In the southern half of the world they'll be approaching high summer while we have only increasing gloom to look forward to ...
Not so bad by the Med, I suppose but approaching permanent night-time in Iceland. I found this report amusing though (does anyone now what
yoiking is?) -
"The nights are drawing in. That sad moment when you know your entire
post-work journey home will be in the dark is upon us. No natural
illumination until March. Despair amid the encircling gloom. Only The
Archers for consolation.
"It could be worse. Last week, the Northerner headed off to the Arctic
circle for a bit of yoiking (don't ask). He arrived late one night
but leapt eagerly out of bed at 8am the next morning to see the sun
rise over the hills above Tromso, in the far north of Norway.
"The curtains went flying back to reveal no sun and no hills, just inky
murk. An hour later, after breakfast without porridge (shame), a
misty grey light glimmered over the harbour and intensified
heroically until about 11am, but then appeared to run out of energy
and give up.
"By 12.30pm, when the Northerner was being photographed with a yoiker
in reindeer-hide trousers on a snowy hillside (don't ask), it felt
like 4.30pm in Macclesfield. By 3pm, the dusk was almost full-scale
dark.
"In ten days, the sun will cease trying to climb above the horizon and
Tromso's almost total crepuscular state will last for two months. A
local resident suggested the effects were dire, and said the best
advice was to try to do nothing that required sustained intellectual
effort. The next best advice was to head to Morocco for most of
December.
"Those who remain gather together as often possible to socialise until
the sun returns. They talk. They eat. They drink. And presumably,
with beer at about a fiver a bottle, they take out second mortgages
to pay for the booze."
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