This weekend I was in a Huddersfield with family. We had decided to conduct fireworks this weekend as I was attending the BMA academic trainees conference the weekend before. My four month old child had taken an uncharacteristically long time to settle in the evening and was waking up several times, hourly, that night. At 3am I elected to take him downstairs to see whether he would settle there, and to also provide my wife with some much needed rest.

On navigating downstairs I made my way to the conservatory, which hosted a long sofa that I could lie down on. The conservatory provides excellent views of the Yorkshire dales which, despite the neighbouring M62 motorway, offer low levels of light pollution of the night sky. Consequently, I was rewarded with a wonderful panorama of the night sky, which the belt of Orion, Venus, Sirus all easily visible with the naked eye. Almost immediately I saw a beautiful shooting star; the first time I’d seen such a sight. I’ve grown up in cities where it is often difficult to see any stars at night – this was a real blessing. Theo promptly fell asleep in my arms, almost as if he was satisfied with the event. I sat on the couch for a few minutes to ponder what just happened, after which I took him back upstairs where he slept soundly until the morning.

The night sky is really beautiful. I’m convinced Theo wanted to see it and show me the shooting star. It was really lovely; I thank God and Theo for such a nice moment.