The green comet has arrived

Finally, and only 119 years and four and a half months behind schedule, here comes that comet. It's a once-in-120-centuries occurrence and it's only coming within about fifty million miles of Earth, but if that's near enough for one wish I'm going to hope for some way to carry on with Mirabilis, the project that's still the dream of my heart. Never say never, I keep telling myself.

Looking for Dunsayn Manor

Roz and I went for a stroll in the hills south of Dorking last week. I say a stroll - where Roz is involved, it's never less than a hike and more usually we're pretty much climbing.

I had some idea of trying to get a precise location for Dunsayn Manor, Estelle's family home, which I know is somewhere around Dorking. Tanhurst Lane, south-west of Leith Hill, looks a likely spot.

As we drove through the town, I noticed a shop called Astronomia. I'm pretty sure it wasn't there in 1901, but if it had been then obviously that's where Estelle got her telescopes. It also suggests that there's good seeing out that far from London, though before electric streetlighting that presumably wouldn't have been much of a problem.

Up above the village of Coldharbour there's a cricket pavilion and pitch, 870 feet above sea level. Hit a six the wrong way and the ball just sails off over a sheer drop. I like the notion that Lord Deerdand would have padded up for a few matches.

The look of Dunsayn Manor btw was styled after Magdalen New Buildings (built in 1733 but still called New Buildings, as I'm sure will amuse our American readers).