On Sunday last, we officially reached the end of British Summer Time (BST) and reverted to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC ) or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) as we commonly know it.
The time of year we turn back the clocks by one hour, kidding ourselves that we get an extra hour’s sleep in the mornings.
As a result of this change, there will be more daylight in the mornings for a few more weeks, weather and cloud cover permitting. Alas evenings will unfortunately, become darker much earlier. And soon, without realising it, we will feel like we have slipped in to the night – getting up and going back to bed in darkness.
It’s that time of the year for winter walks wrapped in layers of warm woollies topped off with bright hats, scarves and gloves. A time to crunch with each footfall over crisp dry leaves and branches, singing together and watching our sound travel on our visible breaths before us.
Returning home rosy cheeked, to snuggle close to a glowing fire with a glass of hot chocolate or Glühwein, served warm to bring relief to hands that cuddle the cup or glass, and the bodies that drink it.
Feeling that “Aah . . . that’s better!” moment, while sinking deep into a comfortable well used arm chair.
To….
to continue working on a jigsaw puzzle
Or perhaps, toasting English muffins or large fluffy marshmallows by the fire. A time to think, plan and look forward to the festive season not far around the corner.
In to the night was chosen as our LBC topic this week by Will Knott, before he stepped back from blogging with us, due to blog problems. I do hope he finds time and a way to draw up to the fire with a glass of Glühwein and see how the other active members tackle the topic.
We have this awful dry cold in the gangetic plain, but I daresay a hot whisky would make me feel a lot better….
Yes, that should do the trick! Put a spoon of honey in it instead of sugar!
I hate it when the hours of darkness get longer and longer. All you can do is get as warm and cosy as possible, get stuck into your favourite activities* and pretend the cold and dark isn’t there.
* We’re presently working our way through the entire box set of The West Wing. A great distraction from the Horrid Outdoors.
Nick, I have plenty of indoor distractions, Films to watch, crafts to work on, jigsaws to complete and of course a few books to keep me going.
Why aren’t we as smart as other animals and just hibernate?
Al, with the weather in Ireland hibernation might last 24/7/12!
Ah yes – a nice hot toddy, perhaps a good book – music softly playing in the backgtround. I miss my fireplace!
I have held off using my fire so far, but it is set and ready for me to strike a match, when the light goes and I close up the blinds for the evening.
Chuck, you forgot the woman.
Mayo, wine, women and song! You talk plenty about the first too, what about singing us a song!
Grannymar,
My Dad taught me this poem over 80 years ago and I still remember every word of it.
Bed in Summer
By Robert Louis Stevenson 1850–1894
In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.
I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people’s feet
Still going past me in the street.
And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?
Nancy, how come I never heard this poem before? I love it and will send a copy to my nieces and nephews, so that they can teach it to their children.
I remember this one as a child.. In the days when I used to go to bed with daylight streaming through the curtains and listening to children playing on the street outside. It used to really upset me. It was only when my children were young I realised that I went to bed at 6pm!! Mine never went to bed that early!
Also it gets dark earlier here than it did in Dublin or Belfast! By 8pm even in mid summer here it is getting dark!
I just bought another copy of the book it was in a few weeks ago! Serendipidity
I too remember going to bed in daylight, the sound of traffic was the nightly lullaby. We slept at the front of the house. All playing took place in the back garden or over the wall in the field.
Thought it was only us as in U.S. that had such idiotic ideas about saving daylight time! 😉 I don’t adjust as well these days as when I was younger!
Alice we are a week ahead of you on that one! At least now when the day becomes monochrome, I close up the blinds, switch on the lights, light the fire and focus inwards.
Our winter starts officially after the diwali festival is over. In Pune we have a moderate winter which is very comfortable. There was a time when I used to enjoy visiting Europe in the winter for the snow, Christmas etc, but doubt very much that I can stand it now. Apart from anything else, I am nervous about slipping on ice and falling!
Perhaps it is because I am aging, our winters seem longer, darker and colder.
You have to start taking a leaf out of Peters book & find a hot country to visit every January. Makes a massive difference
Barbara, the heat does not suit me either.
There are warmer places than Belfast that are not hot!!
Selling up and going on a permanent world cruise sounds like the best option! 😉
And here’s me turning on the air conditioning yesterday. Weird ain’t it? Dianne
You using air conditioning and I am adding the layers of clothes!
Beautiful post, GM. We set the clocks back tomorrow night. I miss the extra daylight in the evening. Ah, well, at least I no longer have to unpack the hats, scarves and mittens.
Not forgetting the Thermal underwear! Any of these days I will look like the Michelin-man!
November. I remember that poem and glad for the refresher on it. We turn the clocks over this weekend, such an odd old farming custom surely irrelevant today?
XO
WWW
WWW, we have moved forward in so many ways, yet we are still stuck with changing clocks. In a world where it is almost impossible to find real darkness, why must we persist with it?
Daylight savings time ends in the US on this Sunday. I wish they would leave it one way, I wouldn’t even care which one. I spent the evening in my pile jacket being to stingy to turn up the heat. That will come in Jan – Feb I imagine when the real cold hits our town. I enjoyed your “Into the Night Note.”
My walk in duvet (winter coat) came out today and I walked to the post office to collect a parcel. I was toasty warm when I came home, but that hill home gets steeper every day.
On visits to UK I find it bewildering to have enough light at 11 pm to unrig a yacht in summer, and yet such ridiculously short days in winter. In South Africa our changes are far less dramatic, but we do suffer from the ridiculous policy not to have a couple of different time zones. At the eastern end, we have daylight starting in the early hours of the morning, and yet still far too little extra afternoon or evening daylight.
Col, is it like India with the same time zone throughout?
Yes, right from the east coast to the west coast.- all set on Pretoria, 1 (or 2 depending on season) hours before GMT.
At least you do not have to think about what time it is across the country.
The gluhwein sounds good. Ginger wine counts as medicinal.
Ginger is very warming!
They don’t change time here in China. All year round the entire country is set to “Beijing” time. I feel sorry for the farmers who live far enough away from Beijing that they have to get up in the dark to do their chores.
Here in the West, even the cows seem to have moved with the times, milking takes place in daylight.
I don’t really like the shorter afternoons, but it has been hard for me to leave in the morning with it still dark! So the tradeoff will work just fine. Your evenings sound warm and toasty, and perfect for some quiet contemplation. Gluhwein doesn’t hurt either. 🙂
I never minded going to work early on the dark mornings, but trudging home in the darkness through crowds of people with heads down and slumped shoulders, was rather depressing. Of course that was long before every second person had iPod earphones soldered to their ears!