One of my favorite long-time fans of WGG are the fine folks from the
the world's largest airshow, the Royal International Air Tattoo:
"The RIAT Emergency Control Centre has an annual tradition. As well as monitoring the safety of visitors and participants at RIAT, it has become an annual tradition that we check in on the Watching Grass Grow webcam whenever there is a lull in the action! Sounds boring? Well, the jury is still out on this one, but it is certainly addictive. We've been logging on during lulls in the action since 2008. Admittedly the time difference is a problem - during most of the airshow Colorado is in darkness."
"The RIAT Emergency Control Centre has an annual tradition. As well as monitoring the safety of visitors and participants at RIAT, it has become an annual tradition that we check in on the Watching Grass Grow webcam whenever there is a lull in the action! Sounds boring? Well, the jury is still out on this one, but it is certainly addictive. We've been logging on during lulls in the action since 2008. Admittedly the time difference is a problem - during most of the airshow Colorado is in darkness."
So it was pretty hilarious when these eagle-eyed Brits wrote at 06:23:47 on 2010/07/17
on the grass blog:
"OMG! At 0620, the occupants of a silver SUV took your newspapers!!!!!! The felon appeared to be a female Caucasian child in a pink top and white shorts. Cheeky! The perps then did a u-turn and drove off in their getaway car towards the left of screen"
To which Mr. Grass replied at 08:02 - "HEY ... I wondered why there were no papers this morning - watch the time-lapse video!! ;-)"
Their follow-on commentary was:
"We watched as Alek's newspapers were delivered - only to be stolen by a passing motorist. We logged the time and passed the info to Alek who was able to refer to the footage to identify the perpetrator! After the notorious paper theft of yesterday, we monitored the papers this morning until their safe collection by the lady and the dog at 0730."
They wrote 3 years later: "In 2013, Alek arranged a special treat and we stood spellbound while he mowed his lawn for us - the Control tower is riveted by the action at WGG! Attached is a photo of some of the ECC team watching the spectacle."
I waved to them from the webcam and Chris responded "we waved back, and then realized collectively how silly we looked"
I LOVE the British sense of humor!!! ;-)
They wrote 3 years later: "In 2013, Alek arranged a special treat and we stood spellbound while he mowed his lawn for us - the Control tower is riveted by the action at WGG! Attached is a photo of some of the ECC team watching the spectacle."
I waved to them from the webcam and Chris responded "we waved back, and then realized collectively how silly we looked"
I LOVE the British sense of humor!!! ;-)
LOL they ended up mentioning WGG in the internal newsletter! ;-)
Here's the control tower they work from ... note the F-35 hovering nearby
And here's a view from the control tower of a flyby
Speaking of the British sense of humor, in 2017 I asked Chris if he he would be willing to talk to the
local TV News Station about WGG - his response was:
Wow, does he have time on his hands? The Paralympics, presidential elections, Brexit, the Middle East... So many things to write about yet he chooses watching grass grow?
But seriously, I'm always delighted to talk about the curiously strange attraction of WGG!