UFOs

There is a nice news article on the Canadian news site, CTV.ca, about three residents in Manitoba who saw a low flying UFO.

What can I say? The description is right and I believe them, but am very interested in why the pilot would have been so near land. I wonder if he got his wrists slapped.

Time was, I'd have felt like a right loony admitting I'd seen a UFO, but then thats because most people automatically relate the fact that an object is unidentified, with the idea that it must be extra terrestrial. Most people, that is, except the ones that live round here, in Sussex, who see them all the time and will admit it if you can get enough beer inside them to break the usual British reserve. Nobody wants to be quizzed by men in suits, or listed, so we all just say 'Oh! Another one!' and then get on with it.

Still, I've seen at least one. If they get caught, come too low or fly in too straight a line, the airforce spots them and just as you see something like a wingless seagull glinting in the sun and going too fast and too straight toward Seaford Head, generally, you get a couple of jets tearing straight after it.

Seagull shape is exactly what they are. Long, ovoid and slightly more pointed at one end, if they fly high enough up, they appear from the ground to be the same size as a seagull. They even bob and weave as if they are affected by air currents, you just never get a shadow of a wing, somehow know theres something not quite right with what you are seeing. If you stare long enough, generally you are treated to the sight of them doing a bizarre turn on the spot, to shoot off at silly speeds and in a straight line at an acute angle to their original 'don't look at me, I'm a seagull really' direction.

How many people, really, spend any time looking up, on a sunny day?

I know someone who saw another one sitting stationary in the air, visible from Lewes train station, last month; about three weeks ago. Apparently it just sat there, glinting slightly, for two or three minutes before exercising the good old 90 degree turn and supersonic exit. That surprises me; unless they are being chased they seem to have a rule about camouflaging their flight path over land - normally they only cut and run as they hit the coast.

I really like that both of us only found out about the latest local crop circle, (which turned up the same day,) after they told me what they saw. Possibly unconnected, but I love a mystery.

No I'm not mad, no I'm not grandstanding - and I am not remotely fussed. Its interesting, granted, and fun to spot one, but if they do their thing and leave me/us to do mine/ours, its so normal now that its just no biggy.

What's the betting they turn out to be a US government ploy, to keep spending more on each single space mission than it would take to clear the entire third world debt?

OK even that sounds a little kooky, but you know, nothing would phase me, and its interesting that 'straight up' doesnt seem to be a directional choice, even with a following.

Note to spotters: There is no apparent flight schedule, you could wait weeks and hurt your eyes. Don't bother.