I couldn't see the sun

I never made it for simmer dim last night. It was cloudy with a little mist so I couldn't see the sun coming up and that's the main bit for me, which meant that I went back to bed instead of going out for the simmer dim.

It's just left two o'clock in the afternoon now and it's brightening up a little but I won't get my hopes up.

Songs of Thule

Simmer Dim

Firstly, I have to apologise to everyone for not writing here lately. I have had thoughts on other things and that has taken me elsewhere but I'm back, at least for today.

Today we will enjoy Simmer Dim. The sun came up this morning at about 03.35 and will go down again at around 22.38 this evening. The sun will be back up tomorrow morning at 03.36 which means that tonight will be very short indeed.

It certainly won't be very dark tonight, regardless of the weather. There are twenty-three and a quarter hours of visible light today and I personally see it as a twenty-four hour day because, to me anyway, it won't get truly dark tonight. Dusky perhaps but enough light to stop me getting lost.

I am hoping that tonight the weather will be good as I would like to be out for a few hours tonight to enjoy Simmer Dim. If it happens the way that I would like then I'll tell you all about it tomorrow and hopefully have some photo's to show you.

A Black Country Lad Explores; The Wildlife of Shetland's Simmer Dim

The Simmer Dim

The shortest day of the year

It's only four days until Christmas now and it's also the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice. The sun will come up here in Shetland at 09.12 and will go back down at 14.55 which means that the sun is up for just under six hours, a very short day indeed.

An hour before sunrise

Come the middle of June things will have changed. The sun will go down at about 22.30 and will come back up at about 03.30, meaning a long, long day and an almost non-existent night as at this time it is never really dark, only dusky for a while.

I find this quite difficult at times. At the moment I'm comfortable living in a predominantly dark environment. Come the spring and it starts to change, becoming very much the opposite and for a while it's hard work coping with the change but I will get into it – and soon after it will start to go the other way again and it's time to settle into that yet again.

Some things never change and yet, they change so much. From winter to summer, the time that the sun goes down changes by approximately seven and a half hours and the change in the morning is similar.

I wonder why I can't sleep sensibly?

I missed it!!!

I missed the lunar eclipse today. It was only half my fault though. I forgot when to look for it but it was all cloudy anyway so it was hardly visible.

I checked up for the next one to miss, either by forgetting to look in my diary or by bad weather making it impossible to see here in Shetland. April the twenty-fifth next year there will be a partial eclipse and October the eighteenth will be a penumbral one meaning that the sun is on one side of the earth and the moon is at the opposite side of planet earth.

Keep your eyes open on the twenty-eighth of September, 2015 as there will be a total lunar eclipse which will let all the bad luck fall upon us - if you believe in that sort of thing.

I believe in it but I call it marriage :))

Oh, I nearly forgot to say that there will be a total eclipse of the sun on the twentieth of March, 2015. Remember to get some new batteries for your torch!!!

Shetland's shortening day

Today the sun came up at 8.27 and went down again at 3.15. That cannot be called a long day, now can it.

A good day but a short one.
In just over a week the sun comes up at 8.50 in the morning and goes down again at 3.00 in the afternoon. That's about six hours of sunlight - how much shorter can the day get? Will it be worth getting out of bed in the morning? Will I still be snoring in the afternoon? Who can tell and who cares :))

The days are getting shorter

The days are really getting shorter now as the sun comes up at around ten past eight in the morning, stays up and visible for less than seven and a half hours and goes down again a minute before three thirty in the middle of the afternoon.

Certainly not a long day now but don't worry, it will get shorter yet. Sunrise and sunset at the moment are beautiful and happen at just the right time to enjoy!!!

That's Shetland for us, eh :))

Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham

Strangely enough for someone that lives in Shetland, at the moment I'm sitting in Nottingham where my girlfriend lives. It wasn't a long trip down. A night on the boat down to Aberdeen and then the train to finish off the journey and I'm so glad that I made the trip. Anywhere, or everywhere, is the right place to be with the girl that you love.

Nottingham has turned out to be a lovely place. Lots of trees all around, which is a novelty to me because you don't see them up in Shetland as many years ago neolithic cut them all down and used them for fires and to build houses or whatever.

Haven't seen anything of old Robin Hood yet. Haven't spotted the Sheriff either. Perhaps it's because I've behaved myself or the Merry Men are out fighting.

0345am

I woke at 3.45 this morning and the curtains above my bed were light. Now that's early, in Shetland, in style!!!

ShetlandSun weather and sunrise/sunset

Tomorrow is Monday

It’s the middle of the day now. It’s been like this since kick-off this morning, bland, no wind either. The sun can’t see through the light cloud so it’s even more boring outside than in.

I think that I’ll probably remain here, sat on my backside all afternoon, getting up for the odd cup of coffee in case I die of thirst.

I suppose that Shetland is just like the rest of the world when you see it this way. Of course, it might well brighten up tomorrow. There’ll be a bit of a breeze, the sun will be beating down, prices will have trebled and your computer will be knackered.

Just the day to go out and cut the - apart from the fact that you lent the lawnmower to your neighbour a fortnight ago, a week before he moved house, taking your lawnmower with him.

Oh well, tomorrow is Monday, just perfect to break your heart on the gaffers shoulder. That is, if he doesn’t burst into tears first because the wife left him on Saturday. Nothing to do with the wife leaving but she took the car with her.

Oh no. Here comes the neighbour with the lawnmower :(

I don't like Monday's

I don't like Monday's, not at all. When I think about it, I'm probably not the only one either. Compare today with the weekend when the sun was beaming down, there was no wind and it was lovely and warm.

