Shortest day

I like today, not because it is the shortest day of the year, but from today on wards days are going to get longer and better...till I came to UK never realised (or gave much thought)at the length of the day at home in Kerala.

Every day is similar in Kerala as we have 12 hours of day time and 12 hours of night all through the year, though I have noticed that on some days it gets darker earlier in December. It was when I went to Chandigarh (in June 1995) that I realised for the first time sun sets at around 8-9pm there.

I remember the day I landed in London. It was peak of summer here in 1997, July. The Drive in Jim's car from Heathrow to Micheal's home in Acton was so surreal. It was about 9:00pm, but sun was shining giving an impression of about 4:00pm back home. I then realised that in UK, in summer, sun rises around 4:00 am and sets around 10:00pm. After a few months I also realised that things are just the opposite in Winter when daylight is just for a few hours from around 9:00am to 3:00 pm.

When I started working these wide variations became more and more pronounced. When we are doing an on-call in Summer, if there is a call at 3:00 am (almost always there will be one), after attending the patient it is difficult to go back to sleep (if we get a chance, though this is rare) in spite of covering the venetian-blinds and sliding under the duvet. Worse is in Winter, when it is dark when we start to the hospital in the morning and still dark when we finish in the evening!

I soon became accustomed to the British weather too ie it doesn't matter it is summer, winter, spring or autumn, it rains every time. I still remember a gentle man whom I met in London once told me "You cannot trust 3 W's in Britain; ie Work, Weather and Women"!