October and the Waning Year

The older I get, the more aware I am of living on the surface of a spinning rocky sphere that orbits a star. As this sphere progresses around the star, it does so at a tilt of 23.5° from the vertical. As I wrote the other day, this means we spend (just over) half the year with our hemisphere tilted towards the sun (our summer), and (just under) half the year with our hemisphere tilted away from the sun (our winter).

As I wake up on Tuesday 1 October, the temperature outside is 0.3C, although I couldn't see any signs of frost on the ground. For the first time since April, the temperature in the kitchen has fallen below 20C (although it soon warms up as I make coffee). The tipping point is near, the moment when I have to start heating the house. The thick walls have absorbed summer heat admirably; last year I didn't switch on the underfloor heating or the bedroom radiator until 22 October, but last year broke records in terms of early-autumn temperatures. Colder this year, but still not duvet time, although I've had to take the pyjamas out of the wardrobe.

Even two weeks ago I could leave the house and go into town wearing a shirt, with a lightweight jacket in my rucksack for the cool evening or passing shower. Now, it's back into three-layer weather. The sky is cloudier, but not overcast; the year has been dry – maybe too dry for what farmers need. Climate change won't make Poland unbearably hot, but it will dry the country out. Droughts, punctuated by flash floods with the potential for local devastation as we saw last month.

The temperate climes of this latitude are none too harsh, either in terms of summer heat or winter cold; as the days march inexorably towards the winter solstice I must give thanks for where I live, and indeed how I live.

Below: Warsaw, today. Make a mental note to return to this photo in three years' time; the skyline will have changed even more once the Towarowa 22 and Polfarma developments are complete.

Below: Warsaw, earlier. A view looking towards Rondo Daszyńskiego from the approaches to W-wa Wola station.

Incidentally, I looked up how many people live between 51° and 52° parallels North; it is 45 million people. This band covers London, Berlin and Warsaw, though further east it runs through sparsely populated lands; southern Siberia and northern Canada. The most populous parallel band lies between 29° and 30° North, with around half a billion people – ten times more. This band runs through China, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Egypt, Mexico and Texas. 

This time last year
Marching again (ahead of the election)

This time two years ago:
Levels of Detail

This time three years ago:
Droga donikąd by Józef Mackiewicz

This time four years ago:
Words that pop into the mind, unbidden
[This morning's word: contumely]

This time six years ago:
Hops there for the taking

This time seven years ago:
Two weeks and two days of travel

This time eight years ago:
Final end to a local landmark

This time 13 years ago:
Independence Day

This time 14 years:
Out and about in Jeziorki

This time 15 years ago:
Funeral of Lt. Cmdr. Tadeusz Lesisz

This time 16 years ago:
Puławska by night