This Year's Bit of Beltane.

At approximately 8.22 British Summer Time this evening the sun set in my part of the world to usher in the start of Beltane. According to the old Celtic calendar, it is now, therefore, officially summer.

I say ‘approximately’ because the website I use fails to offer any information regarding the time differential between the eastern and western extremities of the UK. I regard this as a major omission because everybody surely understands that such a differential exists. Well, maybe not. It appears that, according to Google, there are people still asking the question: ‘does the sun rise in the east or the west?’ The extended erudition conferred on us by the mania for tertiary education certainly gives hope for the future of western culture, does it not?

Bearing in mind the aforesaid, and notwithstanding the fact that I live just about exactly in the middle of the UK, I naturally made due allowance and lit my Beltane fire at 8.27. (This runs directly counter to my usual principle of ‘better early than late’ but nature doesn’t work the same way as hospital appointments, a self-evident fact which I offer by way of justification.)

So there you have it: another year, another Beltane. The world continues to turn, the remains of the fire are still glowing but growing ever darker, my felicitations have been extended to the natural world, and now it’s time for a mug of cheap coffee by way of celebration. I know how to live, even if… But no, never mind that bit.