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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

4.15pm and it's pitch dark - where has the light gone?

133 replies

PineappleDanish · 08/12/2019 16:25

Hate this time of year. It started getting dark around 2.30pm. Pitch dark by 4.15pm.

Won't be daylight again until 8.30am tomorrow morning. It's lashing rain outside and is forecast to do similar for most of the week.

Winter can fuck off. Roll on the Solstice and at least the nights start getting shorter again.

OP posts:
1nsom · 08/12/2019 21:31

I feel the same in summer - miserable and depressed. I start feeling better in August when the days are still warm but the nights get dark slightly earlier again. September, October, November and December I love. Then feel a bit down in January/Feb as I can feel spring and summer on the horizon as the nights get lighter.

PickAChew · 08/12/2019 21:32

It has been a particularly drear, wet, miserable, autumn, as autumns go. I think everywhere is just one heavy shower away from yet another flood and there is mud everywhere and laundry isn't drying very well without a tumble dryer and we're having to keep on at the little damp spots in our house harder than usual...

AdelaideK · 08/12/2019 21:37

I like the dark nights before Christmas. January is hellish though.

sweeneytoddsrazor · 08/12/2019 21:48

Well I don't 8 where in the West country a PP lives but I live.in the West country and its been vile here today.

Funny how someone said the hot chocolate brigade must be down south. I thought all you tough Northerners didn't guve a hoot about the weather and only put long trousers and coats on when it dropped to -10 Grin

Vulpine · 08/12/2019 22:08

This autumn has been beautiful.

Missillusioned · 08/12/2019 22:42

From the start of February it's light at 5pm in the NW. Feels a lot less depressing even if it's cold if it's a little bit light as I come out of work

bumblingbovine49 · 08/12/2019 22:50

I loathe the long nights. Weekends are so short. Afternoon walks have to be done and dusted by 3pm ( unless you like waking In the dark, which I don't ). I am unhappy until we start getting longer days. I love love love long summer evenings. Summer is my favourite season ( yes even hot ones) . Spring is my second favourite, then Autumn. Winter is just awful

AreWeAnywhereNear · 08/12/2019 22:58

Yep, I've had enough now.

I set off for work at 7am, it's cold, pitch black and miserable then I leave work at 6pm in the cold, pitch black and miserableness Sad

I try to get out for a walk at lunchtime but sometimes I'm just too busy or it's just pissing down.

I couldn't even get out for a walk today and I nearly got blown over putting the bin out plus I got wet through.

And no, I couldn't have wrapped up in a big coat as I was too cross to bother!

EustaciaPieface · 08/12/2019 23:22

The thought of being cosy inside all day makes me anxious. I love being outside, moving as much as I can, even if it’s just for a long walk. The mornings are the worst for me. Tomorrow looks bright and sunny thank god (Glasgow, sunset at 8.35)

U2HasTheEdge · 08/12/2019 23:31

have a theory that the "hot chocolate, warm blankets" romantics are all living much further south than the "fuck this for a game of soldiers" crowd.

I think most of them have the luxury of not working so they can spend all of winter under their snuggly blanket.

People who hate the summer are bloody lucky. They have hardly any of it to hate. A few days here and there, maybe the odd few weeks on rare occasions. I get my hated weather pretty much most of the year.

slipperywhensparticus · 08/12/2019 23:37

I keep cooking food at four because it's dark

7Days · 08/12/2019 23:56

Moaning Minnie's! You cant change the axis if the earth.

Not that I'm giving out, I love a good moan and its good for the psyche.

TheMobileSiteMadeMeSignup · 09/12/2019 00:05

Get DD home from school, feel like it's bedtime when it's only been an hour and we have to head back outside for her dance classes. Or at the weekend when we leave the house in the low daylight at 9am and spend all day in the rink to come home in the low daylight before it gets dark again.

Coming home in the dark from work makes me feel like it's already about 9pm when it's really only 6:30pm. I really need to look into vitamin D stuff.

I'm with the OP, winter and dark days can fuck off. I also feel like Summer is getting shorter which may be climate change or just middle age creeping in, who knows.

