The night sky by Rosie

From my diary last night .....

An owl hoots to my right, a dog barks far away to my left. Crickets chirrup but not so loud that I can't hear the clock ticking inside. A different owl hoots ahead of me and the sheep move slowly through the grass. Overhead the stars are brilliant, so much so that for a moment, even "The Plough" is lost amongst the trillions of other stars. Several small erratic lights move ahead of me; perhaps shooting stars, maybe just satellites or aeroplanes. All of a sudden, in the eastern sky, there is a bright but fleeting flash leaving, for less than a second it's glowing tail across the night sky. No mistaking that shooting star. A moonless, cloudless, windless night that too few people are privileged to experience, crowned with a shooting star that you only imagine exists in sci-fi films. This may be the kingdom of the owl, the cricket and the Milky Way but tonight I was party to this awe-inspiring theatre of near-eternity.