Sunrise or sunset?

[sprinks]

It's almost 2am... And I have this blue piece of material over my blinds that keeps making me think the sun is rising. The sky lately is beautiful when the sun rises. So I'm going to wait up a few more hours and watch it rise, should only be about another 4 hours. Then I started wondering, do the people of litnet prefer to watch the sunrise or sunset? Personally I tend to prefer sunrise. Although I do love a good, long, slow sunset with pretty colours. So what do you prefer to watch, and why?

[MattG]

I pick sunset. Van Gogh liked to paint at night because he thought that everything looked 'more alive'. That makes an inherent sort of sense to me as I've always preferred night to day. To me, sunset is the precursor versus the cue to close.

[Emil Miller]

I pick sunset. Van Gogh liked to paint at night because he thought that everything looked 'more alive'. That makes an inherent sort of sense to me as I've always preferred night to day. To me, sunset is the precursor versus the cue to close.

Difficult to say, we hardly ever see the sun in the UK.

[MattG]

Difficult to say, we hardly ever see the sun in the UK.

And I feel a natural kinship to your kind, sir. :D

[kandaurov]

I voted 'both/either'. How unpoetic, I know. I'm not picky though, either is fine by me.

[sprinks]

I pick sunset. Van Gogh liked to paint at night because he thought that everything looked 'more alive'. That makes an inherent sort of sense to me as I've always preferred night to day. To me, sunset is the precursor versus the cue to close.
:) that's interesting. Yes, I get what you mean. I love finding out what other people think about the matter.


Difficult to say, we hardly ever see the sun in the UK.
oh that doesn't seem like much fun :( It's summer here still right now so the sun is always bright and the sky clear, although some sunsets and sunrises are still quite cloudy.


I voted 'both/either'. How unpoetic, I know. I'm not picky though, either is fine by me.
there is nothing wrong with that! :) I think it's great you don't prefer one over the other. Means you don't always do what I do like staying up all night to watch the sunrise because you get sick of only watching sunsets for so long! :p

[kandaurov]

Haha, but you could just set the alarm for 5 minutes before sunrise, right? Can't say I don't find it impressive, staying up all the way through the night just to see the sunrise, the zeal in you! :P

[Emil Miller]

[QUOTE=sprinks;656285]:)

oh that doesn't seem like much fun :( It's summer here still right now so the sun is always bright and the sky clear, although some sunsets and sunrises are still quite cloudy.



Yes you are right, it is no fun at all, but unfortunately the Uk is simply situated in the wrong place on the globe. If I were very wealthy I would live in a sunnier environment, probably the South of France, and have houses situated around the world so that I could follow the sun throughout the year and never have to live with the sort of weather that we usually get in England. In my view, people who are wealthy enough to live elsewhere yet continue to live in the UK are either being obtuse or are just plain mad.

[wessexgirl]

In my view, people who are wealthy enough to live elsewhere yet continue to live in the UK are either being obtuse or are just plain mad.

Or may like our climate, with it's changes in season :).

I don't like to be too cold, but I can't stand to be too hot either, and on the whole would rather have to wrap up to keep warm, in preference to being uncomfortably hot. I like a bit of snow.

[Emil Miller]

Or may like our climate, with it's changes in season :).

I don't like to be too cold, but I can't stand to be too hot either, and on the whole would rather have to wrap up to keep warm, in preference to being uncomfortably hot. I like a bit of snow.

Well, we are going a bit off topic here but personally I hate cold weather and can't stand snow. I love it when it is hot. However, the thing that distinguishes the UK from places like Australia is the almost perpetual cloud cover that hangs over the country and makes everything seem so depressing.
It is hardly surprising that so many people have left the UK to live in Spain and other Mediterranean countries. The forecast for this year's summer is that it is going to be a very good one. I do sincerely hope so, the last couple have been terrible and I long for some blue skies and sunshine.

[kilted exile]

Sunset, it goes down over the lake. Which is very nice.
pic of sunset: http://www.pbase.com/bob_n/image/64741833

I get to see sunrise at work every morning over the cardboard dumpster

[Niamh]

I love sunset. they pink, orange, purple hues of the clouds of the sun on the sky as it dips below the horizon, the sky becomes dark with twilight, before the moon and the stars grace the night sky.

[Dori]

Typically I prefer sunsets, but there was a particular sunrise that I saw which absolutely captivated me. Here's a pic:

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z252/pmiller_rhodes/myrtle002.jpg?t=1231618677

[*Classic*Charm*]

I pick sunset. Van Gogh liked to paint at night because he thought that everything looked 'more alive'. That makes an inherent sort of sense to me as I've always preferred night to day. To me, sunset is the precursor versus the cue to close.

