I give a passing nod to security at The Manor.

I have my CCTV setup so it is on permanent alert in the front garden. The rest of my boundary is well protected with fences, brambles and lots of other shit with a lot of thorns. The only way in is through the gate. I also have a motion detecting light over the back door that lights up the entire estate – it’s blindingly bright and probably a danger to commercial aircraft overhead.

The garden light has a weird problem though. It has been up there for some years. But several years ago it stopped switching off. It just stayed on all the time. We had the best lit estate in the entire neighborhood, with the light trying to outshine the bright summer sun.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed something strange – it was dark outside. Black. No garden. This really confused Penny as she is obsessed with watching the garden and now there wasn’t one for her to be obsessed about. I opened the door to the terrace and the light popped on. There was the garden, neatly replaced without a weed or a twig out of place. Having come on, the light refused to switch off again.

This happened on a few nights.

Then it started doing its little trick on a very regular basis. It is switched off during the day and only comes on when a motion triggers it. It then stays on.

I have no idea when it switches off. I’m not exactly going to sit out in the frost watching it, or even sit inside with the frost.

Weird.