the day the sun stood still

We are almost at the winter solstice, which happens in the early hours of tomorrow morning. After this, the Northern pole will begin to tilt back towards the sun, and the days will become longer. 

When I was young and lived an urban life in the south of England, I never noticed that the sun rose and set in a different place according to the time of year. Now, the bedroom our house in rural Scotland faces east, and we have no curtains or blinds. In midsummer, the sun rises at about 4.30am in the north east and shines brightly in on us in our bed. At this time of year it rises in the south east, well after I'm out of bed (tomorrow it's 8.38am) but never gets very far above the horizon before setting again (3.47 tomorrow).

Today seemed a good day to decide where we will put the pole for the banner we bought at Samye Ling two weeks ago. Here is D with the iron post which he used to mark the spot, down near the apple trees.

Tonight's a bivvy night  :-)