The December Darkness

It's mid-December, and darkness rules over more than two thirds of the day here in South Wales. The hours of daylight are weak in number but you can still hold on to that sunny feeling with lunchtime walks and dreams of things to come after the Winter Solstice. The Winter gloominess isn't completely unbeatable, after all...

'Solstice' is a pretty interesting word, passing down to us from Latin, via Old French and Middle English. It literally means 'the stopping of the Sun', as that celestial body ceases its long trudge to the horizons or zeniths of our own personal worlds and begins to retrace its steps. Yes, the good old tilted Earth will have gone from one side of the Sun to the other, and passed once more on to the other half of its journey. Even now, in the Southern hemisphere, the daylight hours are reaching their greatest duration. Never forget the flip side.

Astronomy is wonderful, isn't it? The great study of the universe, and our own moving place within it! If there were more hours in the week, it would be top of my list of things to study ardently, and without cessation! However, the real world does like to get in the way, with a grand diversity of students, studies and fascinating books to read. And lots of sleeping, of course, befitting the the darkest time of the year. If you're not sleeping hours more, then you're plainly not doing it right. Consider investing in extra beds for hot bunking, personal valets to rotate you for optimal hygiene, and anti-insomnia pillows. We'll get to full employment via twelve hour sleep nights, people.

Also in recent news, a new commentary is up, a Tysto/Quirky Muffin co-production for 'Batman: The Movie'! Ah, for those grand days when a pre-atomic Penguin Sub made sense and labelling was a universal antidote to seriousness...

More will follow, following the brief interruption to normal service yesterday which was prompted by a bizarre confluence of dogsitting, podcast recording, tutoring and covering my mother's stall at the local produce market. Days like those happen at most once per year...

O.