Jack and Katrina's Place

When the sky is clear like this I like to look out at the terminator and then picture it arcing up north across the globe. If you could fly along the terminator you would find it was the same time of day across a vast swath of the globe. We are used to thinking of different time zones, running east to west, but try to picture the evening falling simultaneously. From a chilly sea breeze in Wellington, to a mild night in Kaitaia in northern NZ, across the gently ruffled waves of the North Tasman sea, to a warm evening under the coconut palms of Noumea and the Soloman Islands and up to the coastal villages of Hokkaido in Japan. If you could do that flight, and pause at each settlement, what would it sound like? what would it smell like? Dogs barking, dinners cooking, or just the wind on water and trees?

It is hard thing to picture, thinking as we usually do in terms of east-west, so I found that Google Earth is helpful. This image from Google Earth is accurate for 7:48pm NZDT Oct 24. Note the angle of the terminator changes with the seasons so sometimes at this time of year we share dinner with Japan , and in our winter with Alsaka.

The military forces of many civilisations recognised this time as time of danger, of potential attack when the enemy could make use of the rapidly changing light, and the preoccupation with the end of day routines to make an attack. Accordingly they countered this threat in various ways, in ancient western armies it was by playing 'Last Post' on the bugle, the signal for all on duty to 'stand to'. This meant to stop what they were doing and look outwards for signs of movement. I like this idea, amidst the evening routine, to stop, and mark this time by directing my gaze from the cracked pavement at my feet, across the roof tops, out to the rising moon. Think about the scale of distance your eyes have just taken in. Look to windward at the weather, is it changing? What can I hear, smell? Where am I tonight as this night falls? Where will I be tomorrow night? Where are the people I love?

Instead of a time of insecurity, this time becomes a moment of inspiration. It is somehow good to know that from Invercargill to Sapporo, millions of people are cooking their dinners, be it lamb chops or miso soup and watching silly TV shows about much the same thing with different casts. And I am in the middle of it, one man by his rubbish heap. Try it one night, but just remember to turn the potatoes off first.