Life in a northern town, er, latitude

I may be in the south of England, but this latitude is fairly far north. Days are mighty short this time of year. This is a view of the Kennet Canal at 7:45 a.m. this morning. Yahoo! weather says sunrise was at 8:09 a.m. By 4:03 p.m. it will be nightfall. It's all part of life in a northerly latitude. In contrast, the summer days can be quite long. According to BBC Weather, "In the north of Scotland in midsummer the day is eighteen hours long and twilight lasts all night." Wow.