Sunday Addendum

Of course, what I forgot to mention about yesterday evening was the unusual number of Goths abroad in the Tottenham Court Road area. Or was it unusual? I'm rarely there after dark, except for gigs, and then I tend to expect to see them. Of course, the only thing on at the Astoria on a Saturday night is G.A.Y. which, last night, played host to - gasp of horror - Katie (Jordan) Price and Peter Andre. When did they become a double act? I understand they even have... an album.

Truly, gentle reader, I shudder as I write.

So, anyway. Lots of Goths, and I know not why... Curious.

On the way back home, there was a trio of 'fashionably' dressed kids... one guy (sporting a charming diamante 'ELVIS' belt buckle) and two entirely non-Goth girls with serious eyeliner dependency issues. At one point, the guy removed his jacket and asked one of the girls to hold it for him while he rearranged his utterly fashionable attire. One declined to help, claiming "I need both hands to hold my shoes."

They were in a bag.

They had a big bottle of lemonade between them, but some of their conversation suggested that it wasn't just lemonade. They were heading to a gig somewhere or other, but got off at Notting Hill Gate... Must have been one of the awful, subterranean clubs they were aiming for.

And here's what I keep forgetting to ramble on about: The stars.

One way or another, these days, in the city and even in the suburbs, it's quite unusual to really see the stars at night. Light pollution is such that the sky takes on a sickly orange hue, and all but the strongest stars are blotted out. A couple of times recently, when I've got home quite late on a clear night, I've looked up and seen quite a few stars. Stand at just the right place between lampposts and, as long as the houses nearby have their curtains closed, or their lights off, there's still and amazing spectacle to behold up there. It saddens me that, in lighting up our planet, we're losing out on the lights out there. And most of us don't even notice. The point is made, oddly enough, in the short anime series Macross Zero. Set mostly on an island, a pilot crash lands, is taken in, and sets about fixing their generator. When it's back up and running, he switches it on, and the islanders have electricity again. While most are overjoyed to have their lights (and TV/Radio) again, one in particular bemoans the loss of starlight. The pilot suggests that the electric lights are like 'terran stars'... but it's not quite the same.

I've been wowed by photos of the world at night, and how much light our cities put out, but then when I stop to think about what that means, in terms of energy consumption and - more obviously - light pollution, it doesn't look as wonderful.

I really like to look up into the night sky and see all those points of light. All those possibilities. Who knows what's out there?

I'd imagine that, soon enough - when we've used up all the oil on the planet - we'll all be able to see the stars again... Much clearer and brighter than they seem now.