coming out of the hole

I have to admit that this year the darkness is getting to me. Sun-alarm-clock or not, the first several hours at work are as pitch black outside as the background of this page. I have to console myself with the realization that things are indeed getting better. Yesterday was exactly two weeks out from the solstice and already we have 30 minutes more daylight than we did on that day (up to about 4 hours and 40 minutes). And in the next two weeks we will add almost another hour of daylight. So the train is coming. It just seems to move awfully slow in the 6 weeks surrounding December 21st. For Icelanders, this is the wintertime norm, so many don't even notice the absolute insanity of a darkness that lasts until noon.