Someone on Freecycle has given me an astronomical telescope (800mm x 80mm diameter) with a tripod, gear-driven mount, and a couple of eyepieces. Needs some work and a lot of cleaning up, but I think it's OK - I can focus on leaves on trees etc., but there's so much light from the sky etc. that everything looks washed out. Tonight I'm hoping for a clear sky so I can try it on the moon etc. The main other problem is that the little aiming telescope has snapped off; I've made a mounting bracket with Meccano, but it probably isn't very accurate.

I suspect there's too much light pollution in this area to get really good results, so I may end up giving it to someone who lives outside London or can take it to remote areas. But I'm going to try my hand at astronomical photography first, it'll be interesting to see how it goes.

Later - clouded over, of course! But I think it's OK so I've ordered a camera adapter, it isn't hugely expensive - just a tube with a Nikon mount at one end and a tube the diameter of a telescope eyepiece at the other.