Halloween Blue Moon

It was a relatively quiet Halloween, compared to previous years when we've hosted sizable parties. But we all carved pumpkins, and made pumpkin soup and pumpkin pie, as well as some other suitably autumnal food which we shared with a few friends.

I made time to get outside and admire the moon as it was rising through the thin cloud. This is the first full moon since 1944 that has been visible everywhere in the world on Halloween night. It's also a rare Blue Moon -the second full moon of the month - and is a Hunter's Moon. Lots of reasons for astronomical appreciation. Mars was also looking rather gorgeous, while Jupiter and Saturn were visible close together in the south-east. I'm glad I saw them all early in the evening as later the cloud thickened and the moon was only visible as a ghostly glow.

A small group of us howled at the moon, a good way of venting our frustration at the ineptitude of the government who have finally been forced into announcing another lock-down. Why didn't they do this weeks ago? The pain will now be so much worse because of their delay.