[Shiraz (Ray)]

thanks for the responses. Good to know that the weather in some other places has been OK, even if not everywhere.

My big worry is that the apparent downward trend in sky clarity down here over the last decade could mean that we have a new "normal", as the increasing temps and associated cloud cover begin to bite. That would be a pity. I would not be so concerned if we had the odd bad year, but there looks to be a fairly consistent and strong trend over a fairly long period of time. Ah well, just another thing that is "not as good as the old days". What with light pollution, clouds and the sun+moon, maybe it's time to build a radio telescope.