Tis wet and windy

[caddyman]

It was actually chilly this morning and raining, too. A proper English spring morning: could have done with a bit of fog too, just to make it perfect. People have been lulled by years of climate change and season shift. Spring is like autumn in reverse, so the weather patterns should be similar, but they never are these days. Everyone thinks it’s summer come 1 May, when any schoolboy knows that 20 or 21 June is the first day of summer¹ in the northern hemisphere.

Remember: Ne’er cast a clout ‘til May be out. Whatever that means.


¹Except Iceland, where they are generally so happy to see more than 20 minutes of day light that 1 April is the first day of summer. They break out all the Bjork records and party like it’s 1945 (or a quarter to eight). Other supermarkets have a similar problem with Christmas, which they think starts in August.

Comments

[fencingsculptor.livejournal.com]

"Remember: Ne’er cast a clout ‘til May be out. Whatever that means."

It means don't take your winter clothes off until after May.

Clout I believe is a scottish term for clothing.

[mr-h-r-hughes.livejournal.com]

Nope, as far as I know that's a modern misinterpratation it's not may the month it's May the bush. No clothes removed until the may flowers are out and that occurs earlier than the month of May.

Of course that doesn't mean I'm right.

[ash1977law.livejournal.com]

It actually has nothing to do with clothing, afaik it's a warning to farmers not to perform ditch maintainance until the soil more soil and less water. Of course being a country saying it's advice that's best to take with a pinch of salt as many ditches need to be dug before the hedges are in bloom as heavy winters and sudden thaws may necesitate this.

[ladkyis.livejournal.com]

So if summer starts on 21st June why do they hold the midsummer celebrations on 22 or 23rd June ....
Ah! because summer is only six days in June, so half way through is mid summer and... but you knew all this didn't you?
I'll stop shall I?

[bluesman.livejournal.com]

It's odd that we should know so little about something that has as much influence on our lives as the seasons do. Speaking as someone who has lived his entire life in the northern hemisphere, I am always surprised that, below the equator, June the 24th is midwinter's day.

[pauln.livejournal.com]

It's only in the last couple of years that I worked out that the "Land of the Midnight Sun" must also be the "Land of Darkness at Noon".

[bluesman.livejournal.com]

Quite. As we live in temperate climes, such things seem odd to us. I imagine that, if you live on the equator, seasons are seasons in name only.

I like to go to the Google Earth site, and look at communities above the Arctic Circle (for instance in Canada and Russia), and read about them. The inhabitants are probably glad to have a summer. The temperatures and weather probably don't change much through the year, but a day of 22 hrs of sunshine must be much preferable to one of 22 hrs of night.

[bluesman.livejournal.com]

This makes much more sense. I had never heard of Beltane, Samhaine, Imholc or Ostara, except that M Bolan once wrote a song entitled Beltane Walk, as recorded by Tyrannosaurus Rex.