longestday

※All the pictures in this page were taken by John Mingins who lives in Norwich.

Friday, June 21st, was the summer solstice. It was the longest day of this year.
I received e-mail from John who often comes to my homepage. In the mail he said, "I'm taking a week's holiday from June 15th so I should see some live. Apart from football I'm planning to take some photographs with my digital camera to record the longest day on June 21st when the sun should rise at 4:42 and set at 21:20." I thought it seemed to be interesting, but I didn't know the same day was the summer solstice in Japan too. Therefore, when I heard the newscaster say, "Today is the summer solstice." on June 21st, I was really surprised and I couldn't believe my ears.
Later, I found out that the summer solstice is usually around June 21st every year. Before, I had thought that the summer solstice was midsummer. I'm ashamed that I didn't know when it was.
Anyway, I asked John, "Would you show me some of your photos? If possible, I want to show them on my homepage". He answered, "A great honour!"
Then, on the next Monday, he sent me many wonderful photos.
Oh, e-mail is so quick and convenient, isn't it?

He visited my homepage for the first time in the middle of April this year.
"Nearly made it as visitor number 1999!"
I started my homepage last autumn, and a few months later I began to make the English version too ; although I thought that nobody would read it. Therefore, I've never thought that I would receive a remarkable message from my dear England. Wow!
Mr. John Mingins lives in Norwich which I have visited before. He seemed to have been interested in Japan for the long time.
One day, he typed in "Japanese Norwich" via Google and found my site on the first page. It made me think how wonderful the Internet is because somebody can find my homepage from England!
After that, John often came to my homepage and gave me some messages. Every time I received his messages, I thanked him very very much.
First of all, I'll show you the photos of Norwich which John took on June 21st.

His first problem was where to get a good picture of the sunrise on the day.
So he headed for the castle which is on a small hill（two pictures above）.
"I added an alarm clock to the picture to remind me how early it was!"(the top picture)
Next, he discovered rabbits in the park around the castle.
"I was very surprised as this is in the middle of the city."(the picture below, left)
There were very few people, but his local pub already had a sign outside saying that people could come and have breakfast and watch the England game against Brazil as the kick-off was at 7:30am. However, he headed for home to watch the match on TV with his daughter.

※Click the photos you like to see an enlarged image.
left : A rabbit which John found. I think that he pressed the shutter of his camera in a hurry, so unfortunately, we can see a rabbit only as a small brown spot. (However, if you click the photo, you can see an enlarged image. Can you find out that the spot is a rabbit?) By the way, wild rabbits are very cautious. Although I found them in Scotland, I couldn't take good pictures of them. In Pitlochry, I failed to take pictures because they disappered quickly. In Linlithgow, I could take their pictures, but they were too small to distinguish them as rabbits easily though I used a telephoto lens. As soon as I approached them, they ran away in a quick manner because they seemed to hear my footsteps. How can I take them from a closer distance?
middle : a sign outside his local pub ; right : John's TV which live telecasted the England versus Brazil game.

When he was just about to leave after having breakfast and downloading the pictures from his camera onto his computer, he heard somebody knocking at his door. It was an old lady who lives a few houses away. He had said hello to her in the past, but he didn't have any idea why she came to his house.
She told him that she had had locked herself out of her house. She left her keys on the kitchen table, went outside to bring her shopping in and the wind blew her front door shut.
"Does anyone have a spare key?" "No. Since my husband died recently, I have no one to turn to. Would you break a small window to try and get into the house?"
However, John was against the idea, because not only would it cause a lot of damage but they would have to make it secure again afterwards. Instead, he thought that they could try and force a small latch on the window to get inside.
One hour and three bent knives later, he managed to move the latch, open the window and get inside. Whew!! That was a nice job you did!
(Later, the old lady bought him some strawberries in return for getting her back into her home. They look tasty!!)

※Click the photos you like to see an enlarged image.
　
He didn't know why, but some of the flags were out(left two pictures).
They probably were for the Queen's 50th Jubilee, or just for the football. Some people may have been confused ; The Union Jack is for Great Britain while the flag of St George is just for England.
Anyway, the Union Jacks under the blue sky seems to be wonderful, don't they?

By the way, there are two cathedrals in Norwich. One is the main Cathedral and the other is for the Roman Catholic faith(left). Having a cathedral means that the town used to be a big city, Akiko, who had studied in Norwich before, said. Therefore, It was a great thing that Norwich has two cathedrals. Do you agree? I remember that one old lady, who sat next to me in the bus before, told me that Norwich used to be the second biggest city after London.

※Click the photos you like to see an enlarged image.
　

The pictures below are of two churches. They used to say that Norwich has a church for evey week of the year and a pub for everyday. John hasn't been able to prove it! If it is true, it will be very surprising!!

If you enter one of small alleyways, you may find streets in which you can feel the atmosphere of the old days(left below). Especially, Elm Hill is not too far from the main Cathedral and a nice area to wander around. John found two figures, which were supposed to represent Samson and Hercules, supporting a dooway(right below). He doesn't know why they are outside a night-club.
Yeah, whenever you walk around, you may find something new.

It was almost 9:30 at night. The longest day, which began after 4 o'clock in the morning, was soon going to end.
John wondered　where he should take the last shot of the day.
He thought he would find a good view but buildings kept getting in his way.
You always feel so when you are taking some pictures, don't you?
Actually, he wasn't completely satisfied, but he chose an appropriate place to end his day.
From near the Roman Catholic Cathedral, he has was pressing the shutter of his camera as the day was coming to a close.