My UFO Sighting

Earlier this year when I was in Australia, I saw a UFO. Or perhaps three UFO’s. I didn’t write about it then because I had forgotten, so it’s time to remedy that.

It was late May or early June. I was walking along the Newcastle Harbour foreshore toward Nobby’s. It was bright and sunny, and there were lots of people walking and cycling. I was taking some photos of the ferry, so I was approaching the dock from the west. All of a sudden, three silver objects noiselessly flew quickly over me.

Here are my impressions:

  • They were moving fairly quickly in a roughly eastern direction out to sea, and there was no noise at all.
  • They were silver or at the least light gray or white. They seemed reflective, and while they seemed elongated it was difficult to determine their exact shape.
  • They seemed to twist and turn around their individual axes, and the trio of objects seemed to rotate together or at least turn in formation.
  • The more I watched them the more I wasn’t sure I was looking at multiple objects or one (possibly connected by parts I could not see).
  • I couldn’t determine their height. I couldn’t tell if they were small and closer to the ground or large and higher up.

The above photo shows their path as best I recall. I watched them for maybe 30 seconds, and even tried to take some photos (in which they weren’t visible). Due to the bright sun and the reflective nature of the objects they became difficult to see as they moved away from me, and I lost site of them probably around the time they left the harbour.

I wasn’t the only one who saw them, since I observed two men ahead of me pointing towards them and watching as well.

At the time, I had no idea what I was watching. In my mind I assumed they were simply something that I could not identify, but not for one instant did I consider they were something no-one could identify. For me therefore, they were literally UFOs, but I never considered that they were UFOs for everyone. I was certainly intrigued by them, and wished I had taken some video, but to be honest they left my mind quickly. I didn’t even write about them on a postcard, which seems unusual.

Before writing this post I did a bit of research, and confirmed that there was no scheduled fighter jet activity from Williamstown on or about Newcastle in late May or early June. Even though nothing about the objects suggested ‘jets’ to me, I wanted to consider the most obvious explanation. Thinking about the objects now, my guess would be drones, although I’m not aware of drones that can fly so fast and with such range, and as I said I couldn’t estimate the size when I saw them. I suppose other exotic explanations may exist: I did see a gyrocopter flying over Newcastle baths only a few days prior!

I was reminded of this incident after speaking with a colleague about UFOs. I was struck by the fact that this had happened to me, and I definitely saw physical things (or a thing) that I could not – and still can’t – identify flying over a major city, and it didn’t seem like a big deal and was forgotten by the end of the day. This gives me a new perspective on UFO sightings: how often do others see curious objects in the sky, wonder for a minute or so and then just go on with their lives?

To the Novocastrians reading: have you ever seen anything like this? If so, what was it?

Ten Things We Saw At The Fair

Once again we went to the Dutchess County Fair, about 90 minutes from where we live. It was the last day of the fair, very busy and very hot! Here’s some of what we saw…

The fair means farm animals, and after a few Covid-affected years they were back in full force. These pigs were very cute since when mum rolled over to stop feeding several began wrestling with each other which was very funny!

Fairs also mean produce contests, and this was perhaps the most striking display. Since we went on the last day this year much of the produce had spoiled, and it was amusing seeing first place ribbons attached to rotten veggies!

This is the most unusual stuffed toy you could win at the carnival games. It’s Bob Ross! It was fairly big (maybe 1 m tall) and as you can see has his trademark palette in his left hand. Would children really want this?

It’s the General Lee, automobile ‘star’ of The Dukes of Hazard tv show. While the show itself was light-hearted and family friendly, this car is now controversial due to the confederate flag (a hate symbol) on the roof. In fact it’s against NY state law to display this flag on fairgrounds, and yet there it was.

This first-prize-winning art is pretty good for a 25-year old wouldn’t you say? I actually had a wealth of… interesting art I could have displayed here, but the age on this one was impossible to ignore 🙂

The rides were good as usual, but there wasn’t anything particularly new to see. The paint on this ‘Diesel Punk’ funhouse was spectacular though. Is that Tank Girl in the lower right? What about the other two; what are the origins of those characters?

Here I am enjoying a calm moment with a polar bear.

And here’s a handsome chicken. Look at his blue cheek! There were a great many birds to be seen, including exotic show pigeons. We also saw baby cows, rabbits, sheep, goats, llamas, guinea pigs, camels, snakes and turtles 🙂

In the landscaping contest was this entry done by a fountain company. They had converted a rusted old truck into a fountain and water was gushing out of the engine and cab. It was extremely well done, with all the pipes and tubes cleverly hidden. I bet they’ll get a lot of business as a result!

Here’s Kristin enjoying a slice of pickle pizza! She said it was strange at first, but got better the more she ate and afterwards she said she liked it so much she may try making one herself. As usual there was a vast amount of typical ‘fair food’ on offer (I had a hot dog, roasted corn and a donut) and it was difficult to choose.

As usual we had fun, even if the heat became oppressive. It’s great fairs are back to normal again: maybe next year we’ll go to an even bigger one!

New Car!

We bought a new car. We’d wanted one for a while, but the ongoing pandemic production/shipping situation made us wait. Happily though, the wait ended yesterday and this is now ours:

It’s a 2022 Forester Wilderness. It’s our fourth Forester and fifth Subaru and it’s the fanciest we’ve owned so far with lots of extras. Some of the notable features the car has that are new to us is a powered rear gate, independent driver/passenger air conditioning and the ability to share your phone screen to the cars (large) touchscreen. The Wilderness designation means it’s got some off-roading abilities as well, that we’ll never use!

We traded in our third Forester, which was going on thirteen years old and a bit long in the tooth now:

For the last several months every time I drove this guy I was a little nervous since the engine always sounded like it was about to die. I’m sure they’ll fix him up and he’ll have a good few years left for a new owner 🙂

We seem to buy a new car every six to seven years, and I hope the next one is at least a partial electric vehicle. Come back in 2029 and find out!