Bye-bye long evenings

When I moved to George in November last year, I was delighted by the long days here. In Gauteng, it is a treat for a month or two when it is quite light until 8pm for a short period. Here in George, the sun sets about 30-minutes later and, in November through to late January, it felt like it look longer to get properly dark.

These long evenings really suited me. I'd get back from work after 6pm and hit the trails by 19h00. I'd still have at least 90 minutes of bright daylight. If I got out earlier and back earlier, you would have found me gardening or doing stuff outside until 20h30, which I really enjoyed.

My new home area will experience shorter days (compared to my old homes in Jo'burg and Parys) from both ends with later sunrise and earlier sunset in the winter months.

The sun now sets around 18h15 in George. I need to get out earlier to be off the trails by sunset. My 'night-time' gardening activities are curtailed as I run out of daylight.

I don't pay too much attention to sunrise times - because I'm still sleeping then! The difference between George and Parys is smaller than sunset and there is about a one-week shift. The sun currently rises in George at 06h49, which is about 25-minutes later than in Parys.

At 18h30 this evening I was pulling out weeds from between the paving bricks of my driveway - almost in the dark. Two months ago I may have only just been lacing up my shoes to go out.

I've just taken a peek at a sunrise/sunset chart to see how things look for winter. The earliest sunset time is reached on 6 June with sunset at 17h27. This sticks around for a few days and then on 18 June (my birthday!) the sun goes down one-minute later and the change - towards lengthening evenings - begins.

As far as sunrise goes, the latest sunrise time of 07h36 is reached on 26 June and, after a few days of this, on 5 July the sun gets up a minute earlier. That's a really late sunrise! It will be weird even for me (a person that rarely sees light creeping into the day). The latest sunrise in Parys will be at 07h00 on 23 June.

Of interest, earliest sunrise in George in summer was 05h11 in the first week of December and latest sunset was 19h45 in the first week of January. 

In Parys, earliest sunrise time this past summer was 05h09 on 30 November and latest sunset time this  was 19h10 on 11 January.