Cold, wet and in the dark

We witnessed the earliest sunset of the year last night. At 3.50pm the sun set in London. As a result the sun was below the horizon for at least 16 hours yesterday. This event always happens every year just before the winter solstice (December 21 this year). I noticed this afternoon how dark it got when I went out shortly after 4pm. As I collected the weekly dry-cleaning I literally had to remind myself this really wasn’t a late-night shopping experience.

We also had a roofer inspect the slow leak in the spare bedroom on Friday. It’s taken four months for the landlord to finally take some action. His visit was well timed as we’ve endured a day of non-stop drizzle resulting in the appearance of a regular drip. We have buckets catching regular drops at the head of our spare bed. I guess it’s one of hidden costs to living in a heritage conservation area. These old buildings are impressive but do require regular maintenance.

Aside from the rain, it’s been a particularly cold winter so far. In November our average maximum temperature was the lowest that it had been for at least a decade. Today’s maximum temperature was a chilly 5°C with similar temperatures predicted for the next five days. Roll on Oman!