Monday 21 December 2009

Three minutes to sunrise!

It is three minutes before the sun rises this Winter Solstice Day!

If I was a good witch, maybe I would be out shivering on some frozen hill or clifftop, or at some windswept Megalith with a bunch of hardened druids, waiting and watching for the glorious rays of the newborn sun to spill across the ice-bound land, heralding a new day and the turning of the year.

But I'm not a good witch - I'm a bad witch. And if you are reading this at 8am, just as this post goes live, then I am currently curled up snug in my warm bed, sleeping off a hangover.

My excuse - it's been a weekend of some heavy partying. There was my work's Christmas do on Friday then two wonderful Yule celebrations on Saturday and Sunday. Or, at least, I am assuming the one on Sunday will have been wonderful.

You see, I'm not only a bad witch, I'm also a bit of a cheat, because I'm writing this blog on Sunday afternoon before going to the party - then posting the entry to go live for Monday morning, December 21.

And I've just taken the photograph above - the rays of the late afternoon sun melting the snow that has fallen over my garden and making the ice and droplets of water glisten and sparkle. So, it isn't really a picture of a sunset, or a sunrise - just a pretty winter's day.

Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful Midwinter Solstice, whatever you are doing.

Sunrise today in London is at 8.03am. Sunset is at 3.52pm - I might be up in time to see that :)

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5 comments:

Chas S. Clifton said...

In the mountains you can "adjust" sunrise to your needs.

Miss E said...

Ha ha, more power to you! And don't feel too bad... this witch somehow managed to miss the solstice altogether! Can you believe that I thought the longest night of the year was tonight?

Badwitch said...

Vivienne - you aren't far from the truth! Because of the sun's angle to where we are in the UK, the day and night on the 22nd are actually the same length as on the 21st. Sunrise is actually one minute later on the 22nd, but sunset is a minute later too - odd isn't it? So although the solstice was yesterday, the nights are just as long for a couple of days afterwards.

HedgeWitchery said...

Bad Witch? Me and you both! I did NOTHING yesterday and felt vbery bad about it. Until i looked at it in a different way. The fact that it took me 4 hours in total to get home in the snow that hit the South East yesterday afternoon, including an hour & 15 walking through the slippery side streets, it made me appreciate the winter season even more - and how grateful I am that the sun shall be returning soon!!

Badwitch said...

Yes, the snow was beautiful to look at - but terrible to be travelling in!