Some of you might be aware of a challenge little turtles face when, after hatching from their eggs on the beach, they try to make their way to the sea. The classic challenge is getting past the seagulls: An army of little turtles rushing to the sea as these big white birds swoop down, turn them on their tiny carapace, and end their short, short lives. It used to be the case little turtles had little to worry about at night; however, lately the little turtles face a new night challenge: shiny structures near beaches. See, little turtles have it in their minds that shiny equals sea; therefore, instead of going to the sea (normally the shiny thing under a full moon night) they rush in the opposite direction toward the shiny, shinny buildings. The point is this: Not having light where, or when you expect it can be very, very disorienting.
Where I come from the amount of daylight through the year does not change much from summer to winter -- maybe a couple of hours difference. As you get closer to the equator, the difference becomes smaller; however, as you move toward the poles the difference gets larger. When I arrived in the Milwaukee area this summer, the sun would be out from 6 am to 9 pm -- 15 solid hours. Now that it is approaching winter, daylight hardly lasts 10 hours; it begins to be light outside around 7 am and it is pitch dark by 5 pm -- except for all the shiny buildings.
The whole effect can be quite disorienting. Originally in the summer, I did not need an alarm: I could rely on the morning light to wake me up with plenty of time to get to work. Now as it gets closer to winter, after my alarm gets me out of bed, it is still completely dark outside -- somehow, it does not seem like it is time to be awake. Also back in summer, I would leave work at 5, at 6, or even at 7 pm and it felt like I still had plenty of time left in the day. Now a days, I can leave sharply at 5 pm and still not see the sun go down on the horizon. Instead, I walk out the building into the night, look up at the full moon in the sky, and remember the little turtles in the dark.
Where I come from the amount of daylight through the year does not change much from summer to winter -- maybe a couple of hours difference. As you get closer to the equator, the difference becomes smaller; however, as you move toward the poles the difference gets larger. When I arrived in the Milwaukee area this summer, the sun would be out from 6 am to 9 pm -- 15 solid hours. Now that it is approaching winter, daylight hardly lasts 10 hours; it begins to be light outside around 7 am and it is pitch dark by 5 pm -- except for all the shiny buildings.
The whole effect can be quite disorienting. Originally in the summer, I did not need an alarm: I could rely on the morning light to wake me up with plenty of time to get to work. Now as it gets closer to winter, after my alarm gets me out of bed, it is still completely dark outside -- somehow, it does not seem like it is time to be awake. Also back in summer, I would leave work at 5, at 6, or even at 7 pm and it felt like I still had plenty of time left in the day. Now a days, I can leave sharply at 5 pm and still not see the sun go down on the horizon. Instead, I walk out the building into the night, look up at the full moon in the sky, and remember the little turtles in the dark.
this is kind of poetic :) I like it!
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