A mysterious incident

Posted by Tania Kindersley.

Just took the dogs out into the gloaming. The last of the light was dying over the hills, and the sky was the colour of delphiniums. There was no moon, and the evening star was glittering in the south. Everything was completely still and silent. I thought a few poetic thoughts.

Then I noticed a much bigger star, fat and round and the colour of amber. Perhaps it is Mars, I thought, the red planet. (My astrological ignorance knows no bounds, although I can identify Orion's belt, a fact that once deeply impressed a handsome Armenian gentleman.) Then I noticed that the 'planet' was moving. It appeared to be gathering momentum, heading east over the black shadows of the Wellingtonias.

A satellite, I thought. But why would a socking great satellite be scooting about over my tiny little village in the north of Scotland? Just as I was pondering this, the thing blinked and then DISAPPEARED. Just like that, in a cloudless evening sky.

I have absolutely no explanation for this. We can only hope that it is not the beginning of an international incident.