Hallowe'en

The last day of October, the last day of the Celtic summer. 

It is the dark half of the year; the image shows Stornoway at 4.15pm this afternoon, 25 minutes before sunset. By the time of the winter solstice, sunset will be at 3.35pm. Sunrise will be at 9.15am.
Recently, the idea was mooted in the House of Commons to reintroduce Double Summertime, which would place us in the same timezone as continental Europe. For Stornoway, this would mean sunrise after 10 am in December and January - leaving kids to go to school in the dark. 

Meanwhile November is nearly upon us. And once again, I shall try to make daily postings for NaBloPoMo, the national blog posting month. 

November is also the month for Movember, when men are encouraged to grow a moustache (or more extensive facial hair) for charity, namely men's health. Men find it difficult, sometimes, to talk about health issues.