An Equinoctial Retrospective

And so we near the end of the First Day of Spring. And a little retrospection is, as always on these great days, in order. Although, to be strictly accurate, it's not yet the Equinox. The sun will pass over the equator -somewhere due north of New Zealand, presumably - at 11.21 tonight in the UK. And all will be balanced on the earth.
As usual on an equinox, we were treated to more daylight than darkness. A little bonus that you don't count on. And if you don't believe me, look here. So the height of the sun is well advanced now in our northern climes - but the temperature lags behind. Somewhere in the Great House, as I am writing this, Young Keith is making yet another disastrous attempt to light the log fire. I will have to go and sort him out in a minute, as Hnaef walked past my office door a moment ago, with an intent look and what appeared to be a coil of magnesium ribbon. This can only end badly.
Hnaef had his traditional Vernal Equinox, of course. Plummeting from great height off his tightrope into the duckpond, as he does regularly every equinox. One day his demonstration of the wonders of balance may work, but I'm not counting on it being soon. I'm thinking it's about time we put in yet another Duckhenge, so if he tries it again in the autumn he may well come a cropper. This time, as every spring, he merely scattered frogspawn all over the banks and upset a couple of grebes.
And now, as we idle away the three hours until we light the Great Equinoctial Fire - knowing it's not long till we light the Great Beltane Fire - a thought strikes me. Surely it's not that long since Christmas, is it?

And a little post-script. I note that, what with it being Equinox and Super Moon, the Severn Bore is in the news again. I saw the Severn Bore once. He was a bloke called Archie, in a pub in Gloucester.