It's the annual Burning of the Clocks in Brighton tonight, which is the only time of the year when you can see faces light up on the seafront without the use of ice cream. I last went three years ago, in the days when I still had the energy to walk out of the door after 7pm on a work night. A lot's changed since then. Suffice it to say that if you plot the graph of my lethargy against Amelie's age, you get a 45 degree line.

So I'm not going tonight either. Frankly I can barely make it to the sofa. But as it happens, this year's festival has proved entertaining without me even leaving the flat. The Argus are reporting today that the organisers, Same Sky, have been contacted by the Sussex Wildlife Trust, to warn them about the dangers of releasing sky lanterns during the procession. It's resulted in this immortal headline:

SKY LANTERN BLAMED FOR OWL DEATH
And the following informative article:

"People are being warned about using sky lanterns after a barn owl was burnt and killed.

Sussex Wildlife Trust (SWT) sent out an e-newsletter warning people that the lanterns are a danger to wildlife following the injuries to the owl.

It's not clear how the lantern injured the owl."

When it comes to night-flying, nothing can hold a candle to a barn owl. Apart from a sky lantern.