Walking a fast half-hour circuit of the village last night under a clear and almost-full moon, seeing the stars and flashing lights of the planes circling for Rotterdam and Amsterdam airports, and hearing the very last of the summer crickets chirruping in the grass. (And the imaginary dog trotting along beside me, of course)

Sky-watching. In particular, watching the sunrise over the sea from the deck as the overnight ferry pulls into home port, with a cup of coffee and a chocolate croissant; seeing mammatus clouds with my own eyes for the first time, a shooting star, and a night-sky full of stars out in the country. All over the past week or so.

The smell of tertiary butyl alcohol. A bit like isopropanol (de-icer, various cosmetics) only more so. Minty and a bit camphor-like. Rather nice - even better than ether.

[CdM] Hear, hear! Via Facebook, I've just regained contact with an Estonian fireman I use to chat with about 12 years ago. The downside is the cyrillic script on my FB timeline now!

Christmas!

In that case: Arriving home from work to discover that your teetotal wife has opened a bottle of red wine, to make lasagne, and the rest of it requires drinking. I love getting out of the car to the smell of lasagne, as it means I don't have to feel guilty about opening a bottle, just for myself.

Ordering a treat for yourself - in my case, cricket pads, bat, and gloves.

Boxy concrete buildings built on a grassy slope overlooking big swaths of nature. Only realized how nice this makes me feel the other day when looking at some pictures.

Mullion Cove at low tide.

The memory of having met and conversed with Samuel R Delany face-to-face, and of loaning him a copy of Driftglass when he had nothing for his scheduled reading and thus saving the day. 8oP