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Now, about this Saturday. Lady Strix and I have two children. The younger, a boy, is at the same school I attended when I was his age (12). Both he and I, particularly at this time of year, with the shorter days and longer nights, take a keen interest in the night sky studying and marvelling at the panoply of stars and realising just how insignificant we all are in the vastness of the Universe. The scientist Carl Sagan pointed out that there are more stars in the heavens than there are grains of sand in all the beaches and deserts of this planet. So this weekend, and as I did at his age, we will spend a lot of time staring in wonderment at the ever-changing sky. As we stand there watching the skies all those familiar and nostalgic autumnal smells will drift across, leaves burning, the smoke of wood fires, wine being mulled, sausages being cremated on a barbecue accompanied by the distant noise of a karaoke in a local pub. Magic!