There Came A Day

There came a day that caught the summer

Wrung its neck

Plucked it

And ate it.

Now what shall I do with the trees?

The day said, the day said.

Strip them bare, strip them bare.

Let´s see what is really there.

And what shall I do with the sun?

The day said, the day said.

Roll him away till he´s cold and small.

He´ll come back rested if he comes back at all.

And what shall I do with the birds?

The day said, the day said.

The birds I´ve frightened, let them flit,

I´ll hang out pork for the brave tomtit.

And what shall I do with the seed?

The day said, the day said.

Bury it deep, see what it´s worth.

See if it can stand the earth.

What shall I do with the people?

The day said, the day said.

Stuff them with apple and blackberry pie –

They´ll love me then till the day they die.

Then came this day and he was autumn.

His mouth was wide

And red as a sunset.

His tail was an icicle.

Ted Hughes (debated hotly, this ‘not very nice man to Sylvia Plath’ was also a very fine poet). Seems the blog-trolls can´t space it properly though - hey ho! sorry ´bout that.......

Hope y'all don´t mind a bit of poetry. This one feels like Iceland about 2 months back: in mid-November it seemed the sun just suddenly went from town one day. (Thanks Mum, for sending me the poem book a wee while back...).


Of course, the days are getting longer now, and it really is noticeably lighter on successive clear days. This past week the sun has been peeking up over the mountains to our South. Here in Stykkishólmur the days have been bright enough generally, but light doesn´t stick around too long: in the darkest spell it was dark until around 11.30am then darkening again by 3pm. On clear days you saw glorious dusks reflected in the clouds and on the snowy mountains, but no actual UV on your face... sigh...

How much light you get depends on S/N orientation (not surprisingly) and your location with respect to the hills. Although this town is 10k away from the mountains - stuck out on a skinny, flat peninsula - we are on the North side of the Snæfellsnes peninsula, which is great for frozen waterfalls, and not bad for light, but we certainly get less actual sunlight than on the South side. In Kolgrafafjörður (see 'Mink Days'), nestled amongst the hills, it was considerably cooler and dimmer than us still..... And in Grundarfjörður, the town closest to Kolgraf., (~30k from us) they get the least daylight of all the Snæfellsnes communities I´ve been told. (I don´t know how much they get: haven´t been too drawn to visiting in recent months....).

To get your sun 'fix' you have to drive over the pass bisecting the mountains to the sunny south side on a fine day... ahh. And with luck it´ll be over there.