away.
For the grown ups whose better halves aren't imaging enthusiasts, there are
diversions such as warm beaches, relaxing spas, great cafes or even just plain
reading a book by the pool and doing nothing for a change. It's arguably an easier
"sell" than convincing them that a weekend away in a tent with a 50% predicted
chance of precipitation is really the relaxation they were looking for.
Anyway, amateur astronomy certainly seems a lot more spouse friendly right now
than some other endeavors, say for example, pro golf.
