Page 27 - C:\Users\Jim\AppData\Local\Temp\mso7B3E.tmp

Thoughts on a Starry Night in December 1999

It was cold when I got home at 10 o’clock. It was very cold - a clear
sky with stars shining bright in a black velvet sky. Then, I
remembered something I heard on television earlier that evening.
So, waking the dog from his warm, comfortable bed with a bribe of a
biscuit we headed for the front door. Topaz would sell his birthright
for just a crumb of biscuit, but even he had second thoughts as the
cold night air oozed in over the door step. He looked up just to see if
I was serious. It was a lot later than his usual walk - and, come to
think of it, it was the second one since teatime.

I looked down at him - I could see he needed an explanation.
“Meteorites” I said. We both sniffed the cold air - “PUSSY CATS” he
replied and set off at speed, leaving me at the open door; that is until
he reached the end of the extending lead, then I was catapulted into
the dark and cold.

When we got to the field at the top of the lane we stopped, our
breath making little white clouds like smoke from a chimney. I looked
skywards searching for shooting stars. He looked at the ground
searching for interesting smells in the grass. In the distance we could
hear the sheep, the sound of them carrying in the still cold air. How
far had their bleating carried on that night 2000 years ago and were
the shepherds startled by the sudden appearance of the angels?

With a dog by your side you can stand in the dark, in a field, in the
middle of winter without feeling foolish or looking suspicious. We
stood for quite a while. After three ‘shooting stars’ I wondered how
the Wise Men had managed to follow a star for such a long way, and
how much brighter the stars must have been almost 2000 years ago.
When you look into the vastness of space you begin to wonder just
how great God is to create all this, and just how small, but vital a
part, we humans are in the scheme of things.

With a crick in the neck I decided that was enough for one day and
found that whilst I had been contemplating the stars my legs had
been cocooned like a fly in a spider’s web as my companion had
wandered round and round me wrapping me in his extending lead.
We wandered home to the warmth, each with our own thoughts.
Jim

27