Land of the Midnight Dim...

We have a long, dark Winter in Orkney but are rewarded in abundance come Summer time. Our Northerly skies are bright from 4am until 10.30pm and the hours in between are never fully dark.


This long twilight is known as the simmer dim. The sun merely dims and never truly disappears.


The photograph of Kirkwall Harbour below was taken by Tom Kent on the 25th of June at Midnight:

The ability to garden until 10 and go for long evening walks well past tea-time makes up for the fact that, six months from now.. but no. Let us just enjoy the lovely, long nights whilst they last.




UPDATE: Apparently simmer dim is the term used in Shetland. A suggestion of grimleens has been offered, deriving from the Norwegian grimla, - to gleam, shimmer.