Fashion funny and making money!
Posted by: Kaddy x on: April 27, 2012
- In: Charity | Fun | Kent
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I am a charity shop bargain-hunting demon – and thought I knew every charity shop in town. Turns out I was very mistaken. Kathryn, who runs “The Children’s Trust, Tadworth” shop in Tunbridge Wells emailed me to ask if I would like to get involved with promoting the shop. I popped in to see her and within minutes was suckered in by her charm and agreeing to attend her fashion show.
A few weeks later I arrive at said fashion event…to find out I’m the only model! However, on relection this was a rather jammy advantage – all those wonderful clothes to myself – and all that flouncing around the ‘catwalk’ on my own. They can take the performance away from the gal but they can’t take the performer out of the gal – or something like that. As you can see from the pics, I wasn’t exactly camera shy!
Also for the first time in the history of my time at the BBC I had someone to do my hair (in fact two delightful ladies – Sarah Horton and Cara Evans from Graham Webb hairdressers – thank you!)
Photos courtesy of www.keithwalter.co.uk
All in all it was a wonderful do for a fantastic charity. Please pop by and have a browse, you’ll be amazed at what you’ll find. (Plus I am about to donate a load of my on air clothes – so you might pick up something that you recognise from the box!). Thanks to all the volunteers at the shop, and also the lovely Kathryn for getting me involved in the first place. The Children’s Trust, Tadworth is a fantastic charity and rest assured every penny goes to achieving wonderful things for children with multiple disabilities. .
Next stop I will be at the celebrity fishing day at Roger Daltery’s estate – if you want to join in then you can buy tickets at http://www.thechildrenstrust.org.uk/ - no fishing experience necessary! (I can’t even catch tadpoles so I’ll be floundering…Ho ho). And if fish don’t float your boat (Michael Fish aside of course!) then how about zippy nippy cars? The supercar driving challenge at Dunsfold Park, 23/24th June will be a petrol head paradise- gives me chills n’ thrills just thinking about it! I shall be there on the Sunday driving a Caterham 7 (the hair will need Shwarzenegger strength hairspray) so please do come up and say hello!
The ahhhh factor!
Posted by: Kaddy x on: April 22, 2012
- In: Fun | Kent
- 2 Comments
Thank you to Lester Gosbee in Frittenden for allowing me to bottle feed his newborn lambs. I wanted to pop one in my handbag (Chihuahuas eat your heart out) and take it home with me!
The future is bright…the future is freelance!
Posted by: Kaddy x on: April 17, 2012
Hello!
It’s been a wee while since I was sharing weather facts n’ photos with you all, but I’m now fully back online and have so much to tell you! Firstly a big birdy may have told you that I have left the BBC and gone freelance. Tis true! My last broadcast was on 30th March and if you missed it I’ll try and get a link to it on here. It was an embarrassing montage of all my outfits, hairstyles and ‘kaddyisms’ over the years…cringe! However, after 11 years at SE Today and several years presenting Inside Out, it was time I made the leap and discovered what else is out there for me. I will still pop up on South East Today occasionally, but you will certainly see me popping up elsewhere too - I can’t tell you how excited I am!
In the next few days I’ll fill you in on what the last fortnight has held for me – Charity fashion shows, a brand new Hyundai car (I still need to find a name for her…or him…I might need your help!) and a day at the fantastic Children’s Trust, Tadworth. Oh, and a delicious lunch at the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall, where Chris Evans and Johnny Vaughn play ping pong…Does it get much more random than that?
Anyway, it’s raining outside and although I’m not presenting the weather today, I think I will just take a little peek at my charts…
Will be in touch again very soon!
Kaddy x x
Gherkin Gold
Posted by: Kaddy x on: August 9, 2011
It might have been unsettled on 8th August – in all senses of the word – but I love London and this shot is just brilliant!
(Whatever happened to the pot of gold though?)
Reverse contrails – a new cloud type?
Posted by: Kaddy x on: July 25, 2011
- In: Kent | Weather
- 2 Comments
I’m not sure whether I have classified a new cloud type, or I’m just naming it incorrectly but this shot was sent in from Halling, in north Kent on 25th July 2011. It is certainly a sight that it not often seen in the sky.
What we’re looking at is a layer or alto cumulus but that’s not what caught my eye. The 2 darker streaks across the sky are the opposite of contrails – or as I now like to call them ‘Reverse contrails’. We’re all familiar with aeroplanes creating condensation trails (contrails) across the sky, but here is the opposite. In this situation the upper atmosphere has a high moisture content and therefore when the aeroplane flew through the cloud the heat from the engines caused the water droplets within the cloud to evaporate. Therefore instead of creating a condensation trail, the plane destroyed the cloud that was already there, leaving a ‘clear trail’ not a ‘contrail’.
If anyone knows what this is technically called I’d love to know - Thank you. That’s the fantastic thing about weather…there’s still so much to learn!
A suggestion has been ‘distrails’ – but also that it could even be the shadow of a contrail at a higher level above the cloud layer. So potentially we can’t see the contrail, just the shadow it is creating on the cloud below…interesting…
Please continue to join in the discussion!
Don’t you think this could’ve looked like the Union flag? (Do The Red Arrows do that in their displays?) Spot the England flag too – very patriotic!
