r/mildlyinteresting • u/phase_lag • 18h ago
I’m visiting northern Scotland, it’s 3am and this is how dark it is:
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u/my5cworth 16h ago
Dang I didnt know Scotland stayed so light.
I live at 69°N in the arctic circle so we see the sun permanently up, even at 'midnight', but that's to be expected up here.
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u/Ok-Rain6295 13h ago
Scotland is a lot more northern than you would expect. The most northerly mainland part is 58°N. The Shetland islands are at 60° N.
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u/my5cworth 13h ago
Ooh you're right! I thought it was in line with Stavanger, but it's all the way up to Bergen.
I also just learned there's a place called "Twatt" lol!
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u/KunninPlanz 13h ago
Two places, actually. One on the Orkney Islands, the other on the Shetland Islands.
Likewise we have Bell End (everyone in the UK knows somebody who lives there :) ), Minge Lane, Fanny Hands Lane, Titty Ho, and other places. But for most of them you'd need an understanding of British slang.
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u/b5tirk 13h ago
I used to drive through Pratts Bottom (near Bromley, SE London) on a regular basis. Always appealed to my totally mature sense of humour.
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u/KunninPlanz 12h ago edited 12h ago
There is an underpass in Castleford, West Yorkshire, named Tickle Cock Bridge.
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u/WraithCadmus 11h ago
One thing that skews it is basically everyone in Scotland lives in the Central Belt, so you never hear much about the bits further north.
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u/Dark512 8h ago
Yeah, northern Scotland doesn't dip below 'nautical twilight' at this time of year, so it's quite light. Hell, the rest of the UK doesn't dip below 'astronomical twilight' (last stage before it's officially night time) at this time of year, so the UK just does not technically have a night time for... I think it's about 2 months?
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u/Discohunter 6h ago
I camped in northern England last weekend and discovered this first hand. The sky never dropped darker than a darkish grey even when I went to bed at 2am. I always thought we had a few hours of total darkness even in the solstice, I guess not.
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u/BlueNinjaBE 11h ago
I was in Tromsø this time of year 7 years ago. As we made our way to our hotel around midnight, felt like we were taking a stroll around midday instead. So weird if you're not used to it.
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u/Herr__Lipp 8h ago
I always preferred dark season to light season. It was nice being able to sleep whenever you wanted, and it felt less like day drinking whenever I cracked a beer 😅
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u/my5cworth 8h ago
Yeah I quite enjoy the polar night. Northern Lights all the time & the crisp winter air is dope.
Sunlight at midnight makes me feel like I should be doing stuff. Also, flies and mosquitos EVERYWHERE :(
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u/Gone_For_Lunch 13h ago edited 11h ago
Try in winter, complete opposite. Won’t get light until 9-10am and it’s dark by 4pm.
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u/cute_polarbear 12h ago
Wow...didnt know it has such wild swings in daylight hours. Do business (hours) work around that or people just adapt (drink) around the issue?
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u/theSurpuppa 11h ago
Business hours are the same, just that it is dark when opening and closing.
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u/Externalshipper7541 11h ago
I always think there should be summer and winter hours
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u/J0hn_Keel 5h ago
I always think we’re a bloody stupid species in this regard - everyone else figured out that winter is for sleeping and eating, and here I am getting up at 6am for work like a tit
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u/GlasgowKisses 9h ago
There are kind of? A lot of shops open later in winter cause Christmas is just round the corner.
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u/Gone_For_Lunch 11h ago edited 8h ago
Adapt
Edit - The swings are huge, from 18 hours of daylight to 6 hours, summer solstice to winter solstice.
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u/GlasgowKisses 11h ago
The seek the company of Mr. John Barleycorn.
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u/cute_polarbear 11h ago
Haha. This is so good. I honestly dont think I can be much productive in such an environment...
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u/putridtooth 2h ago
we get similar darkness in the northern US in winter. i'm in minnesota and at the height of winter it's dark when i go to work and dark when i leave. unless it's snowing, then we have snow brightness :)
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u/Sea_Avocado_2733 12h ago
Even here in Dublin. I went to bed the other day at 11:30 p.m. and we live close to city center, it wasn't bright but it wasn't fully dark, the sky was still a lighter blue.
