STARS AND DOGS I miss the stars. Growing up well away from the nearest city the stars were always the brightest things in the sky. So much so that I ignored them. They were just part of the backdrop to my late night adventures � smashing windows on newly built housing estates or just generally looking for trouble to fall into. Then I came to London for the first time and I never really noticed the lack of stars. There was more than enough manmade light to keep my eyes busy. Then a few years ago we went back to my hometown for the first time as a couple and one night while walking as far away from my old house as possible Jess told me to look at the stars. I'd never want to move back there but recently I've been trying to think if there is a single thing I miss about that place. As it turns out there are thousands of things I miss but they will still be millions of miles away even if I ever went home for good. Which brings me to Australia. I was always told that America had the biggest sky and I saw a lot of it as we travelled but you really need to go to Australia if you want to be put in your place by nature. Our first night in Perth is full of memories. Waiting for four hours for a taxi that never showed up, drinking beer next to the river as newly weds danced in the background to soul destroying music and just hanging with our new friend who by a strange twist of the internet was also an old friend. And then there was the sky. The stars seem a lot closer and you actually begin to realise that you are standing on an actual planet out in the middle of nothing. Perhaps this is why I found everyone who lives out there to be so laid back. Your own tiny problems, whatever they may be, are dwarfed every single evening. It must be a nice place to live. Here in London we don't have much of a sky anymore and even at night it never really gets dark so the stars don't get much of a chance. But in a way it's nice to miss them because it makes me want to travel more in order to see them from different dots on the globe. Last night I took my coffee outside to the roof but all I saw were lit windows, strobes atop cranes and the odd moving lights of aeroplanes. I did, however, see one thing that made me smile. We have this long thin roof terrace that runs the length of the building that we share with our never-seen neighbours. At the opposite end of the terrace I noticed that a dog was staring at me. I couldn't make out the breed because he was skulking around in the shadows and he had no interest in coming any closer but it's nice to know that he's around. I grew up with dogs so I would have to add them to the list of things I miss. The more I think about my old home town the more I'm glad that I can find the few things that are missing here by simply walking further away from there. Mike is blogging to: The Amps