That's exactly how I feel. Everything is more alive at night, and the sunset is just the beginning of that.

[Emil Miller]

Many years ago, J.B.Priestly (nobody seems to read him now) wrote a book called The Moments in which he described certain times when he had felt perfectly at ease with the world and completely happy. They were usually occasioned by small seemingly inconsequential things and couldn't be planned for.
This thread has reminded me of one such moment which took place years ago in a rather run down seaside resort called Margate on the east coast of England. I had travelled there with a friend as a pillion passenger on his motorcycle and we spent the day wandering along the beach to Broadstairs where Charles Dickens had once lived. Back in Margate that evening we were having a drink on the balcony of a seafront public house when the huge orange sun began to go down. It was absolutely spectacular because it literally fell from the sky towards the sea where it hung momentarily before plunging below the horizon. All at once some long fluffy strips of cloud out at sea turned brilliant pink and for a moment I had one of those out of body experiences where I seemed to disolve into the scene. It was one of the few truly happy moments that I have experienced but, as I have said elsewhere on this thread, we don't get summers like that these days.

[sprinks]

Haha, but you could just set the alarm for 5 minutes before sunrise, right? Can't say I don't find it impressive, staying up all the way through the night just to see the sunrise, the zeal in you! :P
Well with daylight savings things are all over the place. Thankfully that ends soon. Also, by the time I'm already up to about 12 am - 1 am each night at the earliest, if I have to get up between 5 and 6 am to watch it rise, plus a bit earlier, well I don't really have the energy to get up at that time, because I'm about half way through the amount of sleep I need. Therefore it is easier to stay up, watch it, and then sleep for a while.



Lovely photo Dori :) that looks amazing.


I can understand why most say sunset. I guess one of the reasons I prefer the sunrise because to me it marks a new day; light shines onto a new day with new possibilties, stripping the darkness away. I especially love the sunrise on the first day of the year. I'm up more often through the night anywho, but sunrise just has more, well, symbolic meaning to me I guess.

[jon1jt]

Sunset. I'm not a morning person.

[kasie]

BrianB - it's time you got out of London!

My house here in south-west Wales is orientated east-west. At the back I look east out over the estuary, only a field and some woods falling away down the hillside between me and the river. The sunrises are spectacular at any time of the year. At this time of the year, the suns rises late over the old farm buildings to the southeast and gilds Dylan Thomas' 'ugly, lovely' city of Swansea and the edge of the Gower to the far right edge of my view. These last few mornings it has been frosty and the whole scene has glistened in a ruby glow - even the estuary has had ice glinting among the reedbeds. In the spring and autumn, the sun rises directly ahead and when the tide is high fills the whole expanse with a dazzling sheet of light reflected off the water. In high summer, the sun rises over the hills, the foothills of the Brecon Beacons to the north-east, the sky is light and the hills are in silhouette until the moment the sun edges over the crest and it is too bright to look that way for long. It wasn't until I lived here that I appreciated how far apart 'east' in relation to sunrise can be.

Sunset? - All I get is the glow in the sky over the hill at the front of the house. What I really like is the gentle light of false dawn before sunrise and the lingering twilight we get in these latitudes, longer and longer the further north you go, still light at nearly eleven in West Scotland in high summer.

[Emil Miller]

BrianB - it's time you got out of London!

My house here in south-west Wales is orientated east-west. At the back I look east out over the estuary, only a field and some woods falling away down the hillside between me and the river. The sunrises are spectacular at any time of the year. At this time of the year, the suns rises late over the old farm buildings to the southeast and gilds Dylan Thomas' 'ugly, lovely' city of Swansea and the edge of the Gower to the far right edge of my view. These last few mornings it has been frosty and the whole scene has glistened in a ruby glow - even the estuary has had ice glinting among the reedbeds. In the spring and autumn, the sun rises directly ahead and when the tide is high fills the whole expanse with a dazzling sheet of light reflected off the water. In high summer, the sun rises over the hills, the foothills of the Brecon Beacons to the north-east, the sky is light and the hills are in silhouette until the moment the sun edges over the crest and it is too bright to look that way for long. It wasn't until I lived here that I appreciated how far apart 'east' in relation to sunrise can be.

Sunset? - All I get is the glow in the sky over the hill at the front of the house. What I really like is the gentle light of false dawn before sunrise and the lingering twilight we get in these latitudes, longer and longer the further north you go, still light at nearly eleven in West Scotland in high summer.

Well, it's not a case of getting out of London so much as getting out of bed. I tend to go to bed late and sleep late, my favourite time for sleeping being between 6 am-10am, so there would be little chance of my seeing sunrise wherever I lived.

