Shooting stars

A late-night walk up the lane under a wonderfully cold and starry sky. We talked about the night sky connecting us with our ancestors – that they would have looked up at the same sight (minus the odd satellite passing overhead) and perhaps tried to make sense of the patterns of the stars. It’s how the constellations got some of their names – the hunter, the great bear, the plough.

Orion was magnificently visible : a giant figure towering in the south-western sky. And we recognised some other constellations. Most magical of all were several shooting stars that blazed briefly, like a distant match being struck across the heavens.

It is a privilege to live in an area where light pollution is low, allowing the stars to dominate.