CIA Skies

The weather in Brighton today and for the last few days has been cloudy, dull, dull and more dull, though mild for this time of year (around 9 degrees centigrade daytime).It's very uninspiring and together with historically low prices (courtesy of the working people of China, no doubt) probably accounts for a good deal of the ever-growing obsession of bedecking our homes with more and more Christmas lights for a Christmas season which grows longer and longer.

Some time ago I was looking at the CIA's online World Factbook . A useful reference work, provided you take account of the peculiar perspective of its authors. In its entry for the UK it has a couple of lines on the climate, including the following observation: "more than one-half of the days are overcast".

Um, interesting, I thought, perhaps it comes from using spy satellites a lot - not the overcast days but the observation thereof. But it's true we have a lot of overcast days and they tend to depress the spirit, especially during these short days of winter. Nonetheless, the winter solstice is now behind us, and longer, if still too frequently overcast, days are lie ahead.