A bit of aurora

A bit of a weird time at Newcastle airport yesterday. It was very busy and by the looks of it there were groups and families going to sunnier places. No problem, except there were quite a few people getting slightly intoxicated even though the afternoon had just started.

Some shouting was going on and at some point a police officer asked someone to show what was inside their bag. The man opened up his bag and threw the contents on the floor and I had the man's (presumably clean) underwear practically on my feet. Lovely...

Once on board on the plane to Amsterdam there also was a clear scent of alcohol coming from behind me, but the flight itself went without any issues and I arrived at Schiphol around 20 minutes past six. My bag was one of the first to come on the conveyor belt and after two hours of driving I was back home at nine 'o clock.

Today I didn't do much and that felt just right. After dinner it was time to walk Joey and that's when messages came in that the aurora had been spotted. I looked at the sky and sure enough I could even see it with my own eyes. I didn't want to get out really. I guess I'm a bit spoiled because I have seen the aurora in Iceland and Norway. Once you've seen the lights dancing in green and purple curtains right above your head, a bit of green near the horizon is a bit less exciting. Still, I've never been able to see the aurora with my own eyes right at my own house, so that's remarkable and worthy of a shot! I got out my camera and tripod and stepped onto our new jetty and captured the greens and some very faint purples.