Passengers waiting for the 18.10 to Battle – for the Bonfire event – gaped in disbelief as a young man, perilously short on brain cells, nipped off the platform, jumped neatly over the tracks and onto the platform the other side. A foolish enough action in any case but an especially dumb idea to do it in front of two burly policemen. Battle was quite full of people, many of whom had taken the precaution of filling themselves with some form of alcoholic beverage to protect them from the cold and also to protect them from behaving in a sober and sensible way. My little brood for the evening consisted of three young ladies aged 17 to 18 - who drank only coke btw - and enjoyed themselves in a quiet, unobtrusive way but it was very cold. Very, very cold.

I was impressed that in a dark street I was able to spot an old friend I hadn’t seen for ages even though she had her face all blacked out but it always surprises me that in packed and crowded streets there is often the chance of unexpectedly bumping into someone you know. It was very cold though.

We only stayed for the procession but managed to enjoy a lot of the fireworks from the bench at the railway station which was probably a better view than we would have had in town. It was very, very cold at the station.

I think I have probably emphasised the cold aspect of the evening but not over-emphasised it!