Amanda is a scientist, so to see mystical phenomena is astonishing. "Look, look," she cried. "It's a UFO!"
I peered from Margate beach, where banks of the River Thames estuary join the North Sea, into the cloudless night sky. Sure enough, a strange pink light floated from right to left a few hundred meters in front of us.
Seeing a UFO isn't unusual in Margate. I remember other sightings...
Valerie, an ex-girlfriend, and her sister Lynnette saw a huge cigar shaped UFO float past them on nearby cliffs.
My daughter and a boyfriend saw many saucer-shaped UFOs swoop down as if from behind the moon.
Three of my students, Daniel, Marco and Sav saw UFOs flying past my therapy centre on the beach. The UFOs zigzagged in the sky, before flying off fast. Daniel saw them on two occasions!
And I almost saw a UFO. At 1am, lights flashed on rooftops near my home. Within minutes, Radio Invicta, a local radio station, had calls from people saying they'd seen a saucer shaped UFO with flashing lights and a 'bubble' on top. I'd have seen it too, if I'd looked in the other direction!
Two of my friends saw that UFO. One shouted to her husband in bed, saying, "Come quick, there's a UFO flying past the window!" He replied, "Come back to bed. Don't be stupid!" He was the stupid one. He missed it!
The UK Government even employed a UFO specialist from 1950 to 2009. the officer was part of a special Ministry of Defence team. Over 10,000 UFO "sightings" were investigated - one every two days! The Daily Telegraph headlined, "MoD (Ministry of Defence) to open British UFO X-Files". On the release of official documents in 2008 the BBC News website headlined, "Files released on UFO sightings". The Daily Star ran with "Britain's X-Files open at last".
UFO sightings in 1997 in West Wales "inundated" the local MP Nicholas Edwards. He asked the MoD to investigate. A local hotel owner said a dome-like object landed "like the moon falling down" behind the hotel - she saw two tall silver-suited "faceless humanoids" come out of the object and start "making measurements".
Quote from the government expert... "From time to time, we may receive a report from aircrew, air traffic control or the police that, in our judgement, may deserve a closer look. People often see things in the sky they cannot explain. Sometimes, as concerned citizens, they report them to us since they believe we will be able to identify what they have seen."
So this latest sighting wasn't surprising.
"There's a second UFO coming," cried Amanda. "It's pulsating... pink..."
"That's strange," I replied. "Planes don't have pink lights. Maybe it is a UFO."
Amanda became more excited. "It's disappeared! The first UFO has disappeared! Wow! Get the camera quick for the second one!"
"Too late," I said. "That's just disappeared too."
Amanda looked disappointed, until she cried out excitedly, "There's two more coming! It's really weird, the way their pink lights pulse!"
"Come on," I said, perhaps too calmly. "Let's go inside."
"Wait. I'll look through the binoculars... Look! They're shaped like balls! They've got fire inside!"
It was lovely seeing excitement on Amanda's face.
But for me they were not unidentified FOs any more. I'd identified the pink Chinese lanterns with a lighted, flickering candle inside!
Amanda soon worked it out too. Excitement was replaced with scientific realism.
Fun while it lasted. Maybe like my ex-girlfriend and her sister, my daughter and her boyfriend, my students, and all those people who phoned Radio Invicta, I'll see a UFO flying over Margate one day soon...
I peered from Margate beach, where banks of the River Thames estuary join the North Sea, into the cloudless night sky. Sure enough, a strange pink light floated from right to left a few hundred meters in front of us.
Seeing a UFO isn't unusual in Margate. I remember other sightings...
Valerie, an ex-girlfriend, and her sister Lynnette saw a huge cigar shaped UFO float past them on nearby cliffs.
My daughter and a boyfriend saw many saucer-shaped UFOs swoop down as if from behind the moon.
Three of my students, Daniel, Marco and Sav saw UFOs flying past my therapy centre on the beach. The UFOs zigzagged in the sky, before flying off fast. Daniel saw them on two occasions!
And I almost saw a UFO. At 1am, lights flashed on rooftops near my home. Within minutes, Radio Invicta, a local radio station, had calls from people saying they'd seen a saucer shaped UFO with flashing lights and a 'bubble' on top. I'd have seen it too, if I'd looked in the other direction!
Two of my friends saw that UFO. One shouted to her husband in bed, saying, "Come quick, there's a UFO flying past the window!" He replied, "Come back to bed. Don't be stupid!" He was the stupid one. He missed it!
The UK Government even employed a UFO specialist from 1950 to 2009. the officer was part of a special Ministry of Defence team. Over 10,000 UFO "sightings" were investigated - one every two days! The Daily Telegraph headlined, "MoD (Ministry of Defence) to open British UFO X-Files". On the release of official documents in 2008 the BBC News website headlined, "Files released on UFO sightings". The Daily Star ran with "Britain's X-Files open at last".
UFO sightings in 1997 in West Wales "inundated" the local MP Nicholas Edwards. He asked the MoD to investigate. A local hotel owner said a dome-like object landed "like the moon falling down" behind the hotel - she saw two tall silver-suited "faceless humanoids" come out of the object and start "making measurements".
Quote from the government expert... "From time to time, we may receive a report from aircrew, air traffic control or the police that, in our judgement, may deserve a closer look. People often see things in the sky they cannot explain. Sometimes, as concerned citizens, they report them to us since they believe we will be able to identify what they have seen."
So this latest sighting wasn't surprising.
"There's a second UFO coming," cried Amanda. "It's pulsating... pink..."
"That's strange," I replied. "Planes don't have pink lights. Maybe it is a UFO."
Amanda became more excited. "It's disappeared! The first UFO has disappeared! Wow! Get the camera quick for the second one!"
"Too late," I said. "That's just disappeared too."
Amanda looked disappointed, until she cried out excitedly, "There's two more coming! It's really weird, the way their pink lights pulse!"
"Come on," I said, perhaps too calmly. "Let's go inside."
"Wait. I'll look through the binoculars... Look! They're shaped like balls! They've got fire inside!"
It was lovely seeing excitement on Amanda's face.
But for me they were not unidentified FOs any more. I'd identified the pink Chinese lanterns with a lighted, flickering candle inside!
Amanda soon worked it out too. Excitement was replaced with scientific realism.
Fun while it lasted. Maybe like my ex-girlfriend and her sister, my daughter and her boyfriend, my students, and all those people who phoned Radio Invicta, I'll see a UFO flying over Margate one day soon...
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