i was walking home from a late shift at work back in early november 2011,(most likely 5th of november) it was around 10:00pm. i had gotten just over half way home when i noticed an orange light in the sky to the right of me, which didn't seem to be moving. i looked at it and wondered what it was and if it was going to come closer. it seemed to respond to my thoughts and it started to move across the sky in my direction and slowly descended until it was a few yards away form the footpath. i thought it was something sort of supernatural and as i am interested in that sort of thing. i just found it fascinating. once it was in front of me, it displayed a yellow colour in the centre and orange towards the edges. it had what looked like two v shapes in the centre, one facing upwards and the other facing downwards, creating a kind of x shape, the orb just stayed there in front of me, it was the size of a very large beach ball. a short time passed as i looked at the strange large orb. i did try to take a photo of the orb with my mobile phone, but the battery was completely dead. the orb was only 11 or 12 feet away from me at its closest point. it was then that i decided to walk on home because it was getting late. it was still there as i was walking away from it. my husband normally picks me up from work at this very particular spot if i am on a late shift. this was the only time he was called away somewhere else and couldn't meet me. when i got home my husband had still not gotten back home, but when he did come in, he told me about the appearance earlier that evening around 8:00 to 8:30pm of a us military helicopter, which was flying over and past our garden with a search light looking for something!!! the side panel of this large helicopter was open and there were a number of appeared to be armed soldiers in military uniform who gave him dirty looks. my husband wanted to stick his two fingers up at them, but he thought they might begin shooting at him. he has a grievance about the behaviour of the us military industrial complex and how they treat the civilian population, even in the us! i find this very unacceptable because there shouldn't be a us military presence over irish soil and if they had used their guns, there would have to be a lot of questions to answer. they have no right to intimidate people, anyway that being said there was most likely a connection to this orb and these individuals in their helicopter were obviously looking for the ufo. to top it all, the day after my day off, a monday, two american soldiers came into my workplace which was at a large supermarket, they walked past me, watching me and they were not shopping, they didn't even have a basket. they just observed me and then walked off out of the store. my husband instinctively feels that the orb was not a spacecraft, but a form of super-consciousness, it certainly seemed intelligent and appeared as though it could read my thoughts. he believes he was meant to have been there to see it. i have never gone public with this incident before, it was only after seeing some mufon case files, did i choose to come forward with this event. this is only one of many strange encounters my husband and i have had over the last 11 years.