london

well, christmas is coming and though i dont celebrate it, i thought i shall put up this wreath on my door, just for the  fun of it.
I found it and it looked kind of festive.

sunrise 8:04 AM  GMT  sunset 3:54 PM  GMT
high 8.2C low 5.9C

Added. 21.12.11 as usual, the Daily mail is providing our daily laugh about the weather. Today they are saying it is a heat wave when only a few days ago they said it will be the big freeze. I have to say i enjoy these talk of the weather. it is because the changes make a lot of impact on our daily life. you can really notice the changes of temperature, and in a short time too, in this country.

a new banksy art on an abandoned building in mayfair. it is well executed and very topical. what surprised me is that there is an abandoned building in mayfair. is the debt crisis so bad that it has come to affect even mayfair?

Added 21.12.11 i have often wondered why the winter solstice, moves about. sometimes it is on 22.12.11 which is what is happeningthis year.
something to do with the fact that the calendar year is not exactly tallying with the earth's movements. that is why we have a leap year, and next year is a leap year so that this year is at the end of the 4 yr cycle. hence the winter solstice this year has got later and later, and got kicked into next day.
This article explained it v well.
dates of winter solstice (i dont understand the time shown. it is not the time of sunrise or sunset. i think it is the time when the sun is directly over the tropic of capricorn? ah well, i suppose i shall never know .
2011: 22 December at 5:30am GMT

2012: 21 December at 11:12am GMT
2013: 21 December at 5:11pm GMT
2014: 21 December at 11:03pm GMT
2015: 22 December at 4:48am GMT
It also explains why the sun continues to rise later,(and presumably the sun sets even later too if the days start to lengthen) even after the shortest day. something to do with the earth's orbit being elliptical. i have noticed this later sunrise, but even after reading the explanation i still dont understand how  the elliptical orbit makes the sun appear to rise later.

Added. 22.12.11 thurs
this is the shortest day.

sunrise 8:05 AM GMT sunset 3:55 PM GMT
length of day 7h 49m
but let me point out that the sunrise on 20.12.11 is 8.04am sunset 3.54pm. so the same length of day right??? ah well, maths has never been my strongpoint. I am wondering if the weather website i use has made a mistake , and sunset today should be 3.53pm instead...

Added. 9.54pm it does not seem to matter when it set, because the sky was still very light half hour after . Not surprising that people celebrate today, because after this day, the days will get longer and nights shorter.

Added 23.12.11

Sunrise 8:05 AM GMT sunset 3:55 PM GMT
length of day 7h 50m tomorrow will be 11s longer.
now tell me why when sunrise and sunset are the same time as yesterday, but length of day is longer by 1min. by rights it should remain the same as only hours and minutes are shown. not seconds, and the day lengthens in seconds.