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| Window #20 |
Heading toward the Winter Solstice Watch: Sunrise at 8:03//Sun peeks through gap in Hampstead roofs at 8:34//Sun reaches top of same Hampstead roofs at 8:53//Sun disappears behind low clouds by 10:36//Sun breaking through clouds at 11:23//Some pale blue sky as the sun reaches midday on its low arc across Hampstead rooftops//Sun has once again dropped to the height of the roofs at 13:54//Sun has dipped below the rooftops at 14:27//Grey sky has replaced any wisp of pale blue by 14:52//Lights on as darkness descends at 15:28//Sunset at 15:53.
This year's Winter Solstice will be tomorrow, 21 December, close to midnight at the Universal Time/Greenwich Mean Time of 23:39 which happens to be our local time, but this year the sky has a special event planned for the Shortest Day — a total lunar eclipse. The first time since 1638 when the two phenomena have occurred on the same day. The eclipse will begin here in London at the time Bob's alarm is set for every morning, but because the moon is so low in the sky right now, we won't be able to see much of anything.
1638 was another period of political and religious unrest. Civil War would break out in England in a few years. Meanwhile unhappy religious sects and congregations were settling themselves in North America, including in Hingham where the Norfolk congregation of Peter Hobart had been living for three years. Mainland Europe was tearing itself apart in the 30 Years War that pitted Protestant reformers against the Catholic Holy Roman Empire. The Ottoman rulers offered support to Hungary, and Austria to this day still can't quite accept the idea of Turkey as a member of the EU.
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