The Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year.
It has arrived.
June 21 is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 193 days remaining until the end of the year.
On non-leap years (until 2039), this day marks the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere and the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere, and is the day of the year with the most hours of daylight in the northern hemisphere and the least hours of daylight in the southern hemisphere.
In other words, as from today, the daylight hours decrease and the evenings "draw in" leaving people like me, acutely aware, that in a few short months the clocks will be put back one hour (why don't they leave the bloody things alone) and it will be dark earlier and earlier. I do so hate darkening evenings and even darker nights. It is not, as some people say, nice and cosy with the curtains drawn and the candles flickering over the dining room table and reflecting in the glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. It is to me, cold and miserable, and if venturing outside after 4:00 pm into the swirling mist, it is almost sinister. Perhaps some animals have got it right and go into hibernation during this period. Having been born in the winter month of November, and having experienced many of these gloomy episodes over the years, you may think that I would be used to it by now. Nothing could be further from reality. Even the prospect of Christmas lifts the mood of melancholy only for a brief period as the few days of pleasure and enjoyment are tempered by the commerciality of the occasion, which seems to commence earlier and earlier every year. The driving force propelling me through this time is the knowledge that on December 21st, sanity returns and the hours of darkness begin to shorten, until sometime in March or there a bouts' they will put the clocks forward again, (if they left the bloody things alone, they would not have to select a month to do it), and things start to come back to life. April and May pass then, before you can say "Tempus fugit" Its June 21st and we are back to where we started.
June 21 is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 193 days remaining until the end of the year.
On non-leap years (until 2039), this day marks the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere and the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere, and is the day of the year with the most hours of daylight in the northern hemisphere and the least hours of daylight in the southern hemisphere.
In other words, as from today, the daylight hours decrease and the evenings "draw in" leaving people like me, acutely aware, that in a few short months the clocks will be put back one hour (why don't they leave the bloody things alone) and it will be dark earlier and earlier. I do so hate darkening evenings and even darker nights. It is not, as some people say, nice and cosy with the curtains drawn and the candles flickering over the dining room table and reflecting in the glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. It is to me, cold and miserable, and if venturing outside after 4:00 pm into the swirling mist, it is almost sinister. Perhaps some animals have got it right and go into hibernation during this period. Having been born in the winter month of November, and having experienced many of these gloomy episodes over the years, you may think that I would be used to it by now. Nothing could be further from reality. Even the prospect of Christmas lifts the mood of melancholy only for a brief period as the few days of pleasure and enjoyment are tempered by the commerciality of the occasion, which seems to commence earlier and earlier every year. The driving force propelling me through this time is the knowledge that on December 21st, sanity returns and the hours of darkness begin to shorten, until sometime in March or there a bouts' they will put the clocks forward again, (if they left the bloody things alone, they would not have to select a month to do it), and things start to come back to life. April and May pass then, before you can say "Tempus fugit" Its June 21st and we are back to where we started.
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