Yesterday was a very short day in Dunedin. In fact, it was the shortest day: it was June 21st, which marks the winter solstice. According to an almanac I found online, the sun rose at 8:20am, very slowly turning the gray hills green, and only stuck around until 4:59pm before it was gone again.
But today is longer than yesterday. And tomorrow will be longer again. Et cetera.
The chronic lack of sunlight in these dark months is a big deal in Dunedin. Everyone seems to become a little bear-like here during winter. Ursine: lumbering home from work at night with a slow metabolism to eat stodgy food and go to sleeeeeep. Last night, we attended the Midwinter Carnival. A celebration of the longest night. And just about everyone who lives in Dunedin was downtown. There was a procession through the streets, with kids carrying paper lanterns they'd made in the last few weeks. There were huge bird-shaped lanterns: an albatross, owls, a goose. There were stilt walkers, medieval chanters, musicians, fireworks, and a merry-go-round. It all seemed a touch pagan. We've waited all day today to see if the Black Death or the grippe kicked in but, so far, we're fine.
Back to the almanac: today is 2-seconds longer than yesterday. I think I noticed the extra time. Tomorrow is another 6-seconds longer. And next Saturday will be 1-minute-44-seconds longer than last Saturday.
What will we do with all that extra sunlight? (ck)
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