Strange, thought the mariner as he carefully placed the Zeiss micrometer screw sextant in it's box. No sign of atmospheric phenomena.

He was calculating the boats position by using sights of the planet Venus, and the stars, Schedar and Sirius. The mariner was referring to an optical illusion; as he looked through the spotting scope of the Zeiss, Venus appeared to glow with a blueish pulsing light as a meteorite (or what he thought was a meteorite) flashed across the bow of the 45 foot ketch Wandering Star.

47 30 North and 030 03 West was the final centre point of his observed fix. He smiled and called down to Andrew (his son)who was busy repairing a minor fault in the satellite TV system below decks. "Yer damned GPS must be low on electrickery Andy mate, according to my sextant it's two cables off". "Yeah right dad, not even the pencil tip is that accurate on the chart this far offshore so we can live with that eh?" Andrew laughed and thought to himself, I installed all the bloody modern electronics available, and the old fart still gets up at 0400 hrs just to do sights.

Down in the galley, Emma has made tea for herself and Andrew, and a hot steaming mug of Tim Hortons coffee for the mariner. " All hands, Breakfast is ready". Hearing her voice, the polar bear rolls out of his huge hammock slung between the main and mizzen masts and shuffles over to the galley, two lovely codfish and a pound of seal meat lie ready for the bear."Thank God you've woken up bear" said the mariner, "yer bloody snores had every whale fer miles coming up complaining of the noise keeping them awake"

The mariner checks the autopilot and radar, looks all round the horizon which is clear of traffic, before heading to the galley. Halfway across the Atlantic en route Brighton Marina, England, the entire crew of the Wandering Star are enjoying a fine weather day and some good food together.......