Spring forward!
Our clocks went forward at 1:00 am on Sunday 30th March, according to Gov.UK. Some said the time change would occur at 2:00 am.
The following day is often peppered with comments like, ‘This time yesterday it was three ‘clock and now it’s four o’clock. It does feel strange.’
Others might say, ‘Do we gain an hour or lose one?’ Well, neither – there are still twenty-four hours in a day; we’ve just rearranged our observation of them. If we’re Jewish or Muslim, we might tinker round the edges a little so that religious observance and prayers are not too disruptive to daily life.
Daylight Saving Time (DST) was first considered, rather jocularly, by Benjamin Franklin in 1784, but in 1907 a British builder began advocating for a method of using the longer summer daylight hours more effectively. His suggestion was overruled by Parliament in 1908.
In the same year, forward-thinking Port Arthur in Ontario adopted DST, but the practice was not implemented on a large scale until Germany decided to economise on coal usage in 1916 during the First World War. Most of the Allies followed suit.
At present, about two thirds of the world do not embrace DST. The countries that do are mainly in Europe, the USA, Canada, and parts of Australasia. In the USA, exceptions to Daylight Saving Time are American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Hawaii, and most of Arizona, apart from the Navajo people.
So, just one third of the world goes through the six-monthly alteration of clocks and the temporary confusion they create. One year, when our children were very young, Gillian, the eldest, had been invited to a birthday party. She arrived an hour early! Her absent-minded parents had simply not realised that the clocks were changing.
Today, of course, most people don’t even have to think about winding forward or back – computers, ovens, watches, iPads, ‘phones, do it automatically. I don’t know if modern cars do, but our cars aren’t and don’t, so we spend half the year adding or subtracting an hour from the display we see, depending on whether or not we remembered, or bothered, to adjust the clock ‘last time.’
So, officially, it’s summer. I hope the weather realises and gives us some pleasant, sunny, warm (but not too warm!) days.
so only a third take the clock back and forward an hour?
ReplyDeletedo you think we should continue it? or jettison the custom?
It's a perennial riddle. Apparently, farmers don't like it.
DeleteFor our car, we still had to change it. I'm not sure how old our car is though. I do find the whole thing silly and unneeded in today's world. At one point my area was going to stop doing it, but that sadly fell through. I love the yellow in the first photo. I love yellow! Cheers, Ivy.
ReplyDeleteWe don't bother to change our car clocks. Idle!!
DeleteI get that. That's what I used to do to. Just leave it. Now though with this car it's a quick blip and done. The last car, I dunno. Needed a special code, could only be changed on a Tuesday with a half moon with the car pointed east. So silly.
DeleteMy last car and this one change themselves.
ReplyDeleteIt is strange that my working life involved rotating shift work, yet since retiring I've had trouble adjusting to the clock changes.
That is funny.
DeleteTwice a year I have to pull out the car manual and read about how to change the clock. The system is completely unintuitive!
ReplyDeleteMaybe that's why we don't bother to change ours.
DeleteWe are worse off as we've been on DLS for almost a month.
ReplyDeleteDoes it feel like summer?
Delete"Officially" I believe it's spring; the first day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere is June 20.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many interpretations of the seasons. I opt for spring in April and summer in July.
DeleteI know Australia is very broad and needs _three_ time zones. Not a problem.
ReplyDeleteBut states make their own choices about going onto Summer Time and that has been silly. There are _five_ different time zones in summer, and in one case, the clock goes backwards from West -> East. Good grief.
That does sound complicated - one of the joys of living in a very large country, I suppose.
DeleteWhat surprised me was you saying that you folk now see it as summer.
ReplyDeleteWe're expected to as it's called 'British Summer Time.' Well, the sun is shining today, so that's good.
DeleteI don't like daylight savings time. I believe Australia adopted it to be able to be in contact with businesses in the northern hemisphere or something like that and at first it was just for the summer, with the added reasoning that people leaving work would have an extra hour of daylight with their families. Then it got expanded and now it is six months of regular time for the cooler months and six months of me wishing it wasn't so damn bright at 8pm still. I'd be happy if "they" decided to ditch it and just have regular time all year round.
ReplyDeleteCross your fingers and wish!
DeleteDaylight Saving Time: a twice-yearly reminder that time is as much about perception as precision
ReplyDeleteHow true!
DeleteNow I don't go to school or work time doesn't matter at all. Electronic stuff changes by itself, wall clocks are changed the night before so we wake up and life goes on as usual.
ReplyDeleteI quite leaving one clock on 'old' time, for a while, at least.
DeleteSummer? Not yet! But the last few days have been lovely
ReplyDeleteThe forecast is quite optimistic, for this week, at least.
DeleteI am looking forward to longer light filled evenings.
ReplyDeleteLighter evenings are a pleasure.
DeleteIt's the day when I regret having so many clocks in the house.
ReplyDelete😁😂🤣
DeleteIt always takes us a while to adjust the clock in our car, maybe we should leave it. When we are away on holiday, I always leave my watch at UK time, our phones automatically change, it never worth the bother for just a few days.
ReplyDeleteUnless you have to follow a timetable, it doesn't really matter.
DeleteI only had to change the one clock in my house. The big one I glance at occasionally. My watch is my main time keeping device wasn't changed in the fall last year, I just added an hour throughout the winter. Now it is the right time.
ReplyDeleteIt's simple enough just to add or subtract, isn't it? 😀
DeleteWe changed our clocks earlier in the month of march. I just seen they leave at like this year round. And our first day of spring was March 20th and this morning it actually feels like it is spring after a terrible storm during the night it is a little warmer.
ReplyDeleteWinter seems to have a firm grip on you.
DeleteI'm not fond of the time change and have wished for years that they would do away with it. I wouldn't even care which one we stuck with so long as we didn't have to keep switching.
ReplyDeleteMaybe your wish will come true!
ReplyDeleteI do like it not being pitch black at 5PM.
ReplyDeleteThere are advantages and disadvantages to dark and light.
DeleteI spend the first week, every single day, saying, the clock says 4 but its only 3 and bob says the same thing back to me, you do this every time the time changes. and I say I do not, only this change, I like the other one but do hate changing... I did not know only 1/3 of the world does this... our HEAT is here and THEY said on news today, we will hit 90's by the week ned. NOOOOOO
ReplyDeleteOh, my, that's going to be unbearable.
DeleteThe time change never bothers me. I like it when it gets dark early though.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to draw the curtains against the dark and feel warm and cosy.
DeleteWhy oh why are they still doing that nonsense. Nobody has ever been able to convince me of its benefits. Ugh! xxx
ReplyDeleteWe were discussing it, too. It's about time it was banished.
DeleteWhen the car clock had to be changed manually, I'd just leave it alone, keep the car on standard time all year and advance the hour for daylight savings. I wish we could just stay on standard time instead of going through this nonsense
ReplyDeletePerhaps, one day, we will.
DeleteOne good thing is it's lighter for longer in the evenings ...
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
It is nice to have longer evening light, it's true.
DeleteTwice a year, we in the United States grumble and complain, and then a week after the change, no one even remembers until the next change. Rinse and repeat, like we like to say. Some of my clocks don't change, including our car clock. We changed to Daylight Saving time at 2am on March 9.
ReplyDeleteWe complain, too, but soon get used to it.
DeleteWe changed our clocks earlier in the month.. I do love the longer days.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice not to have to use artificial lights so much.
DeleteWe apparently have a permanent half hour (not sure which way) in addition to the twice yearly disruption.
ReplyDeleteGood grief! Is that announced or just slipped in while no-one's looking?
DeleteYou can get cookers that change their own time?!
ReplyDeleteYou can, but I always switch our cooker off at the wall when it's not in use, so not much good for us! (or would the clock still function?)
DeleteI always get confused when the clocks change. It doesn't help that those in America go forward at the beginning of March, in the UK at the end of March. All month long I've had to really think about what time it is in England when I chat with sister. I'm glad we're back to the usual 5 hours difference lol
ReplyDeleteIt's good to be back on an even keel, I'm sure. A five-hour difference means your calls have to be timed carefully, I imagine.
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