Hooray, the snow has gone. One night of heavy rain and howling winds, and at least where I live, the roads are no longer white. I noticed as I was driving back from church tonight , how dark it was again. I was beginning to get used to seeing across several fields at 12 midnight , due to the reflective characteristics of the snow. No longer. Also pleased to enjoy some dry roads and milder temperatures. I know the British talk about the weather, but it has dominated of late. Of course, with the snow melt came flooding. I popped down to the next village to check how badly it was flooded. Road closure notices, but the water has dropped. Interestingly, it must have been a full moon, and driving towards it, I could see the road quite clearly. Probably only a couple of lux in terms of illuminance, but good enough to turn off the headlights (kept the side lights on)  and still be able to drive along the road. Coming back with the moon behind, could not see a thing. Trix, commenting as a pilot , mentioned the teaching " in an emergency at night land towards the moon". As always, lighting principles seem to come into play in some many areas of life.   Enough of snow rain and wind, here is a picture of a bumble bee. Reminds me of the promise of warm sunny days to come

 

Last week I met for dinner with fellow past chairmen of the London and South eastern Region. I am very aware how important the regions are  - those who serve on the comittees and the members that support all the work the regions do. I am looking forward to visiting each region during this year. . Also last week I received my copy of the Lighting Journal, the first under the editorship of Jill Entwhistle. This is a pilot of the new monthly version and some comments have already been fed back about the layout, style and print. As Jill said in the editorial, she welcomes feedback, positive or negative.

This coming Tuesday 29th January is the next Executive Board meeting. Many issues and things to discuss and progress.

 

All the best - Pete

Snow and Sun and next Summit

I have finally got back to doing my blog on a saturday morning!  Routine can be a good discipline, but with a sprinkling of non-routine now and then. I look out of the window and I am sure, like those of you who read my blog this week, you will see snow. Fantastic stuff when you are a kid or are on a sking holiday, but for the vast majority of us, tricky stuff.  I was watching the news last night and one of the great images was of a motor way, slow moving traffic in heavy snow and the twin lanterns in the middle of the motorway picking out the snow as it fell. Good to know the lights keep working, rain or snow, summer or winter. To those of you who look after the lighting and keep it running - Well done. I know it is taken for granted by many, but from me, thank you.

A couple of winter pics taken from my home. One of the sun as it headed towards the evening horizon. I looked up from our kitchen table and saw the fiery orb surrounded by cloud with snow on the ground. Quite stunning. Tried to capture it. Second picture is of a flock of birds in the garden, feeding on the fallen crab apples.

I have been keeping busy as President, replying to various invitations to represent the Institution at a number of events and dinners. It is an honour, and I hope I will be a good ambasador for the ILP and where ever and when ever I can - get the message of lighting out to these who don't know what we do.  I am delighted to see that the announcement for the next lighting summit has come out this week.

So I hope you will put the summit dates in your diary for the 11 and 12 september 2013. It will be in Glasgow. Have a look on the website. Have a good week . Pete

Holiday pics and getting back to work

I hope you have had a great Christmas and New year.
No doubt, like me, you are getting back into the work routine!
It was a bit of a shock to the system, coming back from relatively warm Italy, with several days of blue sky's (great for taking pictures) and temperatures in low double figures.

I really enjoyed taking some walks up into the hills around the city of Perugia. I got high enough to get above some inversion mist layers to see white capped snow mountains. I really struggle to know what photograph to show, so as I have not done a blog for a while , I am showing a daytime shot of this beautiful city, a nightime shot (you can work out how good of bad the lighting is and one, of many shots across a tonal graduated  range of hills. Finally, I managed to play with my camera settings, to get the orb of the sun as it dropped over the hills. I guess most shots again show a recurring theme of how amazing sunlight really is.Enjoy




Perugia, seen above the inversion layer with mountains in the distance

 

 

 

 

 



Stuart Bulmer (ILP Professional Services Manager) and I met recently with the Lighting Liaison Group (LLG) to discuss what is going on in our various organisations.  I was interested to hear how the different groups are promoting lighting in many different ways - education, trade, research, publishing etc. I think the one key fact that we all agree on is - how to get the message of lighting,  its importance and effect -  out to the person in the street. As lighting professionals we know about each other and what the different parties are doing. Certainly the profile of lighting was raised when an issue becomes newsworthy. Often that can be because of something sad or negative. So switch off grabs the headlines and we respond. People take lighting for granted, and those of you like me who appreciate just how much effort goes into design, installation and maintenance of whatever type of scheme, wonder how we can get people to understand a little more about good lighting. So next time you have an opportunity to talk about lighting to somebody who is not a specialist, go for it and be proud of what you are involved in. Looking forward to visiting  the regions and seeing you at agms and other events. Have a good year. Pete