Just when I thought another evening with no success, the comet suddenly appeared at 8:50pm (sast). By then I was almost a lonely soul sitting on a bench on the promenade, under floodlights.

A couple passed by and asked, like so many others earlier: “Is it safe to be sitting here with all this gear?” Well I suppose no, but how else will I manage to take photos of a comet that will only maybe come around again in hundreds of thousands of years?

I did a short star hopping gig just to keep them hanging with me.

They went there way… I watched and checked over my shoulder to see whether my car was still there.

A young girl came along with her parents. Relieved I shouted: “Look – a comet! and Venus and Saturn and Jupiter and Mars” In return for the free session on planets, they kept me company.

The girl said – “hey, I think I’ve seen you before at the Afrikaans Language Monument!” What a small world. They did not realise that the very next Friday, the 24 Jan 2025, the Orion Observasie Group would be back at the monument for another stargazing picnic.

It’s a small world but what a vast universe.