Ben Lowry: A sense of joy at the longest day of the year, and melancholy too
And now we are here, at the peak of the calendar in Northern Ireland.
(To read Ben Lowry’s main column about the importance of the petition of concern to unionists, click on this link here)
It is at that beautiful point of the year when the days are their longest and everything is in glorious full bloom.
In Ulster, the sun begins to emerge at about 3.50am now and fully goes at 11pm. The sun in fact rises at 4.46 am in Belfast and sets at 10.03pm, but there is a period before and after that, which is called civil twilight. This twilight phase is much longer than it is during the rest of the year, and it means that there is some light for about an hour before sunrise and sunset. That is why, in very bright and clear weather, you might awake at 4am and look outside and it is effectively daytime.
These super long days are something that people who grew up in Northern Ireland and then leave always remember. Visitors notice it too. We are very far to the north, more than 50 degrees latitude, which puts us above most populations in Europe and the Americas.
Tomorrow is the summer solstice, the longest day of all.
I will enjoy it very much, although I have never been to Stonehenge to celebrate (one day!). But the moment is always tinged by the melancholy of the thought of the slow retreat of daylight and return of darkness, which will happen gradually over the next six months.
Ben Lowry (@Benlowry2) is News Letter editor