Ben Lowry: You can see something of a stretch in the evenings already!

Above is a wonderfully atmospheric wintry picture taken yesterday in the snow on Divis Mountain.
By Ben Lowry
Published 8th Jan 2022, 10:08 BST
Updated 10th Jan 2022, 02:18 BST
Walkers on Divis Mountain on Friday morning as many parts of Northern Ireland were hit by snow. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ PacemakerWalkers on Divis Mountain on Friday morning as many parts of Northern Ireland were hit by snow. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker
Walkers on Divis Mountain on Friday morning as many parts of Northern Ireland were hit by snow. Pic Colm Lenaghan/ Pacemaker

(Scroll down for link to Ben Lowry’s main column about Tony Blair)

Where I was based, on the other side of Belfast Lough, the day began with a frost which quickly wore off.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

For a while I was working in a room into which bright sunshine was streaming.

There was an uplifting sense of an emerging spring.

I often write on these pages about the shortening or lengthening days, and how I find November a month full of gloom and January a month full of optimism, as the light gradually but noticeably begins to return.

Yet for all my focus on the topic of the seasons and equinoxes and the solstices, even I was struck by an observation of an elderly — now deceased — relative years ago one day in early January (I seem to recall it was sometime around the 4th or 5th or 6th). He was hosting family for Sunday lunch and as I gave my spiel about the joys of January and light retuning, he said: yes, you can see the stretch already!

Even I, deeply sympathetic to such a perspective, wondered: really? So soon?

But in fact I have long since realised that he was correct.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The earliest sunset of the year is some days before the December 21 winter solstice, around Dec 15 to 17, so the days have by now been stretching for almost a month.

The sun sets in Belfast at 4.18pm today, more than 20 minutes later than that earliest sunset.

• Ben Lowry (@BenLowry2) is News Letter editor

• Ben Lowry: Tony Blair was a flawed prime minister but of course he should be addressed as Sir

——— ———

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

With the coronavirus lockdowns having had a major impact on many of our advertisers — and consequently the revenue we receive — we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content.

Visit

https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions

now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Ben Lowry, Editor

Related topics:Ben LowryTony BlairNorthern Ireland