Goodbye to the sun.......

Sunrise in October - left of mast... (Click to enlarge)

      After an early morning jaunt today I was a bit taken aback by how quickly the sun is moving into the southern hemisphere. I'd stopped to take a running selfie - an excuse for a brief rest after the steep climb onto Castle Hill - just as the sun was peeping over the horizon. In less than two minutes I was on my way again, my breath condensing in the frosty air as I set off to complete my five mile circuit. It wasn't until I got home and put the picture onto my computer that I realised just how much the sun has moved south in the past month. In a picture taken mid October it was rising well to the left of Emley Moor transmitter at around 80º from north (see above). In todays picture (right) taken at 7:50 am it was rising an awful long way to the right of the mast, due south east at 125º.  By 3.30pm it had disappeared behind the hill having given us little more than 7½ hours of daylight. Sometimes I wish I could migrate with the swallows...
      My back to back house faces due north, so unless I venture outside I see nothing of the sun at all. And

....now look where it's rising, well to the right of TV mast

considering the moon is also rising in the south east and setting in the south west, I don't see much of that either (though I did see a sliver tonight when I went to the surgery for a flu jab). An item on the radio this morning was full of complaints from university students and other young girls about how dangerous it is to walk alone on the streets of our city at night. I wouldn't know; I'm a long way from the city centre and rarely go out after dark anyway. I haven't yet got around to running with a head torch in the early morning. I've thought about it but not sure what the local populace would think about me plodding through the fields or past their back gardens by starlight. It could be fun - if it wasn't for their dogs!

Burning bush(es) and grass, as sunrise sets the hill on fire

     Fields and lanes are becoming awfully puddly and muddy again. The cows have gone. I'm not sure where the farmer has put them. Maybe they've all been turned into steak, silverside, salmon cut or sausage meat! I miss my encounters with Charley, the chunky charolais bull, and his entourage, but not the hock deep mess they made in all the gateways, which is still there. Each time it rains it's transformed into a sea of sludge, so much so I've reluctantly changed my route for one that includes a bit more tarmac and a longish steep hill to start off with. On Sunday, to conclude a 21 mile week, I ran the first two miles on tarmac, then had to slosh back through slutchy slippery fields that weren't at all pleasant - and made worse by the worn out shoes I was wearing. I hope Father Christmas comes this year or I might have to join the barefoot brigade!