Today is the shortest day!

[Tickets25]

Always gives me a bit of a boost that lighter days are on the way!

Me too. I think it’s because of the awful weather.

I lovethe day too. We're not religious but enjoy Christmas as a winter festive to mark (a little belatedly) the winter soltice, and treat it and NY Eve and Day as a festive time of time with loved ones and over indulgence to herald the winter proper, a time of hunkering down. Love it.

That’s it , sun well and truly down. Brighter days ahead! 😜

I don't experience the solstice any more but the day still feels very significant. As it has been for millennia. Heard an interesting snippet of info (Guy Garvey) about the original of the word 'halcyon' as in halcyon days.....apparently a grieving Greek goddess threw herself into the sea but was rescued by her god chums and transformed into a kingfisher. They decided to make the storms calm for two weeks after the solstice so that she could nest and breed. I love this ! And I always remember (south England) how very often the weather was absolutely gorgeous over Christmas, clear and settled. Halcyon days !

Yes, I love this day, because it's all uphill and more light than darkness from now on, and I'm always done for Christmas at this point. Got nothing else to do.

From tomorrow H and I say to each other ‘nights are drawing out’ - it raises a laugh when darkness descends at 4pm! Then ‘we batten down the hatches’ - keeps us happy 🤣

I’ve just looked at the times and the sun goes down a whole minute later tomorrow, at 3.46.

But we have to gain another 12-13 hours or daylight by June 21st. So that's ... 2 hours a month (although it's not evenly spread) or 4 minutes a day.

The other 3 minutes will be the sun rising earlier.

Sort of.

Astronomy. It's humans first fumbling attempts to understand "out there".

This site is pretty good for seeing things like the daily changes:

www.timeanddate.com/sun/uk/london

It's the dark mornings that get me the most - getting up and travelling to work in the dark is so uninspiring - so there's a few more weeks to go before it starts getting lighter earlier in the morning again.

On the plus side, I do see some amazing sunrises on my way to work this time of year.

For the French it's the longest night!

I'm guessing you live in 'the land of the midnight sun' in June to counterbalance this!

Yeah in summer its only dark for a few hours but right now that seems a very distant memory!

Yes. That is certainly horrible.

I love the short days and dark evenings, so I am sad about it being the shortest day. I love winter. I do not like the long light evenings of summer.

I'm in the southern hemisphere so it's the longest day here. However I never get this joy over the shortest day. While I agree it is nice to see the days lengthen I remember the old proverb - as the days lengthen the cold strengthens - and I dread the colder months which follow.

I know that the weather here is going to get hotter for the next few months so I'm happy ☀

I have had a lovely solstice. A nice long bath and now I’m in bed watching Bridgerton with a candle lit. Absolutely gorgeous!

I’m a strange one. I prefer darker nights and darker mornings. It helps with my sleep. The only time of year I get decent sleep. I like lamps and candles on of an evening and feeling cosy and relaxed, not daylight and I hate daylight at 4:30am. I have blackout everything yet it still manages to seep through.

This year I have really started to enjoy going out for runs in the morning. I've caught some beautiful sunrises. There's something very peaceful about it that I just didn't get when I was going out at the same time in June. I'm still looking forward to warmer and lighter but this year I did spot one benefit at least.

I'm the same @BooBooDoodle I'm full of energy in the winter months and find the light and heat of the summer months exhausting, it's like constantly being "on" and I don't feel I switch off in the summer theres hardly any difference between night and day

Thank goodness. Still a couple of months to go though.

Does anyone remember February half term of 2019? We had unusually warm weather, it was like t shirt and shorts weather for the week!

I'm still planting out helllibores

Just went out into the garden to cut some Ivy for festive decoration and the light was gorgeous, birds were singing and I noticed yellow winter jasmine flowering and the leaves of my bluebells are up! Made my heart warm! Off for a dog walk now before I have a house full.

I'm in Northern Norway for a few more days and there is no natural light at all at the moment. It will seem like a big bonus to have daylight when I get back.

Sun just setting in beautiful colours to end 2025 and it’s 16:34!