Ever wondered what the effects of that 'stretch in the evenings' are? 

We’ve reached that time of year again — people meet and say, often with a touch of anxiety, ‘I think there’s a bit of a stretch in the evenings’.

For people like us who live at high latitudes this has always been a subject of great importance. After all, our ancestors went about the monumental task of building Newgrange so that they could know that winter had reached its climax and from now on there would be a stretch in the evenings.

We are a bit under four weeks from the winter solstice, which occurred just before Christmas. According to data I got from the internet, sunrise today in Dublin was at 08.35 and sunset will be at 16.32, giving a day length of 7 hours and 57 minutes. This day next week sunrise will be at 08.28 and sunset at 16.43, giving a day length of 8 hours and 15 minutes. This is an increase of 18 minutes in one week — a considerable stretch in the evenings.