Almost ran out of time to blog today, so here’s a last minute smoky sunset:
The fire on the mountain above Fishhoek might not be good news for the mountain above Fishhoek, but it did make for an interesting sunset this evening.
Tag: sunset
Wery Welcome Winter Weather
I’m probably the only one thinking it. I’m probably the only one spelling Very with a W too, but that’s another story. Yes, Cape Town’s wet and windy weather this morning came as a pleasant interlude to the bright, winter sunshine for me, mainly because I’ve lost my sunglasses.
Yes. Exactly. It’s because we’re only just past the winter equinox here that the sun is currently only getting to a maximum of about 35º above the horizon. And that’s at (today, anyway) 12:52pm. At 8am, the time when I like to set off for work during the school holidays, it’s about 11º up, which is about the same as saying RIGHT THROUGH YOUR WINDSCREEN AND IN YOUR FACE!
Talking about the sun, Cape Town moves back into having a sunset after 6pm as from the next Tuesday, 22nd July. This definitely makes for easier post work sundowners on Camps Bay beach. And in case you’re thinking that sundowners on Camps Bay beach can’t actually be done in July, you’re wrong, as I proved at 17:46:29 on the 11th of July, last year:
I’m pretty sure that sunglasses were used on that occasion.
Waterloo Sunset
I don’t think this is actually anywhere near Waterloo, but poetic licence and all that.
I was going to (and almost certainly still will) send this photo to Brian Micklethwait of BrianMicklethwait Dot Com because it’s London, there are Big Things, a couple of Cranes and it is begging to be Thinned. That said, I’m quite sure that the Venn Diagram of our respective readerships is far from a perfect circle so (aside from the fact that he might not want to post it anyway), I think that I can get away with putting it here too, because I think it’s very pretty.
Shared via a friend on Facebook, so I’ve actually no idea who to credit, but whoever it is has done a very good job there.
Well done. All credit to you. Or… er… not.
And despite being a regular reader of Brian’s, it seems that I have comprehensively failed to keep up with the incessant and rapid growth of the London skyline and so I’m not sure what’s what here. I can obviously see the Gherkin slightly left of centre and next to that, possibly the old NatWest Tower (now Tower 42 or something?). Incidentally, I think that tiny sliver of light on the left hand side of that building is actually incredibly important in making this photo really good.
Oh, and right over on the left, if you’ll excuse the oxymoron, is the Walkie Talkie of LONDON SKYSCRAPER IS SOLAR DEATH RAY! fame, yes?
Otherwise, I’m lost.
Shortest Day
It’s the shortest day of the year in Cape Town today.
You’ll have noted that the sun rose at 7:51am and it will set later this evening at 5:45pm. That means that we’re only going to get 9 hours, 53 minutes and 35 seconds of daylight.
Make the most of it. Or choose to slow down a little and use a torch when it gets dark.
Your call.
The official winter solstice is at 12:51pm, three minutes after the solar noon, at which point the sun will be at a distance of 152,023,000km from Cape Town. This also means that it’ll be 152,022,999km away from the top of Devil’s Peak, which conveniently measures 1,000m in height and which is inconveniently casting a curse over the Mother City.
Won’t someone please change the name of that godforsaken lump of rock and save us all?
I digress.
Tomorrow, although the sun will still rise at 7:51am and set at 5:45pm, eagle-eyed readers should notice that the day will be a whole 1 second longer, as we begin our near-unstoppable charge towards summer.
Bring on beers, braais and bikinis on the beach.
Soon.
Point & Shoot
Another lighthouse pic, this one illustrating the fact that sometimes, you just need to point and shoot to get a half decent photo:
Doubtless, I could have done better (perhaps even achieving the dizzy new heights of a ‘full-decent’ photo) with a little more time and a little more effort, but I didn’t have the former and I had limited inclination for the latter, so this will have to do.
Honestly, it’s got a lighthouse and a sunset in it. What more do you want? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically across the plain? Quit your whining.