Darkest days

 We're well into the darkest days of the year. Those on which it's only clear sky around 10 am and dark once more as soon as it's 4 pm. And they're even darker when the skies are cloudy or when it rains. These are days for snuggling up in a cozy sofa, reading a book or watching some tv show. 

With the lockdown, all kinds of organisations ask you to put up some lights, to bring some sheer into the world. Even when it's not yet Saint Nicholas (a kind of Santa Claus for Belgium and Holland) most people already have their Christmas decorations up. We'll do ours next week. 

Thinking of dark days, I must think of an ancecdote. It goes back to when I was writng Maria Gonnzalez, my 16th century novel. I regularly sent chapters to my group of proofreaders, who could give their say-so about them. One of these guys was a former CIA-agent. When one of the scenes in London plays in the later afternoon, I wrote about the settling darkness around 4 pm. Do you know what that guy did? He actually dug up old records and came to the conclusion that the sun had indeed set at 4.01 that exact date! He wondered if I'd done the same research? That made me laugh. The sun ALWAYS sets around this time in December, so it must have been so centuries ago... Fond memories!

The older you get, the more importance you put to memories. Had a good (online) conservation a few days ago, with a former student of mine. As I'm well into my pension, it's nice to see you're remembered and your former students still think kindly of you.