The Darkest is upon us...

Today, 7 December, the sun sets in Warsaw at 15:23, the earliest in the year. And for the next nine days, it will also set at 15:23. From 7 December right through to 17 December, each day - 15:23. [Now, if you live in London, the earliest sun set will be tomorrow (at 15:51) and then at the same time for just eight days (until 16 December). There are probably some rounding errors at play here.]

You'd think, in the interests of symmetry that the shortest day of the year (21 December, seven hours, 42 minutes and 10 seconds between sunrise and sunset in Warsaw) would also be when the earliest sunset and the latest sunrise occur. Not so. The year's latest sunrise in Warsaw doesn't happen until 27 December (at 07:45), and it stays there at that time until 3 January. If one wants to be pedantic and seek the earliest sunset down to the second, then it falls either on 12 December or 13 December, while the latest sunrise is either on 29 December or 30 December.

So winter solstice itself - the moment when the North Pole is tilted furthest away from the sun, and we have the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere - neither corresponds to the earliest sunset (it happens eight/nine days later, by which time sunset occurs two minutes later), nor to the latest sunrise (that happens eight/nine days after solstice, again the difference is two minutes, the other way).

So we have just entered the Plateau of Darkness - a plateau rather than a peak. From today, 7 December, to 3 January. From the first day with Earliest Sunset, to the last day with Latest Sunrise.

There should, therefore,be a Plateau of Light, from the first day with Earliest Sunrise, to the last day with Latest Sunset. This occurs between 11 June and 28 June. Note the asymmetry. The Dark Plateau is 28 days long, while the Light Plateau is only 17 days long. The sun rises in Warsaw at 04:14 for 11 days (from 11 June to 22 June), and sets at 21:01 for seven days (from 21 June to 28 June). And unlike the Winter Solstice, there is an overlap here - and thus there is an actual peak, occurring on 21 or 22 June. And then the slow shortening of the day, bearable into early autumn, but mentally painful after the clocks go back at the end of October. That pain is now easing.

Because of Covid, I'm working from home, so I have no need to wake up in darkness! I can be at my workstation at 9am, come what may. As I result, the time at which the sun rises is entirely academic. Gone (and not mourned) are the days when I'd wake at 03:30 to leave home at 04:30 to catch a train at W-wa Jeziorki so I could catch at train around 05:15 from W-wa Zachodnia to, say, Poznań, Katowice or Kraków in time for the start of a conference there at 09:00. Zoom meetings have said goodbye to all that. [Today's event for Polish exporters about Brexit linked Warsaw, Lublin, London and the Midlands; I took part from home. There were 200 participants. Can't do that in face-to-face format!]

Quarter of an hour after sunrise, 1 December, Jeziorki

The photo above shows that the arc drawn in the sky by the winter sun is less steep than in midsummer. The photo was taken at 07:40, sunrise that day was at 07:23.

Sunrise may have become a theoretical concept for me, but sunset most definitely is not. I strive to break up my working day to ensure I get my walk in before it gets dark. Sunset, therefore, is a natural part of my daily activity, a measure, a benchmark.

The fact that we've already hit that day when we know that sunset is not going to keep on getting earlier and earlier is the moment we can begin to celebrate the start of the Sol Invictus festival of the Unconquered Sun. By 25 December it is clear (later sunrises notwithstanding) that the day is getting longer; by the New Year the sun in Warsaw sets a noticeable ten minutes later than it does between 7-17 December.

The Hammer of Darkness is lifting; some sunny days of late have helped. However, it is the subconscious knowledge that a) things are not getting any worse and b) that soon things will start getting better that lifts the spirit.

The Darkness is upon us now, but we can see reason for hope.

This time last year:
The Body - A Guide for Occupants

This time five years ago:
Extreme weather and the British climate

This time seven years ago:
Cheaper public transport for Varsovians

This time eight years ago:
Swans on ice

This time nine years ago:
Cars

This time ten years year:
What's the English for kombinować?

This time 12 years ago:
The demographics of jazz

This time 13 years ago:
A day in Poznań