[LostPrincess13]

I voted for both.:D The sunrise gives me the feeling of hope, of a new day. I always catch my breath whenever I get the chance to see it. The sunset on the other hand, makes me feel grateful for another day added to my life; it makes me appreciate every moment.

:lol: sounds cliche, i know...:) but it's true...:)

[Joreads]

Sunrise I am a morning person 5:15am start every day

[Virgil]

I voted for both. A rare wishy-washy moment for me. :p I'm definitely a morning person, I love it when the sun rises, and philosophically I'm an optimist and look forward to conquoring the new day, but I have to admit that there is more color and beauty in a sunset, at least around here.

[SleepyWitch]

I voted sunrise. I do like sunsets alright. But come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I actively watched one. I mean, I guess I kinda notice when the sun goes down. E.g. it gets dark and stuff, which can be very inconvenient :alien:
I stayed up a couple of nights during the summer semester this (last) year, so I had a chance to watch a couple of sunrises. I like sunrises in the summer, when the sky is really blue with no clouds and everything looks crisp and new and the air is fresh and cool but you know it's going to be a hot day. I like getting up early in summer (and staying up late, too). But in winter I'm like a bear, I don't want to get up at all.
Thanks for this thread sprinks, it reminds me I should stay out with a nice drink and watch the sun set next summer.
edit to add: sunsets are OK, too. So I suppose I should have voted both/either. But then, I don't reeeaaally like all those cheesy colours. My hubby loves sunsets.

[*Classic*Charm*]

Sunrise I am a morning person 5:15am start every day

:eek::eek: That's a real hour of the day? I thought it was only a myth...though sometimes that's not long after I go to bed...

[Emil Miller]

I voted sunrise. I do like sunsets alright. But come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I actively watched one. I mean, I guess I kinda notice when the sun goes down. E.g. it gets dark and stuff, which can be very inconvenient :alien:
I stayed up a couple of nights during the summer semester this (last) year, so I had a chance to watch a couple of sunrises. I like sunrises in the summer, when the sky is really blue with no clouds and everything looks crisp and new and the air is fresh and cool but you know it's going to be a hot day. I like getting up early in summer (and staying up late, too). But in winter I'm like a bear, I don't want to get up at all.
Thanks for this thread sprinks, it reminds me I should stay out with a nice drink and watch the sun set next summer.
edit to add: sunsets are OK, too. So I suppose I should have voted both/either. But then, I don't reeeaaally like all those cheesy colours. My hubby loves sunsets.


When I lived in Nuremberg in the 1970s I was usually late getting up and running for the tram in Kirchenstrasse at six in the morning. At that stage I had no time to think of sunrise or anything else. Perhaps I shouldn't have spent so much time in Munich during the weekends.

[Virgil]

:eek::eek: That's a real hour of the day? I thought it was only a myth...though sometimes that's not long after I go to bed...

:lol: I get up at 4:40 AM, showered, dressed, and out the door at 5:35 AM. I have about an hour commute to work, and my work day starts at 6:45 AM. :D

[kilted exile]

Ah, to be back at college where 5 in the a.m meant a good night out instead of the beginning of a long day.......

[Joreads]

:eek::eek: That's a real hour of the day? I thought it was only a myth...though sometimes that's not long after I go to bed...

Sure is that is why I am in bed early usually by 9:30pm. I walk every morning and I have to be at work by 8am. I love the mornings

[papayahed]

I like both but sunrise edges out sunsets by a slim margin. Sunrise is crisp and clean - the start of something new and fresh! (ok that sounds geeky) The past couple of months I've been meaning to take my camera to work to get some pictures of the sunrise. It's pretty spectacular around here, especially lately we've been getting fog in the morning which creates the coolest sunrises.

[*Classic*Charm*]

Ah, to be back at college where 5 in the a.m meant a good night out instead of the beginning of a long day.......

Sometimes, yes, but I tend to stay up later in the nights I stay in...

the only time I would get up that early was for horse shows when I had to have the horse on the trailer by 5:30am.

[Nightshade]

Depends on when and where I guess, Sunsets are all very cool and that especially if you get a very nice day and a sea amuybe some dolphins, or maybe just a summer day with clouds and then you get those almost stained windowy pillars of light thing going on. But there is nothing liki esunrise in the winter over frosty misty meadows and everything starts to glisen and shine and the birds all start to wake up but the world is still all muffled and quiet, it is hosts of angels singing beautiful, and in some cities and towns ( the kind that sleep obviously!) I can almost never risist starting to resite worswrth's View from Westminster Bridge

Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth like a garment wear

The beauty of the morning: silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky,
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.

Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour valley, rock, or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!

The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!