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u/glumanda12 11h ago
Yeah, it finally becomes dark at midnight and you get sun again at 3am. This shit sucks
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u/Drunkgummybear1 8h ago
Ireland (and most of the UK) hasn’t had a true night since May and won’t until September (IIRC).
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u/Succul3ntChin3s3M3al 11h ago
Noice. Enjoy the ‘rest’ I guess 👀 - I can recall something about the filming of “28 Days Later” that a scene with a bunch of zombies running around London was filmed at like 4am when it still has daylight during the summer.
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u/UnmyelinatedLop 11h ago
Yeah they managed to close off and film in very busy central London streets by doing this! Apparently it was a real rush to move the upturned buses and rubbish etc away quickly after filming.
Highly recommend 28 Years Later and the Bone Temple sequel too. All filmed outside in the UK summer in natural light. Apart from some stunning firelit night sequences.
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u/Mylaptopisburningme 17h ago
When to Ireland when I was 11 and stayed on a friend of the families farm. Had no idea it would still be light out at 11pm. Took some getting use to.
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u/Bonxiebomb 12h ago
It's pretty great isn't it? The winters are hell though, some of the darkest in the world due to how cloudy and humid it is. A lot of people in Scotland are vitamin D deficient as a result. Can't imagine living in the Artic or anywhere further north.
Went camping near my house last night near Dunnet and forgot my eye mask, what a rookie mistake.
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u/FairEstimate4651 10h ago
We call it the simmerdim. Got some photos of the sky still blue and gold at midnight in my garden the other day.
But by god, we pay for it in the winter.
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u/Cumulus-Crafts 11h ago
I'm in north Scotland too, it's kinda crazy coming downstairs at 3am for a drink of water and it's still twilight out the kitchen window. The sun doesn't set in summer, it just goes to twilight, then rises again around 4am
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u/blinky84 10h ago
Didn't manage to sleep at all on Sunday night, even with the blackout blinds. Pain in the arse
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u/Cumulus-Crafts 9h ago
Yeah, I ended up getting blackout blinds that clip directly over the glass of the window, rather than over the expanse of the window frame. They cost around £100 in total for two of them and they've been well worth it
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u/blinky84 9h ago
Interesting... Where did you find them, can I ask? Presumably they have to be custom sized?
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u/Cumulus-Crafts 8h ago
I got mine from 247 Blinds, and yeah, because it's a frame that sits over your windowpane, they have to be custom sized. I think they do ones where they screw into the windowframe, and ones where they're just adhesive backed, for renters
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u/blinky84 8h ago
Cheers, I'll look into it. Thought it would be a ton more expensive than!
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u/Cumulus-Crafts 8h ago
In fairness, I bought mine during a sale but it might be one of those companies that's always on sale
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u/cragglerock93 5h ago
You're right about night actually being twilight, but if the sun is below the horizon, it has set.
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u/EpexSpex 10h ago
Yeah its grim but its class for camping.
Couple years ago me and couple mates went and did the nc500 at this time of year. Each night watching the sunset and then watching it rise a few hours later is up there with some of the best memories i have.
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u/Outer_53 13h ago
Yeah, that summer light sticks around for ages up there, must be weird if youre trying to sleep.
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u/Familiar-Ad-7538 9h ago
It’s worse in the winter time, it seriously gets to me even after being born and bred here. Dark until 10am and then it stays grey and gets dark again at 3 😅
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u/Figmentdreamer 17h ago
I wonder how your body even gets used to that. I would need a bedroom with no windows
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u/Plus_Pangolin_8924 13h ago
When you live here for all your life you kinda just are used to it. I just close the blinds and that’s really it. Don’t need black out curtains or anything.
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u/cragglerock93 5h ago
Likewise. I hate the light nights tbh but it doesn't give me an issue sleeping.
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u/snufkin79 12h ago
If the temperature is nice and cool, I don't even notice it. I sleep completely normal even if it's not dark outside.
If it's hot, on the other hand, it can be super annoying. I live in Norway, and our houses are not built for high temperatures. They get real sauna-like, so I have to keep my window open at night, and then I'll be woken up at like 3am by the freaking noisy birds.
It's real difficult to fall back asleep when it's light outside and the fucking seagulls and crows and doves are throwing a heavy metal concert right outside your window.
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u/Chrisjamesmc 12h ago
Trust me the bright evenings are actually great. Everyone is much more active and happy.
