The Clocks Have Gone Back

The clocks went back last weekend and the long, dark evenings are with us again.  This little post draws together a few random reflections on this - given it's dark, wet and cold outside, sit down snug and give it a read.  I think my last few posts have been far too earnest: this lighthearted fluff on my blog is much my staple!

The Best Time for "Love"

I kick off my reflections with a wonderful little piece of medieval Dutch literature from the "Abele Spelen" collection of plays.  It is called "Vanden Winter ende vanden Somer" (About Summer and Winter).  It's all about shagging and I studied it as part of my ever-so-eccentric Modern and Medieval German and Dutch degree.  The little play dates from about 1350, and the original handwritten manuscript is a tiny fragile bound book that was found by chance.  It is housed in the Royal Library in Brussels and is one of the oldest surviving, non-religious, West European plays.

The play: It's actually just about shagging

It is a beautiful, funny piece, which essentially looks at the question of whether "love" is better in the summer or in the winter.  The character of Winter claims that his season is best because of long, snug nights to play the "game of love".  Somer counters this by claiming that with the beautiful weather and sunshine, his is the "happy season for happy hearts".

The two characters get into an argument, challenge each other to a duel, and the death of one or both of them is only averted when the Goddess of Love, Venus, intervenes.  She points out that the year would be completely out of kilter with one of the seasons missing, and that love is equal regardless of the season.  Harmony is restored and everyone can go home and get down to it.

Interestingly, it seems "Winter" was actually correct  This table from the New York Times at least suggests quite convincingly that more babies are born in September than any other time of year.  Every single one of the top 10 most common birthdays falls between 9 and 21 September.  You may therefore be depressed about the weather and lack of light in the evenings, but there are, it seems compensations...  people shag on the dark, cold evenings of December!

The Clocks Have Gone Back

Summer time is, in my opinion, a wonderful idea.  It was first proposed by a New Zealander in the late 19th century, but wasn't introduced until 30 April 1916, in Germany.  It was a means of saving energy during summer time in order to help with the War effort.  It was quickly copied by other countries.

It wasn't until 1996 that the European Union standardised the dates when the clocks moved forwards and backwards: before that I seem to remember British clocks moved back in October, and most Continental ones moved back already in September.  That was quite confusing because for 4 weeks the time was the same in Britain as it was in France.  Now European Summer Time runs nice and uniformly from the last Sunday in March through to the last Sunday in October.  

That point is worth reflecting on: it's not 6 months on GMT and 6 months on BST for us; in fact we are on "summer time" for 7 months a year, and "winter time" for only 5 months a year.  If you don't like the evenings being dark early, that's some consolation.

Light, bright evenings - remember them?!

The Evenings are Drawing In

Next, it is obviously getting darker earlier at the moment.  What you might not realise, though, is that although the days are "becoming shorter" the speed at which this is happening is not by any means constant.

We all know that the "longest day" is 21 June and the "shortest day" is 21 December.  What happens after 21 June, is the sun rises later and sets earlier.  This process is at first quite gradual, but it picks up speed and is at its fastest around the Vernal (or Autumn) Equinox on 21 September.

To provide some examples of this, for London, this year:

22 June had 6 seconds less daylight than 21 June 
2 July had 1 minute 5 seconds less daylight than 1 July
22 July had 2 minutes 34 seconds less daylight than 21 July
22 September had 3 minutes and 54 seconds less daylight than 21 September

You can see what is happening: as we move away from the longest day, the speed at which we lose daylight speeds up.  The loss of light is at its fastest around 21 September, and then it slows down.  Tomorrow's daylight will be 3 minutes and 32 seconds shorter than today's: the rate at which the days are shortening is slowing down and will almost grind to a halt as we hit December.  There will be just 3 seconds less daylight on 21 December than on 20 December.  The days will then lengthen after the Winter Equinox, but very slowly at first.  By 21 March, however, we'll be adding a stonking 3 minutes 58 seconds light to each day.

