Missing Halley's Comet 1986, Bali

I was trying to recall my first memory of star gazing, and although it is impossible to recount the first time I looked at the stars, I do recall standing on a tropical beach at stupid o’clock in the morning failing to see Halley’s Comet. The year was 1986, the location, Bali. I know this because I have a recording of my mother recounting the story in Hong Kong onto a C90 cassette tape, the audio of which is attached to this post. We used to send cassette tapes by post back home to the UK in lieu of expensive long-distance phone calls. This excerpt is from one of these cassettes, now digitised.

We were in Bali on a family holiday, with a large group and I would have been 8 years old, my brother approaching 11. We had the opportunity to see the comet and got up early one morning; Patrick Moore was ‘just down the beach’ apparently. I assume this was filming the Sky at Night special episode from March ‘86.

As for the comet spotting, I certainly have memories of the experience and I do recall coming away empty handed. What better way to begin a lifelong hobby plagued by disappointments than by missing the most famous comet of my lifetime? As my mother recounts, the younger me had plans to see it next time.

We’ll see.

Feb 2019