*******

SUNDAY

“What are you laughing at?” Thoughtful Man asked rather grouchily. He was getting dressed for work and I was sat at my computer. He tends to be grouchy when he’s getting ready for work. Or if I’m at the computer.

“Oh, it’s the positioning of these two tweets…” I started to answer but caught his Why-are-you-having-fun-when-I-have-to-work-on-Sunday?-look and stopped. “Nothing.”

*/squint… Clicky, please… /hold finger to lips… I’m talking…*

“I won’t just be sitting here whilst you’re out,” I said, continuing to scroll down my twitter feed. “I have tidying and washing up to do, and the boys’ uniforms to iron.”

“PE tomorrow,” he reminded me, buckling his belt.

“And it’s PE tomorrow, so there’s more of it.”

Thoughtful Man harumphed and went to look for his shoes. Another tweet caught my eye.

“What’ll you feed them tonight?” Thoughtful Man had returned, fully dressed and shod, wearing his stop-laughing-when-I-have-to-work-on-Sunday-look.

I composed myself and addressed him seriously. “Whatever’s out there. We’ve got plenty of food in the fridge. What about you?”

I caught it, the fleeting guilty look. “Where will you be eating tonight?”

“Chinese,” Thoughtful Man replied without meeting my eyes. “It’s Al’s last night tonight and we thought we take him for a Chinese.”

“Aw, that’s nice,” I said wearing my why-are-you-moaning-about-going-to-work-when-you’re-having-Chinese?-look. I scooped up Poppy, who was sniffing round our feet. “This is in addition to his leaving drinks you went to on Thursday?”

Thoughtful Man started toward the front door and we followed, me rubbing and patting his shoulders, whilst our demented dachshund wriggled and writhed under my arm.

“Yeah, well Tony couldn’t make it on Thursday so they’re going to dinner tonight,” he explained, opening the door.

“And you’re going along to say goodbye again. You’re a good friend,” I assured him and pecked him on the cheek. Poppy gave him a perfunctory lick. She too could be grouchy when Thoughtful Man was off to work. “Okay then, I see you later. Have fun.”

I closed the door after him, set the dog down and made for the kitchen – washing up first; I had an idea for a post and wanted to get all my chores over with first. I heard the key turn in the lock behind me.

“Here’s twenty quid,” Thoughtful Man said, poking his head round the door and pulling a note from his workbag. “Get something for you and boys from Hong Kong Kitchen later. Better go now. Bye.”

I waved him off. Such a Thoughtful Man!

*******

 

*Okay Clicky, what? What’s with The Shining interruptions?*

*But they’re all over the place, they’re not making sense… /works out order…*

The universe began 13.7 billion years ago, and the CMB dates back to about 400,000 years after the Big Bang. That’s because in the early stages of the universe, when it was just one-hundred-millionth the size it is today, its temperature was extreme: 273 million degrees above absolute zero, according to NASA.

Any atoms present at that time were quickly broken apart into small particles (protons and electrons). The radiation from the CMB in photons (particles representing quantums of light, or other radiation) was scattered off the electrons. “Thus, photons wandered through the early universe, just as optical light wanders through a dense fog,” NASA wrote.

About 380,000 years after the Big Bang, the universe was cool enough that hydrogen could form. Because the CMB photons are barely affected by hitting hydrogen, the photons travel in straight lines. Cosmologists refer to a “surface of last scattering” when the CMB photons last hit matter; after that, the universe was too big. So when we map the CMB, we are looking back in time to 380,000 years after the Big Bang, just after the universe was opaque to radiation.

*You know, Scatman Crothers also voiced ‘Hong Kong Phooey’, Clicky and starred in Scooby Doo. You could have mentioned that*

*Too late, Clicky, I beat you too it. So, come on… Song and Scat?*