Hard-to-miss geographical characteristic

Weather was lovely yesterday, as you can see from this photo of the eastern sky at sunset from the bedroom of my little flat.

But being gone for five days really made the shortening days here very noticeable. Since we're at 51 degrees north latitude in London the swing from equinox to solstice happens at a much faster pace than we're used to down south. (For reference, our latitude is more than 20 degrees higher than San Antonio, and almost 10 more than Portland, Maine. And it's only 9 degrees south of Kenai, Alaska!)

I noticed the remarkably earlier sunset last night while working at my desk, in my west-facing living room. I kept thinking I was late for our dinner party with the students, long before they started arriving at my colleague's flat.

Looks like another nice day on tap today and I'm planning to reward myself for a morning of hard work with lunch on the Chelsea Embankment and a turn through the National Army Museum that my class will be visiting after fall break. Then a bus ride to check out the location of a soccer match we'll be attending that week, too. This sunlight needs to be savored, since it's rapidly getting in shorter supply!