Earth Hour got a bit... well... earthy.

It was very romantic to spend the first night in a long time having a candlelight dinner and drinks with my wife.

Not so for my three year old - when he realised that no birthday cake was to follow the dowsed lights, and that he was not going to be allowed to blow out the candles... he took himself off to bed with his favourite car. Early.

Yesss!

So did we. But not before checking out the darkened city from the distance. Quite strange. Many of our neighbours were doing the same, coming out of darkened houses illuminated by flickering candles to commune and chat. And back in to, um, canoodle. I now understand how baby-booms are born.

The event was a success from an awareness-raising point of view; 67,000 readers of the Sydney Morning Herald's 212,000 strong readership registered to participate. That's about 30 percent. But more than that, twice the amount of emissions that were predicted to be saved, were saved. My sister-in-law told me that the energy companies recorded a total 10.1 percent drop in energy use for that hour - the equivalent of taking 50,000 cars off the road for the hour.

Bravo. Encore.

Well done Sydney. Well done SMH. Well done WWF. Good luck to the rest of the world - hope you get lucky.

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk Last Updated: Saturday, 31 March 2007, 10:41 GMT 11:41 UK Sydney in climate change blackout Sydney's famous skyline (top image) was shrouded in darkness Lights have been turned off across Australia's largest city, Sydney, in a hour-long event aimed at raising awareness of global warming. At 1930 (0930 GMT) the city's skyline dimmed and normally bright landmarks like the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge went dark. The so-called Earth Hour is supported by the New South Wales government, environmental groups and businesses. The city of four million people is aiming to become the first anywhere to achieve a blackout on this scale. Every day millions of lights and computers are left on in deserted office blocks as well as in apartments and houses. Campaigners have said that simply switching them off could reduce Sydney's greenhouse gas emissions by 5% over the next year.