Atlantis space shuttle launch
Posted by: Kaddy x on: July 25, 2011
- In: Kent | Miscellaneous
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This photo was taken after the space shuttle launch last year in Florida. This was the exhaust fumes left in the sky after the explosion that shot the craft into space had occurred. Glen’s youngest daughter Tiana said it looked like a foxes face in the sky, and it does! (Close up below)
The launch happened at 6:00am so the sky was beginning to be lit up with the sunrise.
And as a bit of fun and in thanks to the brilliant time I had at the Folkestone Sandcastle competition on Sunday 24th July – here is a sandy replica of the Atlantis shuttle:
I shall be putting more of the photos up soon – and believe me – you’ll be astounded at the skill and effort. I have a feeling this competition was more for the adults than the kids!
Jet stream = Wet stream?
Posted by: Kaddy x on: July 18, 2011
It may have been a washout this weekend but at least some people were enjoying it!
Folkestone West Beach (Mermaids) 17/07/11 1.30pm
Our June/July has been so poor in relation to April/May because of the unseasonally low position of the jet stream. Ordinarily at this time of year it should be further north, but instead it is closer to the British Isles. This band of intensely strong winds at high level can bring us unsettled weather when it lies close to us, but deflects the bad weather when it lies to the north of us. In fact when it’s closer to Iceland we can enjoy long periods of the Azores High – which means beautiful sunny and dry summer months. You might recall that the last 3 summers have been, well, fairly ‘disappointing’ and that’s because we were plagued by a shifty jet stream. The jet being in the ‘wrong’ place is one of meteorology’s little mysteries – so far we aren’t entirely sure what causes it to change position so dramatically. There are likely to be many factors, but I think the main one is the global sea temperature. The top ten feet of our oceans contains more heat than our entire atmosphere. This heat, or energy, affects the position of the jet stream and therefore affects our weather – all year round. You may have heard of El Niño and La Niña – warming and cooling patterns in the Southern Pacific Ocean – and I think these have played a huge part in how our summers have been a little gooey over the last few years. And predicting what happens next…well, that’s all part of the fun folks.
Saturday 16 July 2011. Birling Gap
David Burr says, “Went rushing down to Birling Gap tonight to get some cloud shots. It was blowing a gale atop the cliffs so I had to use a very high asa setting as the tripod was vibrating, however I am pleased with the grainy result processed via HDR software. Hope you like it.”
Yes we do David! At least this wild weather creates some stunning photo opportunities.
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Can you see what it is yet?
Posted by: Kaddy x on: July 18, 2011
- In: Interactive
- 1 Comment
Tips for rainbow spotting
Posted by: Kaddy x on: July 6, 2011
- In: Kent | Weather
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Chartham Downs, near Canterbury.
Don’t bother looking around midday – A rainbow cannot form if the sun is directly overhead. Your best bet is to look for them before 10am and after 2pm. (Possibly before 11am and after 1pm in winter when the sun’s lower)
Always have your back to the sun as the rainbow will only be created opposite the source of light.
You need a convective atmosphere – so a showery situation. You’re unlikely to see one with a passing weather front as there’s often too much cloud and rain to see the sunshine (unless it’s after a cold front when the cooler air recreates a convective atmosphere and therefore showers form readily). You also need the showers to be on the same side as the sun – they can be in front of you as well, but you’ll need a shower, and the sun behind you.
You can spot them at any time of the year.
We don’t see a full circle because the earth gets in the way. The lower the sun is to the horizon, the more of the circle we see -right at sunset, we would see a full semicircle of the rainbow. The higher the sun is in the sky, the smaller is the arch of the rainbow above the horizon. If you can get a bit of altitude (a few hundred feet) on a rainbow friendly day you could see the whole rainbow…which will be circular. It’s something I’ve still not seen, and if anyone has a photo I would go crazy for it!
For the most colourtastic ones you need the big hefty showers with large raindrops. Large drops (a few millimetres in diameter) will create the brightest colours and most defined bands of colour.
No two people see the same rainbow. This is because a rainbow is produced with reference to one definite point – the eye of the observer – so each of us sees a slightly different rainbow. (In fact technically each eye sees a different one too!)
Also Ian Atkin messaged to ask if anyone has ever noticed that when there are 2 rainbows together the colours are reversed in the secondary one. He gives this explanation; “Given the correct conditions the principle of secondary total internal reflection can occur resulting a sister to your primary rainbow being created, however the spectral sequence is reversed due to the internal reflection and refraction across the wavelengths as the light rotates and exits the raindrop thereby swapping the colour sequence to now be Vi Bgyor and not Roy Gbiv (as we were all brought up to remember)“ Thanks Ian!
Happy spotting! Oh, and one more thing; There probably isn’t a pot of gold at the end…but I’ll keep looking.
Diamonds & lightning bolts
Posted by: Kaddy x on: July 5, 2011
- In: Weather
- 2 Comments
If this looks look like something you’d see overseas, you’re absolutely right. Norman and Tricia Sells from Minster on Sea sent this pic in from their son who’s chief geologist at the Cuango Diamond Mine in Angola. And so as not to leave us ladies hanging, he also included a scaled picture of some of the whoppers that he’s extracted…I’m first in the queue!
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