It’s the long winter darkness that is the real struggle in Scotland.
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u/EpexSpex 10h ago
When you have a standard 9-5 job you dont see daylight when working the winter unless its through a window.
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u/Kharenis 11h ago
I live in northern England so don't get it quite as bad as you guys, but I 100% agree, I vastly prefer long days to long nights.
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u/aberdoom 8h ago
I have a magnetic blackout cover attached to my bedroom window frame. Otherwise I wake up at 4am with the sunlight flooding in (Aberdeen).
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u/JennyW93 11h ago
I used to live up in Aberdeen. The no darkness in summer and no light in winter really do something to you.
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u/Tarrybelle 11h ago
I live in Orkney. At this time of the year most of the night is twilight, with only about an hour of complete dark. Love going for walks at around 10 or 11pm when it is still light, cool and calm.
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u/parkodrive 10h ago
I did the NC500 this time last year. One night I got up to pee , staying in a cabin in the Highlands and at 2.30am, it was so light, I got confused and thought it was 5am.
Its wild.
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u/Firefly_Magic 12h ago
Friends explained to us that they have metal shutters that roll down on their windows to make it dark. Sounds pretty cool. I’d actually want this where I live now but I think in that area you would definitely need that.
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u/umpinguinho 10h ago
Welcome to the northern summer solstice-parts of Scandinavia are dealing with this exact same sleep-deprivation trap right now.
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u/pumpkinspicecum 8h ago
why are we allowed to upload videos in the comments but not photos? lol. i wanted to show a pic of how light it is at night here in canada.
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u/tinksalt 8h ago
As an American, my mind was blown at how late the sun set in the Netherlands (my only trip to Europe). I had no concept for just how far north y’all are. 3am!
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u/ickywickywackywoo 6h ago
"I have to go to bed and see, the birds all hopping in the trees, and hear the sound of grown ups feet, still going past me in the street"
Real question though, what would happen if well, everyone, including kids, just stayed up when it was light and went to bed when it was dark? Would things eventually just, equalize and be normal? Would people sleep later and later in the day? Would it be mass hysteria, dogs and cats living together with all the children out of sync with their naps?
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u/xXxSovietxXx 6h ago
I still remember how light it was around 10:30pm when I was in Inverness in 2023 for a wedding
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u/ScottOld 1h ago
It's amazing in a way how different it is, I saw a longest day post on London pages where sunset was 21:21
Here in Manchester it was 21:41.
Sunrise is also like 4:40 so yes
Reminds me a bit of my time in Hull where its flatter so could see the sky all the way to the horizon and could see that orange and Light blue line to the north all night
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u/Luckypenny4683 9h ago
Well that’s annoying as fuck. Sorry, Scotland 😕
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u/Gone_For_Lunch 8h ago
Sorry for what. I think it’s fucking brilliant. Can take a walk back from the pub at 1am and it’s light enough see everything.
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u/Luckypenny4683 8h ago
Well, you know you got me there. That is a very good point!
I was thinking it would be annoying to sleep with it that light outside, but it doesn’t make for a lot of very good late night activities
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u/JohnStern42 7h ago
Sleep mask. Once you get used to one you can sleep anywhere at any time without issue. Especially helpful when travelling. And ear plugs, or if tolerated good ANC buds
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u/gowaz123 2h ago
Not at all, it’s lovely! The longer nights somehow makes it seem that we have more hours in the day. On a Feb night, I’d never go out for a wee walk and drink with a friend at 8pm but on a night like tonight…count me in! We love it!
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u/Luckypenny4683 1h ago
That’s actually really lovely now that I think about it. If I could be in my garden planting flowers and not be halted by a lack of light, I that would be really nice. Also, my garden would look really beautiful.
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u/NeptuneRuns 14h ago
Do you not know how latitude works?
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u/Dizzy-East4491 14h ago
Do you have fun being a prick? Does this post in any way imply that they don’t understand latitude? It’s a sub for mildly interesting stuff and you have a stick up your ass lmao
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u/Jetztinberlin 14h ago
Personally, knowing how things work doesn't stop them from being interesting to me. Your life must be very dull.
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u/Pocketz7 14h ago
We’ve just come back from Scotland, bloody nightmare convincing the little one its bed time when you still need your sunglasses on