How much do you feel the passing of the seasons ?

[Kinsao]

I like the English seasons... uhh... even though I often joke that I didn't get a summer. It's true what you say about the length of days and the amount of sunlight. I nearly always vacation in the far north of England, just when the days are longest, and even by travelling that distance I can detect a difference in the length of the days. I like the long summer days! In the north, the sun doesn't go down until about 10 pm and at 10.30 there is still perceptible light. This summer I was driving back from a friend's house at midnight, in the middle of the quiet countryside, with no city lights to cause "light pollution", and I could still see the light from the sun spilling up from just below the horizon.

On the down side, winter is pretty dark. If it's raining it seems like evening at 3.30 pm. But it does make for that nice cosy feeling...

I like the autumn a lot, too; especially days when it's all crisp and frosty and sunny at the same time, with lots of bright orange and red trees. I'm lucky - I walk through the park every day, so I get the chance to see the trees, and plenty of squirrels too!

In fact, I like all the seasons. The summer isn't very spectacular here, of course, but we get at least a few Mediterranean days to enjoy each summer! This year, I could swim in the North Sea and it was waaaaaaaarm! Mmmmmm!

I don't know that people "celebrate" the different seasons as such here We don't have anything such as cherry-blossom viewing... Although there is the "conker season", hehe! And blackberrying is something many people do in the late summer, mainly if you live in the country - of course, fruit picking is a seasonal thing and it's becoming more and more popular for people to make their own wine and jam.

Some people celebrate the solstices, and although I'm not neo-Pagan or Druid, I sometimes feel sorry these kind of disappeared from "mainstream" and I wish people would pay a little more attention to them. But of course, there is Christmas, the main festival of winter, and Easter, the festival of spring (gone into mainstream regardless of "religion").

At primary schools I think it's quite common to have sort of themed displays showing the current season, decorated e.g. with leaves etc. for autumn. Also, one primary school exercise is often to keep a "weather chart" - I don't know that it's related to the seasons, though.

[Ma Cherie]

Let's see, when I was much younger in elementary school we would have what is called a "Blizzard pary" to represent the arrival of winter. We'd have hot chocolate and marshmellows. That was always nice. When spring came along we celebrate it by writing poems about the blossoming flowers and the leaves on the trees. But that I'm older, it doesn't seem like people care anymore about the changing seasons. It's like "Oh it's fall now" or "It must be summer." God, I miss being a kid sometimes.

It's sad because my favorite seasons are the fall and spring, because to me it's like a balance. It's not too cold or too hot. Daylight savings time is good way for me to feel the changing seasons.