These past few days, there's been talk of a big meteor shower happening in our latitudes. So last night, super excited, my husband and I were ready to defy extreme eyelid fatigue and stay up way beyond our bedtime to watch the amazing shooting star spectacle.

We got everything ready. We put the moonloungers in position in the garden (moonloungers? Haven’t you heard? What, you don't have any? You can find them in any chi-chi garden centre close to you. They cost a little more than sunloungers, but hey, their shooting star viewing ratio in comparison to sun loungers is guaranteed, so definitely worth the investment. I'm kidding, of course. But I bet if someone made them, they might even sell...), found our favourite blankets, double checked the news to see in which direction we should be pointing our moonloungers, made ourselves cups of herbal tea and settled down in the darkness to watch the celestial spectacle.

We lay there for ages, scrutinising the heavens. I got a little chilly, and cocooned myself into my synthetic blanket like a little Anglo-Italo-Swiss caterpillar, with only my eyes peeping out of the aqua-blue Ikea chenille. There were definitely more mosquitoes than shooting stars out and about, which was a bit of a bummer, but to be expected at this time of the year, I suppose. In fact, the sky was so boring that, after a while, I asked my husband at what time the sound and light show upstairs was supposed to start. He ignored me, so I decided we'd missed the first bit and went to get us ice-creams.

We saw lots of aeroplanes, and quite a few satellites. Teeth chattering, I was about to call it a night and head inside to bed to listen to Will Smith's autobiography on audiobook in the comfort of my bed (it's brilliant! If you haven't read/listened to it, I highly recommend doing so) when, within the space of a minute, three shooting stars whooshed by, directly overhead. Sadly, I didn't actually hear the whooshes - the last time I heard the whoosh of a shooting star was circa 1983 at the Esalen Institute hot tubs in Big Sur, California... but I hadn't been drinking herbal tea and eating ice cream back then. I'm guessing the 2023 soundtrack is pretty similar if you partake in what it takes. At least I like to think so.

Anyway, three shooting stars? We were totally winning! We lay there, thinking up what next wishes we might make, eagerly awaiting further interstellar excitement.

All of a sudden, the garden sprinklers erupted all around us! I squealed, grabbed my aqua blue chenille and ran for cover, giggling. My husband bravely dragged our moonloungers to safety, then joined me inside, shaking droplets from his "mèche" (he's recently retired and is growing his hair).

We'd managed to make three wishes each, which I'd say is pretty good innings for about 40 minutes of celestial scrutiny.

I fell asleep just as Will Smith was about to tell me all about getting in trouble with taxes. Sweet dreams are made of this!

How many shooting stars did you see? (Also, did you hear them?)

My romantic comedy, Just Like a Movie, is available on all Amazon sites.