If you want a play with all these times, then click here.  You can change the location and you'll find the speed of acceleration and deceleration is more extreme the further north you are: Glasgow loses 4 minutes 35 seconds on 21 September, while in Finland it is 5 minutes 25 seconds.

What does all this mean?  Well in a nutshell, the days are "shortening", but we're now over the worst in terms of the speed of this process.  Each day will be "shorter", but it's just 7 weeks to go until 21 December and the speed of the loss of daylight will be slower each day until then.  That's *great* news, isn't it?


Marking the Seasons

Plenty of people suffer from the very genuine condition of "Seasonal Affective Disorder" and I don't wish to belittle the way this affects them at all.  Others, like me, just get fed up with the long, dark evenings.  This is particularly the case if our boyfriends are studying at Manchester University and we can't do rude things with them to pass the time in an attempt to confirm that "Winter" of the Abele Spelen was entirely correct in his argument.

I've found that instead of being in denial about the longer evenings, I do a few practical things that mark the change from British Summer Time to GMT.  I switch my clothes over: my winter ones are stored away in boxes under my bed and come out when the clocks change.  This is a trick I learned from my Mutti, who always used to do this with us as kids.  I've never quite understood the English phenomenon of not wearing any clothes when the weather is freezing, particularly when queuing in a skimpy shirt or t-shirt outside a nightclub in the snow.  If it's winter, put a bloody coat, gloves and scarf on.

Save the Environment! Wear a Onesie

I wear thick sweaters indoors at home too, with the temperature at 19C - not a t-shirt, wasting energy heating the place to 22C.  It's great houses are better insulated, double glazed and centrally heated nowadays, but is that a reason to pretend it's still summer and dressing accordingly indoors?  Since discovering the the wonders of the Onesie I dress up as a tiger or a monkey when at home and can knock the heating down even lower.  They're sooooo snug and I look forward to the winter just to have an excuse to put mine on.

My winter boots for walking the dog also come out when the clocks change.  I change my duvet over from a light one to a thick goose down one and I light candles in the evening.  It makes the place feel warm and atmospheric.  I also have summer and winter curtains.  My summer curtains are light cream coloured.  My winter ones are dark chocolate brown.  I switch them over when the clocks change and they completely affect the look and mood of my little cottage.  The winter ones give it a warm, cosy feel, while the summer ones make it feel airy and bright.  I sound like some toss-pot from an interior design programme don't I?  Splendid.

Beige Mats! Useless in Winter, but oh so nice in the Summer

I also have two sets of mats for my car, which I also change over the clocks change.  I have black ones for the winter, which cope better with muddy shoes and dirt; and I have beige ones for the summer, which look and feel much more luxurious from March to October.  Having two sets of curtains and two sets of car mats is hardly a necessity and it's not cheap...  but I really do like it. 

Summary: Go With It
It's so easy to have that sinking feeling at this time of year... and it's even easier once the brightness and excitement of Christmas has come and gone.   I live on a frequently cold, rainy, dark little island off the coast of Europe.  I've come to realise there is very little point in wishing we had Californian weather year round: we don't.  Given this is the case, I try to make the best of it.

Therefore I've some funny little routines that mean I try to go with the flow of the natural year, rather than denying it.  I like marking the change in the seasons by bringing out a new set of clothes, and storing away the bulk of my t-shirts and shorts until BST returns.  I like the snug feel of the dark curtains and the look (and practicality) of the winter mats in the car.  Switching everything over to the "summer version" is also something I look forward to enormously during those long days of February when Christmas is a distant memory, and it seems it's truly darkest before the dawn.

I also try to realise that there are plus points to the dark evenings.  An evening cuddling the dog, reading a book or listening to music, with candles on is quite wonderful.  This is the natural flow of the year and by the time the clocks have gone back as they just have, the loss of daylight is actually slowing down.  It's only 5 months that we are actually on GMT, and in 7 weeks' time the days will be slowly lengthening again.  Last of all, as Venus noticed 650 years again in a sweet little Dutch play, if we didn't have Winter, we'd all be screwed.  Or not, as the case might be :o