Winter Solstices 15 12 21 (22) revisited 25 1 19 beginning my 42nd yr of residence here

At 4:49 GMT (Universal Time) tomorrow the sun will reach its most southerly declination of 23,5 degrees when the north pole is at its furthest point from the sun from where it will begin to recess until the next solstice at midsummer in 2016...

It is for these reasons arguably that I live where I choose to live although at the same time fate or providence or simple good fortune had also much to say on the matter...

But for me as a child growing up in England's north western provinces the sun was always something very special. Of course the sun is always very special for everyone no matter where they live for without the sun we should all perish in an instant if it forsook us, but the north west of England and Manchester the city of my birth in particular, because it boasts a quite heavy rain fall the sight of the sun is just a wee bit extra special... So it was after my first sojourn abroad to Norway, Sweden and Denmark as an 18 year old I hurried back 2 years later to catch a glimpse of the midnight sun in arctic Norway from the seaside town of Bodø. From there I journeyed still further north to Nord Cap where at midnight in the first half of July the sun was high in the sky. Then by way of a change I took a swing through Finland on my return journey south, and for the next 5 years spent almost equal periods between UK and Scandinavia wintering for the most part in UK but spending most of the summers in Scandinavian sun-shine.

It was fortuitous in those far off days that I chose paper-making for a career because coming to Scandinavia allowed me to get to know the wood felling and pulping industry so that at the same time I was able to advance my career. Once back in England I joined the biggest paper-making company at the time, WT who were in the process of building their Pulp and Paper Mill in Scotland and so I got to be a part of that project also from my base in the south of England at the company's R and D Centre where as a Project Leader I established a Fibrous Raw Materials Unit. 

It was there that I later met my wife to be in Greater London with a few years of living in Scandinavia already under my belt thus facilitating an eventual return for longer stays first with one child and then when I finally graduated a professional chemist in my early thirties with our two young children.

The scene in today's pics then shows the sun rising above the small island in the bay off the coast where we were lucky enough to find a place to live within easy reach of the last company to employ my services before retiring. In the summer months the sun rises further north and by the time it gets to our small island it is so high in the sky one could hardly connect it to our small island and so it is only at the darkest time of the year that we experience this special juxtaposition of island and sun...

Have a good day everyone as I hope you were fortuitous with your choice of location..? 

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