Like it says...

U.F.O.
Unidentified Flying Object.

Just after 9 tonight, I was in the back garden, having a fag, minding my own, when I notice a light in the sky, brighter than any of the stars already out. Judging by the brightness of the sky, the position of the light, and the lack of anything near it, it stood out as odd. There was no flashing or twinkling to it, just a very bright, white light, larger than a star and seemingly at a lower altitude than the few clouds nearby.

As I looked, I thought I could see a slight movement, but wasn't sure. While watching, the light seemed to speed up, it's movement obvious now, and the intensity of the light started to increase with it. As I watched, the light made a movement, a partial "S", and flared into a burst of light brighter than anything else I have seen, including meteors, aircraft or satellites.

My initial thoughts, when I first saw it, were about a satellite, or the space station currently in orbit. I have read about Iridium satellites causing flashes, also websites that allow you to predict and observe these. I will be checking those out soon. That might explain the sudden increase in brightness and sudden disappearance afterwards. What I'd like it do would be to explain the apparent changes in speed and direction I saw, plus the one bright flash, near enough in the original position, I saw just after this thing disappeared.

I've seen a lot of things in the sky, but only once before saw something that was genuinely unexplained and unidentifiable. That time, I wasn't alone. Like tonight, I saw something that changed speed and direction, appeared to be below some cloud level, had no flashing lights and moved quicker than any aircraft I've ever seen.

Within minutes of seeing it, I texted a couple of mates to try and keep my memory of it as sharp and as honest as possible. All too often, people can create details not originally present and the misidentified becomes the mysterious and you have to keep up with the story as it takes on a life of it's own. This is an attempt at an honest recording of a weird thing for me. Something, like it says on the tin, that was up there and out there.