It all started when I was about 8 years old. I was walking back from the local scout group with my dad and I realised that I wanted to do astronomy. I didn't know why but I knew that I did.
Over the subsequent 25 years my relationship with astronomy has been consistently inconsistent. I got my first telescope and barely used it. I would spend a month voraciously reading astronomy books and magazines followed by a year of not reading anything. I toyed with doing an astronomy GCSE and bought a second telescope that gathered dust alongside the first one.
Things started to change in the 90s when I began an astrophysics degree at University College London. It all seemed exciting again and they have some serious telescopes. I imagine it will be quite some time before I get my hands on a 24" refractor again.
But a hobby isn't a hobby when one has to study it. The physics sucked the excitement out of the astro and observing became a chore motivated by exam marks. All in all astronomy had become a bit dull and I took refuge in the mathematics department so I could have an easy life. And astronomy has been in hibernation in my life ever since...
...Until now.
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