I'm usually a very early riser: most mornings I'm up and about by 5.00am. When I was running two online businesses this was a really productive time of day, answering the many overseas e-mails I'd received during the night and preparing orders for postage. However, although Spacerocks and the Space Station have both been wound up, there's still my blog 'Birds of the Heath' and my rock and blues outfit SYNERGY to look after, so the early rise isn't ever wasted. And, of course, I'm a keen amateur astronomer, and some of my best astrophotography has been pre-dawn...

Today, as I was finalising set lists for a private birthday gig tonight, the quiet was suddenly interrupted by a loud 'rushing' sound: like a train passing by. The noise was so incredibly loud that I was genuinely worried it was a tornado: my office looks out onto our garden, so I turned on our outdoor light to check. To my surprise, the trees were barely moving: even the leaves on our tall sycamore were merely trembling slightly. The sound seemed to originate just overhead, but looking up there was no obvious cause. After reaching a crescendo, peace returned...