Vestiges of Power

Swan's feather floating in the sun? Pretty high score on the old Twee-O-Meter yesterday.

So something a bit more macho today.

It may come as a surprise to many of you that Great Britain still has a navy. Admittedly it's now't but a mouse compared to the behemoth it once was. But it still exists, ever ready to provide humanitarian aid to people in distress, to police the seas against rapacious over-fishing, or thwart the efforts of the scum who profit in human misery through running drugs. Of course it does these things only as long as they're in the interest of the government of the day. Give us a change of the party in power and the navy could be knitting baby bonnets, painting their ships pink or organising exciting raids on small defenceless colonies of penquins.

This is HMS Somerset. She is moored, lights ablaze, on the River Dart at Kingswear; obviously no-one has found out where the off-switch is yet. Still it makes for a bold reflection.

Light pollution is a serious problem in the modern world. There are people living in towns and cities who probably only see stars when they bang their heads on a door lintel or the power fails. Even out in the country, the rampage of poorly controlled security lighting through every village ruins the night sky - a romantic stroll in the garden with your loved one and a glass of Sauvignan Blanc takes place under more illumination than the Strip at Las Vegas. Major motion pictures have been shot under less lighting than there is in some back yards.

It's all to no avail anyway; it just lets intruders see where they're going and stops them making a noise tripping over the cat or the dustbin (trashcan to speakers of other forms of English).

So bring back the darkness - let the night run free.