Saturday, June 21, 2014

The standing sun


It is not that the summer solstice has lost its meaning for me, not entirely. It is not as awe inspiring as it was when I spent summers in the far north of Germany, on the island of Sylt. There tonight the sun will only drop below the horizon a few minutes after ten o'clock, and dawn will break just before five.

At Cap d'Agde,much further south, the longest day will be about an hour and a half shorter, although this is where I enjoyed the solstice most, since holidays in the naturist complex meant being out of doors most of the time...'indoors' took the form.of my little caravan (suitable dedicated to the sun deity of the ancient Egyptians).


More recently there have been long midsummer evenings spent pleasurably in one of Munich's beer gardens. But strict austerity means that this year such an indulgence is to be disallowed. And in any case, advancing age means that I tend to feel sleepy after my reading session and ready for bed... even if there is still light in the sky outside! This leads to feelings of unaccountable guilt. Hence the fact that from now on it will progressively be darker at an earlier hour comes as something of a relief.

Tonight! As an exception I will heed the call of the nearest equivalent of a beer garden, just for old times' sake.

No comments: