Sunday 4 April 2010

"So we put the clocks forwards or backwards?"

Daylight saving ended last night. Our government cannot even get that in line with the rest of the world. It has to be the first weekend in April, not the last weekend in March for adjusting the clocks.
Daylight saving is, of course, a misnomer anyway. It does not save daylight at all. The amount of daylight remains the same. At this latitude it does not make a great deal of sense. We do not have long dark winters or long light summer evenings of the type you get in Norway or Iceland. Our climate is such that it would make more sense to encourage people to use the cooler beginnings of a day. We do not. Daylight saving suits the hospitality industry. They say it encourages people to go out. Perhaps it does. Whether sitting at the pub and drinking is actually using daylight saving is another question. If people are not doing that then they are home with the airconditioning on while watching the telly. That suits the power suppliers. The variety of 'night owl' known as 'young person' does not start to get active until after eleven in the evening either.
What most people are not doing is gardening, walking the dog, playing sport or actually using the 'saved' daylight. Most of the time it is simply too hot or people simply cannot be bothered at the end of the day. Of course they will tell you that, like the exercise they do not take, daylight saving is a 'good thing'.
Then there is the puzzle over the clocks. Do they go backwards or forwards? A friend of ours got it horribly wrong one year and arrived an hour late for the first service in his new parish. (They forgave him but ribbed him unmercifully as they got to know him.)
I went around and adjusted the clocks last night - all the clocks except the oven clock. It will not budge. I gave up but now I am wondering. Does this mean all our meals will be an hour late - or do I mean an hour early or....?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really wish the world didn't change the clocks twice a year. It is very hard keeping track of time zones when you have friends and family all over the globe.

Anonymous said...

Cat,

Ah! I think I have jet lag, and I haven't been anywhere!

Thank goodness for the internet .... the computer has the time right ....... at least I hope so!

If you can't get the oven to change it's clock, you may need snacks on hand if the meals are late, and eat a very light lunch in case the evening meal arrives early! I don't know what time you should shop for the snacks though .... oven time, or some other time!

Judy B

catdownunder said...

I have one of those World Clocks in my 'favourites' column Donna - useful when you need the time from the Americas to Zambia and beyond!

Jet lag? Oven time tells me it is time to start preparing lunch.

Talli Roland said...

I forgot that the clocks changed last week in England. I was so annoyed to lose an hour!

Rachel Fenton said...

It doesn't seem to make any difference whether I change the clocks or not - I never read the time correctly and arrive an hour early or late regardless!