Last Laugh

My solar panel records do not go back to 1798, but I do have data for the last 9 Decembers (and the last 8 years of every other month). You may be unsurprised to learn that December 2023 is the least sunny we have had in that period - almost exactly 66.7% of the average December. July and March this year also share the distinction of being 'worst ever' in my chart. No wonder we feel a bit downbeat, you might think, but January and November were the sunniest of their kind over that period, meaning 5 months out of 12 were at the extremes of the range this year. Perhaps the best summary is 'volatile' 

Over the same period, it is the first time we have not harvested any summer honey and, subjectively, the most troublesome year for wasps, both at home and in the apiary. The apple harvest was mixed - some trees producing fruit and some not at all. Pears did well. Plums were almost non-existent. Hazelnuts were abundant

Sundown was officially an hour after this picture, but this was just about the last moment this year that the gnomon* cast a shadow. I can't find out anything about the dial, except that the date is genuine - that is the year it was installed, high up on the south wall of the church - and that it was refurbished in 1958 by "patrons of the Sun Inn" - keen to get back to work on time after lunch perhaps, as the pub looks out upon it, or maybe just a bar-room joke about the name that took wings. At the time, the Sun was one of two pubs side-by-side and semi-detached on the village market square; there is no record that the other one chipped in! 

The year has had its dark days and its bright spots. I hope yours featured more of the latter than the former, and that 2024 does better. At least the year went out with a smile on its face

(* I'm not that clever, I looked it up)