Last week I came home promptly and persuaded everyone to head over to the rec after we’d cleared away from supper to watch the International Space Station fly past.   I was surprised how clearly you could see the shape of it.   The reason it was so visible was because the sun and recently dipped below the horizon (so the sky was dark) but was still shining directly onto the space station high up in the sky. Wished I had a suitable camera with me to take a photo of it.  On a completely different scale to ISS, I found my mind being drawn to how is the UK going to compete in space when we leave the EU and get kicked off all the joint space ventures with Europe?

The UK and the rest of the EU have hit an impasse with Europe this month on the Chequers plan.   Clearly, our European counterpart leaders want to squeeze as much out of the UK (for their own citizens) as the can,  don’t they?

Earlier in the month the British authorities revealed the identity of the two bumbling numpties from the ‘Russian Secret Service’ who were secretly trying to kill the Skripals with the Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury. One of the funniest things I’ve seen on the news recently was the pair of them claiming to be tourists sightseeing the UK’s tallest church spire.    Sadly this whole scenario put British lives as risk and resulted in the death of one British citizen and ill-health / hospitalisation of others.  On a more ominous note, Russia doesn’t seem to give a toss about the UK and it makes me feel more nervous about walking away from Europe.   Glad the UK managed to rally so much global support over the affair with collaboration on trade embargoes etc.

A catastrophe has occurred in the past few days on the other side of the planet.  A magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit Indonesia triggering tsunamis across the region  of up to 7m high. The death toll is rising fast approaching 1000 and expected rise sharply.