Greetings, fellow dialists, Douglas Hunt asked about an analemmatic dial on a slope. Yes, well, I've been planning an analemmatic dial on a vertical surface for quite a while. Trouble is, the plan has not left my armchair for the wall opposite my kitchen window, where I can watch it while I wash up. I'm in 55 north, nearly on the Greenwich meridian. The wall declines 34 degrees east of south, taking the morning sun. The solution seems to be to work out the layout for a dial in 35 degrees south latitude, as suggested by Tom McHugh and Tony Moss. The peg gnomon thus sticks out horizontally from the wall. This solution was proposed to me by Fred Sawyer at last year's meeting of the British Sundial Society at Dunchurch when I asked for his help (I hope I'm citing you correctly, Fred).
But the minor axis of the analemma ellipse must lie in the earth's axis and with my declining wall I think it must be along what is hermetically called in the trade the style distance, in its case 21.4 degrees from the vertical. So, for further developments, watch this space. Or else go and find some wet paint and watch it dry. And that reminds me. Geordie, it seemed, was leading his donkey home but called on the way at an Irish club, where he remained for several hours. On emerging he found his donkey had been painted green. Returning inside he demanded to know the culprit. An Irishman measuring two pick handles across the shoulders put down his pint of stout and rose to acknowledge the deed. "I just wanted to say," said Geordie, thinking quickly, "that your first coat's dry." -- Frank Evans