TotalRecall · 09/12/2019 00:07

As an Australian, I’ve always wanted to visit somewhere it’s dark 24/7 or daylight 24/7. I imagine the novelty would wear off pretty quickly but it’s on my bucket list!

My blinds are currently broken in my bedroom and I can’t afford to replace them at the moment, so I’m being woken up at 5am with sunlight streaming in my face. Sad

Pipandmum · 09/12/2019 00:09

I love it! I'm sat here watching the Crown, fire going, listening to the wind and rain outside. Mind you I didn't much appreciate it when walking the dogs...
I'm looking forward to snow and cold when we go to the US next week too.

stripeypillowcase · 09/12/2019 07:09

sitting on a train watching the sun come up.
makes up a little for cycling in the dark.

ForalltheSaints · 09/12/2019 07:30

You cannot change how many hours of darkness there are, but you can change when they are. Better to have some evening light, so not putting the clocks back in winter, I think.

bluebells1 · 09/12/2019 07:35

Love this time of the year. The best time to go for a walk because all the "summer people" are away, moaning about the cold and dark. There are no children out and about playing football and no teenagers screaming and shouting. I wish it stayed like this the whole year!

Vulpine · 09/12/2019 07:52

You cant change the seasons or the weather but you can change where you live. If you hate it that much consider moving to the south west or something

tigger1001 · 09/12/2019 07:59

I get people hating the dark, and suffering from a lack of vit d.

But in our house it's a very welcome relief. Oh has an allergy to uv light and his skin is a mess from late January to mid October. He is in pain with it as his skin is just a mass of weeping, bleeding sores. So we welcome the chance for his skin to heal and for clothes and sheets not to be covered in blood on a daily basis.

I get the whole not liking it being dark to and from work though, and do sometimes feel like a mole at this time of year.

I do love cold crisp bright days though. It's a shame they are few and far between. It has been a pretty dreich weekend

angieloumc · 09/12/2019 08:09

I love the winter it's my favourite season. Friends are appalled as they love summer and the light and hear.
Different strokes and all that...

ShinyGiratina · 09/12/2019 08:25

On balance, I love our seasons, but the extent of our short days plus frequent poor light quality from near constant overcast/ soggy days is overwhelming and draining. Particularly as the barrage of shit weather started in August.

The DCs have barely played out in 3 months. The garden has reluctantly been out of bounds for two months as the lawn/ swamp/ clay pit is so soggy it will be destroyed within 5 minutes of footfall. Ditto to the local park.

Last year we had a decent autumn, and a winter that wasn't too bad. This year, I'm on empty already. The shitty summer lurching from steaming sauna to torrential downpours made it hard to get out. There were few days where it was comfortably pleasant. The local parkrun still isn't back to normal function after being dogged by serious flooding since mid-October. Being pent up in the house after 4pm with lively, under-exercised children is no fun, particularly when one has ASD and finds many indoor spaces like soft play to be overwhelming. His favourite outdoor activities of lurking in dens and stick hunting are somewhat diminished by the quanity of mud and general sogginess outside.

I generaly love getting outside and making the most of the seasons, but winter can make that very difficult at times. And no amounts of fairylights (and I do love the coloured lights of Christmas) or hot chocolate (without dairy and sweetners or I'll feel much worse) or blankets or log burners really touches the impact of lack of daylight.

U2HasTheEdge · 09/12/2019 08:29

You cant change the seasons or the weather but you can change where you live. If you hate it that much consider moving to the south west or something

If only it was that easy! I am not sure that moving my children out of their schools, or getting a new job or moving away from my family is really the answer.

Delatron · 09/12/2019 08:41

My local park run has been cancelled for weeks due to flooding. How anyone can say the constant rain and flooding is ‘lovely’ is beyond me. I understand we all like different things but when it’s hard to get out and do activities you love and events are cancelled then that’s not good at all for many people.

Damntheman · 09/12/2019 08:45

Ah I feel you OP. I worked in an office without windows a couple of years back and I didn't see daylight in the week for several months. Shortest day here is only a couple of hours long so.. yeah. Still, at least I get snow which brightens it up a bit! Hang in there, solstice isn't far away.