READY FOR A 25-HOUR DAY?

June is Youth Month and Midway-Through-The-Year Month. It's arguably the coldest time in our hemisphere, and the time of year when we take stock and realise we haven't even started on our New Year's resolutions.

But apart from all that, June is Winter Solstice time... which is quite something if you stop and think about it. And not just think about how soon you can pack away the heaters, but really and truly think about it. Because come June 21st, some interesting things will be happening above our heads.

If anyone out there has a working knowledge of Latin, you'll know that "solstice" means "sun stands still". That makes it sound dramatic and earth-shattering (excuse the pun), but it isn't entirely accurate. It's actually the day when the sun is furthest from the Earth's celestial equator - if my memory of primary school Science serves me (or was it Geography?)

Not to get too technical, it's basically a (literal) turning point in our year.

Some people use it as a time for reflection. (You know, because the sun has "stopped" and they feel they should too.) Others treat it as the beginning of the countdown to summer. And others feel it's the perfect excuse to procrastinate. After all, it's the shortest day of the year - how can we be expected to get anything done? (Which means it's also the longest night of the year, so what can we do but binge-watch more episodes than usual?)

And while we're talking about all this Sciency stuff, here's something else...

Every year, the average day gets longer by 15 to 25 millionths of a second. Even if I understood why, I probably wouldn't be able to explain it. The point is, Solstices aside, our days are actually getting longer.

They say that, after 140 million years, our days will be 25 hours long. And that means we'll finally get to do those things we never get time for now. Of course, they probably won't matter anymore in the year of... whatever year it'll be. Who knows if Pilates will even exist? Who will care that we've finally got around to cleaning out that top cupboard in the spare bedroom? And if you finally have time to write that novel about your COVID lockdown experience, will anyone still want to read it?