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  "description": "The land of sudden evenings.",
  "path": "/the-early-dark/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-08T19:41:23.000Z",
  "site": "https://aswimmingpoollibrary.net",
  "tags": [
    "Field Notes"
  ],
  "textContent": "I’ve been on a brief visit to KwaZulu-Natal, a part of South Africa both familiar and not – like being back in the company of a mildly notorious uncle you saw infrequently as a child. Here, afternoon turns to night a lot earlier and more abruptly than in Cape Town (which is in the same time zone but much further westwards).\n\nA couple of times, more maybe, I’ve heard one of my favourite bird calls — issued from the distant, invisible throats of a pair of duetting black-collared barbets. Their call has the urgency and intensity of a melancholy welcome – or a well-meant warning.\n\n* * *\n\nThis is the latest in a sequence of irregular Field Notes from  _a swimming pool library_.",
  "title": "the early dark",
  "updatedAt": "2026-05-08T19:41:23.409Z"
}