I Miss South Africa's Winter Sun

The first time I set foot in SA was just before THE election in 1994. Admittedly this was autumn, but I was still cheered by the extra sunlight, as compared to the grey murk of Great Britain.
I eventually spent a winter in SA, revelling in blue sky days and, for me, pleasant daytime temperatures.

I got a lot of work done.

Over the last few days, we've had a deal of sunshine and moderate temperatures: not too hot but warm enough. Cloudy mornings burning off to bright lunchtimes and open-the-doors afternoons.
I got so much DONE.
Then the cloud bedded back in.
I got next to nothing done again.

Today, the sun is breaking through and my productivity is on the upswing.

I could comment quite colourfully about the awkwardness of the situation, but all I will say is that this my need for a bright light outside the building is an embuggerance. It's not Seasonal Affective Disorder either; I know SAD and SAD is a gambeson-cum-straightjacket that gains weight as the winter deepens, a slowly flooding personal padded cell. This is more a lassitude¹, a fog in the mind that conceals the way to get anything done. It's a mental weather feature that comes with built-in 'Nah...'.
SAD lights don't help with it, either: they just give me a headache. They do that in winter too, but at least they stop the jacket getting too waterlogged; I'm blowed if I know what the answer is, but I need one: Britain is NOT the place to find you need South African sunlight to get on with weeding the garden. Or making yourself something to eat. At least I can still get out of bed, hey? :-)


¹Sadly not a term for a young woman with a determined demeanour, although it should be.