Happy Winter Solstice, the day with the least amount of light in the northern hemisphere of this blue ball that we are travelling on. Stirling at around 56.1° N gets less than 7 hours of sunlight, assuming the sun makes an appearance which by the looks of today is unlikely due to cloud cover. Striling is one of the darker parts of Central Scotland during the winter solstice but is far better of than someplace like Thurso (58.6° N) which gets less than six hours.
The winter grows noticeably longer the farther north you travel. Take Shetland, for example—often overlooked on maps of Scotland, yet it represents the very northern edge of the country. At its northernmost point, around 60.8° N, daylight lasts only about five hours, a stark reminder of how dramatically the seasons shift as you approach the Arctic.
At this time of year I always feel that winter solstice gives me time to slow down and reflect on the previous year and to take stock if anything has changed with myself, a little older, fatter and balder are my day to day observations, At this time of year gives me pause for deeper reflection, about what has grown, shed and where I see my direction for the next year.
As AI is the. hot topic just now I let chatGPT design the artwork for this post, a change from my normal solstice artowrk, but I like the AI design for it’s cheesy and a. little over the top desgin. Can’t wait till the machines ruse up, can’t be that long now 🤣.
The daylight gets longer from here on in, enjoy.
