By the time we left Casemates to walk back to the Bristol the sun had long since disappeared and night had descended. Places take on a different personality at night compared to how they are in the daytime; some (especially in urban areas of the U.K.) can become quite threatening but I don’t usually feel that; in fact walking back up Main Street in the dark (for me) almost defined the word peace. While the others chatted away about how much they had enjoyed their meal, and how much they were loving Gibraltar (which is exactly what I’d hoped to hear) I’d zoned out and was looking up into the sky at the moon and stars. *

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I’d suspected they would want to pause at the Gibraltar Arms for a drink before heading back to the Bristol and I was right. Sitting outside the Gibraltar Arms I continued to enjoy looking up at the beautiful moon as it lit up the cathedral. It reminded me of a story a friend had told me many years before about when he was in the armed forces. Both he and his wife had made a pledge to look up at the moon for five minutes at exactly the same time every night while they were apart and just doing that kept them connected through many a lonely night. 

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For me the moon has always given me a feeling of safety and warmth wherever I’ve been. Whenever life has been difficult just looking up at the moon has always had a very calming effect on me since being a child. Some years ago (2007-09) I lived in India working as a musician and when I got home in the evenings after a gig I would always take Mowgli out for an evening stroll around the streets of our village. If the moon was out there it was always massive and as Mowgli and I walked I always had the feeling we were being looked after, that we weren’t alone, that we were somehow connected to that far bigger authority of the universe.

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As I looked up at the moon that night I just felt very much connected to Gibraltar, and I so loved that.