On the subject of solstices, can someone explain this? In London, at the summer solstice in June, both the earliest sunrise and the latest sunset occur pretty well on the same day, i.e. June 21st. Whereas at the winter solstice in December, the earliest sunset occurs a week or so before the shortest day, December 21st, and the latest sunrise about a week afterwards. Granted we're only talking about a few minutes here, but you'd think it might be symmetrical at both solstices....