Solstice grinch

So, as some of you might know, I am an early riser, usually up, like today, within a few minutes on either side of 5:00 am. This gives me an interesting perspective on the winter solstice.  You see, it's pretty darn dark this time of year up here snugged against the 49th parallel, and right around this time people start saying desperately hopeful things like "Well, it'll start getting lighter soon!"

Yeah, not so much. A little more so for normal folk, but not at all for the earlybirds. Take a look at the numbers for my locale:

First, for everybody else: solstice falls on the 21st, in just a couple days. True, sunset occurs a minute later, hooray. But you know what? So does sunrise. So there's no net gain of daylight for the day. In fact, there's no net gain of daylight until five days later, on Isaac Newton's Birthday. So maybe temper  that optimism just a touch.

Now, for my own personal woe: Look at the sunrise. Tomorrow the sun rises the same time as today, but the next three weeks are actually darker in the morning than now! We don't gain any morning daylight until Rubber Ducky Day on January 13!

So you'll forgive me if I exude nothing more than the Bellingham-traditional subdued excitement on the occasion of this calendrical landmark. It's gonna be a while before I notice a difference in my morning routine.

Oh look - the sun is finally up. See ya.