Today it's comparatively cold, it's windy and the sun is in hiding. Not the same sort of weather at all. I did have thoughts regarding the garden but I must be honest when I say that those thoughts have dribbled away now. Oh dear, what a shame.

Must be honest again when I say that today I plan today to do bugger all.

There's always tomorrow :))

Now, that's a morning well spent

I've been beside the Atlantic all morning and it's been a morning well spent indeed. The sun has beamed down the whole time which helps my skin, no ointment at this rate. It's amazing the good a bit of sun does for you.

I was just thinking that some time spent on the shore with a fishing rod would be good. A bit of fresh ocean air, perhaps a suntan and with any luck it'll be fish for lunch too. These ideas are making me pretty hungry!!!

Better get the rod out ;))

What a morning

I was up at three-thirty this morning and it was bright for that time of day. By half past four the sun had been up for twenty minutes and it was beautiful, blue sky and the sun beaming down.

Now it's quarter to six, I'll grab a quick breakfast and top up my tan I think. When you get weather like this you have to take advantage of it up here in Shetland, know what I mean :))

Looking out the window

I was looking out of the window to see what I needed to wear when I went down to the shop for my coffee and it was beautiful. Blue sky and the sun beaming down with just a light breeze so just a sweat-shirt to get me along to the shop and back.

I strode out of the front door, thinking about thing like suntan lotion for perhaps the first twenty-five yards and then I broke into a jog because sunshine or not, it was bloody cold, averaging four or five degrees.

I bought the coffee, told everyone in sight that I was a fitness freak and ran home before I froze to death.

This changes my plans to move the pansy's and the black viola's outside at this point in time. Possibly in a week or two it will have warmed up a little and the plants will hopefully survive.

Not at the moment though, regardless of sunlight :(

The sun and the rain and the wind

What has happened to Hillswick, here in Shetland. It's supposed to be the end of spring with summer starting next month and.......

And the wind is gusting 30 to 40mph and because of that it makes the cool weather feel bloody cold. The clouds are light but where is that sun, it's not been seen yet today and surprise, surprise - it's just started pouring with rain again. By the time the summer weather starts, Santa Claus will be getting stuck in my chimney.

Maybe it's just a bad start to the year. Maybe the second half will be all sweetness and light, the sun will come out and not be troubled for three months and we'll spend a fortune on suntan lotion.

Aye, maybe ;))

Or maybe it'll just settle a little bit, maybe the wind will slow down and if it does that then it won't feel so cold. Here in Shetland it might even feel warm - if the wind slows down a bit.

As I see it, it's just one of those years, all a bit pear-shaped regardless of what you try for, what you want and what you hope for.

I'm just glad that I've got a clothes drier because outside, all it would get is a rinse :))

Broken day

It's going to be a rather broken day today, I'm afraid. I have to pop into town, Lerwick, here in Shetland, to deliver a letter and unfortunately that will cost me the day. There is a bus into town that leaves here at 10.00am and there is a bus that will get me home for 17.00 and that is the best on offer on a Thursday.

I'm hoping that I can make use of my time in town. As it is a good morning here, hopefully it will be at least the same when I get there. If it is, then once business is dealt with, I fancy a wander down to the harbour and a good look around to see which boats are in. There may be none, they might well be out fishing but I'll find out when I'm there.

I hope that the sun stays out too.

That was productive

I'm so glad that the sun came out. It encouraged me to go out and do some work and it was pretty productive. All I really did was get the strimmer out and tidy the grass around the edges, beside the fencing, the bits that are difficult with a lawn-mower.

It made a big difference. The whole place looks a lot tidier now so I'm glad that I went out and did it. There is still a whole lot more to do but there is rain on the way so that's me back in, drinking coffee.

I've used that excuse a few times before :))

What a change

It's stopped raining, the sky has cleared and the sun is beaming at the moment so I'm going to nip out and see if I can do any work in the garden this afternoon.

It has been a few days since I've been out there and it certainly makes a difference (and it's not a good one) over such a short time.

Right, must run before things change again ;))

We are into the second half of spring

Some year this is turning out to be. We are well into May, we are into the second half of spring and when I got up this morning it looked like there was potential.

The sun was creeping out from behind the clouds so I got all the rubbish ready to be picked up and took it out for collection. When I went out it was perfect, no wind at all, so still that you couldn’t believe it, beautiful. I’m back inside and it is lashing down with hailstones.

What is going on here? There is still no wind, you can see that from the way that the hail falls – straight down, no angle to it at all. I’m wondering how long it will last, will it continue and turn life into winter again or will it resort into rain and wash all the hail and icing away – or, with a little hope, will the sun come out and put a smile to life in the second half of spring, to our journey into summer.

I have a couple of flowers that are just about ready for planting out, black viola’s and pansy’s. If it stays like this it will be a bit too cold for them.

But the second half of spring, with the sun putting just a wee bit of warmth around them, now that would be perfect.

I can't stand the rain

Ronas Hill and the Voe

All day the weather has been changing, one minute it has been beautiful sunshine and the next the snow has been pouring down. Luckily, it has refused to lie and has blown away instead, unless of course you lived at the top of Ronas Hill, the highest point here in Shetland at 455m.

I'm standing just outside my house and I took the photo because the snow was still up there on the top of the hill. No doubt it will be gone in a few minutes, along with the sunshine.


It always surprises me to think that in between me and the hill there is the voe. It's about three or four miles away from me so it isn't that far away but the beauty in it is immense.

Just think, at the end of the voe lies the Atlantic Ocean, just waiting to take you to America or Canada, or Iceland if you fancy it.