Course the only time I got to go to London my spoilsport family wouldnt let me go actaully stand on the bridge and see what the view actually is like :rolleyes:
And dont even get me started on surise in the desert ..... :D

[librarius_qui]

sunset

Sunrise certainly feels better, aesthetically, but I think I learned to like the end of things rather than their beginning ... (A wise man of the past said so ... son of a king, and king after his father.)

As well as, when the sun's setting, it's time to be getting back home! :)

[Virgil]

sunset

Sunrise certainly feels better, aesthetically, but I think I learned to like the end of things rather than their beginning ... (A wise man of the past said so ... son of a king, and king after his father.)

As well as, when the sun's setting, it's time to be getting back home! :)

Well, that's an interesting perspective Libri. I like the thought. :)

[motherhubbard]

I chose both.

Sunset is nice, but I think I’ll enjoy it more when the kids are grown. Right now it’s just busy around here in the evening. I do love a summer sunset. I guess I have a little more time to appreciate it.

Sunrise is nice, too. The chickens are up and the house is quiet. That first cup of coffee is great!

[Emil Miller]

:lol: I get up at 4:40 AM, showered, dressed, and out the door at 5:35 AM. I have about an hour commute to work, and my work day starts at 6:45 AM. :D

4.40am! That's positively heroic.

[kasie]

Well, it's not a case of getting out of London so much as getting out of bed. I tend to go to bed late and sleep late, my favourite time for sleeping being between 6 am-10am, so there would be little chance of my seeing sunrise wherever I lived.

Although I waxed somewhat lyrical over our dawns, I'm actually a night-owl, too, BB - I've been known to go to bed with the Dawn Chorus in summer. I always had trouble getting up when I had to be in work by 8.30am, no matter what time I had been in bed the night before! When I suggested getting out of London, I was thinking of your visiting a place that had more sky visible and less cloud. :)

[Pewnut]

Summer sunset

[Emil Miller]

Although I waxed somewhat lyrical over our dawns, I'm actually a night-owl, too, BB - I've been known to go to bed with the Dawn Chorus in summer. I always had trouble getting up when I had to be in work by 8.30am, no matter what time I had been in bed the night before! When I suggested getting out of London, I was thinking of your visiting a place that had more sky visible and less cloud. :)

Well it's interesting that you should say that, because I have friends who live in the West country ( Somerset) and they have complained about the grey skies down there, not to mention the flooding that has taken place in that part of the world during the last few years.

[kasie]

Well it's interesting that you should say that, because I have friends who live in the West country ( Somerset) and they have complained about the grey skies down there, not to mention the flooding that has taken place in that part of the world during the last few years.


Well, ahem, (coughs apologetically) now that you mention it, it has been known to rain occasionally in Wales too....

Nobody has mentioned moonrise - last night's just-past-full moon rose over a high tide, the water was a sheet of silver, the roofs facing south-east were silvered too - it had rained heavily in the day btw BB - it was breathtaking. Sometimes the moon makes a pathway over the water - it is known locally as the Dead Man's Candle, a reference, I think, to the old custom of leaving a candle burning beside the coffin the night before a burial, so that the soul could find its way to heaven. It's supposed to presage a death and though I would not describe myself as superstitious, the eerie beauty of it makes me shiver.

[Niamh]

:eek::eek: That's a real hour of the day? I thought it was only a myth...though sometimes that's not long after I go to bed...
Sure is!

:lol: I get up at 4:40 AM, showered, dressed, and out the door at 5:35 AM. I have about an hour commute to work, and my work day starts at 6:45 AM. :D


4.40am! That's positively heroic.

Thats nothing! :p
If i'm on an early shift, i'm up by 3.40am to start work at 5am.:D

[Weisinheimer]

Thats nothing! :p
If i'm on an early shift, i'm up by 3.40am to start work at 5am.:D

Yikes!
I'm very rarely up early enough to see the sunrise. Though I did get to see it when I used to work the night shift occasionally. Then the sunrise was awesome because it meant I would be able to go home soon.

[WhimsySA]

Sunset... Simply because I'm moody if I wake up early enough to see sunrise

[Emil Miller]

Sure is!




Thats nothing! :p
If i'm on an early shift, i'm up by 3.40am to start work at 5am.:D

Ok, but Virgil does it every working day and a friend telephoned me from New York the other day to say that there is a deep snow there. With a combination of an unearthly hour and snow, my own particular bete noire ( or should it be bete blanche ? ) I think he deserves an honorary nighthood at least.

[Virgil]

:lol: I would proudly accept a knighthood. :D Sir Virgil, now that might make my head swell even larger than it is.

[weltanschauung]

sunset is infinitly superior imo
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c224/facist_jockitch/pics/sky2.gif