As I leave the house with briefcase in hand, the Moon’s still low and bright and there’s frost on the grass. I’m wearing a scarf and gloves. Overhead, a jet crawls eastwards through the clear, empty vault of the sky, its fuselage glowing like a coal in the orange light of the unrisen sun.

When the bus arrives, it’s running late, caught behind a street sweeper. It’s a single-decker instead of a double, so everyone’s packed and crowded and I have to stand in the aisle, earphones wedged in, listening to music downloads on my mobile headset.

When I get off, a cold wind’s blowing through the city centre and the traders are setting up their stalls on Corn Street, sharpening the air with the mixed smells of coffee and ice and fresh fish. The shops are opening their blinds; yesterday’s confetti blows around the Registry Office steps; a Spanish girl stops me to ask directions; the church clock strikes; and up ahead, my office tower squats, the sun catching the steam venting from the ducts in its side and roof, making it look like a missile that’s about to hurl itself at the morning sky.

“Experts assessing the dangers posed to civilisation have added climate change to the prospect of nuclear annihilation as the greatest threats to humankind. As a result, the group has moved the minute hand on its famous “Doomsday Clock” two minutes closer to midnight…” Read the full story on the BBC website.

According to New Scientist, aliens haven’t contacted us yet because it’s a big galaxy, and they haven’t had time to find us… Follow the link for the full story.

I’ve just migrated this blog onto the new version of Blogger, and I lost a lot of the things I’d added. I’ve organised some of the links and retroactively applied labels to some of the old posts – but there’s still some work that needs doing. Please bear with me until I’ve got it all done.

Every now and then, a news story comes along and restores your faith in your fellow humans. Take this one, for example: it’s the story of a guy in New York who leapt in front of a subway train to save a fellow passenger. Or this one, which tells how two New Yorkers caught a five year old child falling from a four storey fire escape.

I’m pleased and excited to hear that my brother’s writing a novel. So far he’s 40,000 words into it and – from what little he’s said about it – it sounds great. It’s a conspiracy thriller. He’s promised to email me a copy soon – and I’m so proud of him. He’s been through so much this year that I’m frankly amazed he’s had time to sit down and write.

I’m also currently reading through a murder mystery by my close friend, the crime writer D. James Harris. He’s given the old fashioned mystery format a modern spin by making the main character a student forced to investigate a rash of on-campus killings in order to try to prove her friend’s innocence. The action ranges from Bristol to Denmark. I haven’t finished reading it yet, but I have to say I’m hooked.