A BRIGHTER PROSPECT...

It`s just gone 5.30pm and, as I looked out of the window just now, there was still a touch of daylight in the western sky. So the longest, darkest time of winter may be on the wane and I can look forward to the return of the lighter evenings as, with each day that passes, the sunset gets later.

This has prompted me to install a countdown clock (see below on right hand side) until the beginning of the longest day, 2008. The summer solstice is actually 11.59pm on 20th June, so my countdown is to a minute after that, when summertime will officially begin, just 147 days away. Tempus certainly fugits.