I was in my back garden at the time. it was about 11.30 pm and i went to see if there were any stars visible. i went out and all to be seen was broken cloud coverage and no stars. the night was calm withe little to no wind present. i was just about to return inside when i spotted a bright golden ball of light moving at a fairly fast pace across the sky. it was visible through a large gap in the clouds. my first thought was that it might be a comet or sattelite or such, but then it abruptly changed direction towards the opposite way it had come. it carried on the opposte way for another half a minute and then disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving a golden trail visible for about 0.5 seconds. i was very shocked, as i was sure that no man made object could achieve such incredible speeds and alterations in flight path and also to suddenly disappear. i was vaguely aware of the ufo phenomenom prior to this event, having seen videos and articles online etc but i have never personally seen or experienced anything unusual until now. -m