As I sit here looking out from my window across windswept rain-drenched fields, in the wake of storm-force winds – it is nice to know that even as Spring has barely sprung – “British Summer Time” is apparently upon us.
Robbed of another hour’s precious time in bed over the Easter Weekend, I got to thinking once again – is it really worth it – for the ‘alleged’ benefits our so-called Daylight Saving Time is intended to bring?
It is a debate that has raged over the years, and we’ve all seen the supposed pro’s and con’s argued over endlessly in the media. Along with us, over 70 different countries make use of their own versions of DST, with the reasoning that it:
– saves energy by spending less on artificial lighting
– makes better use of the natural daylight available
– reduces the risk of road traffic accidents
– and is beneficial to business, by keeping us in line with our European trading partners.
Whether or not there is any real evidence to support any of these points, seems to be a matter of conjecture.
And on top of the above, whilst it is great to get that extra hour in bed as the days draw shorter with the approach of Winter – it equally sucks just as much to have that hour taken back again as we have now.
So, I thought I’d ask the question – what is “The Sotonians Position On” Daylight Saving Time?
Please feel free to simply register your vote without comment – or also contribute your opinions if you have anything to say on the issue.
Our Daylight Saving scheme is fine just as it is.
Put the clocks back an hour to GMT - then leave them alone.
Put the clocks forward an hour to BST - then leave them alone.
I don’t like that different parts of the world do it at different times. There are about four weeks of the year in which my timing is completely shafted because the Americans make their changes two weeks before us. I have to admit, I quite like having light evenings, especially after the dark gloomy shite we can get in the winter.
You’re also seeing the shite end of this equation. We get that hour back later in the year, and it’s fucking glorious.
there’s an excellent bit on one of the No Such Thing As a Fish podcast about the implementation of time zones and how in America cities could choose which time zone they followed, leading to all sorts of nonsense.
One of the benifits of living in the Philippines is no clock changes, but trying to remember when everybody else changes theres is a pain in the bloody arse.
It’s totally ridiculous that here in the part of Queensland where I live it’s light at 4:30am in the middle of summer, yet come 7pm it’s dark. Having said that, it does mean I can get out and play a round of golf in the morning before it gets stinking hot and I can still be at work by 7 or 8am, so the lack of daylight saving totally works for me
Having said that, in this day and age of everything heading towards 24/7, does it really matter what the time is?
Slightly off-topic but I had to laugh at our banks over here though. Apparently they weren’t processing bank transfers over Easter as it was a public holiday. I’m guessing all the computers felt they deserved a holiday too? (Although, strangely enough they were still able to take my credit card transactions).
One question for you Pap. Is there any way to configure the forum software to show the number of votes for each option to go along with the graphical percentage indicator?
I’d suggest an option that doesn’t exist in the poll. Put the time to BST (as has just happened), leave it there through what would be GMT, then move it forward again the followinng March. After that, change again in the autumn, but by now the time we know as BST would be the winter time, and summer would be double BST.
Put more simply, our time would match that of mainland western Europe (apart from Portugal). We’d move our hours of daytime darkness to the morning and away from the evening; I think there are a lot of advantages in this. For example, statistics show very clearly that casualties and fatalities on the road are significantly higher in evening rather than morning darkness.
The main objections to such a scheme come from those in the far north of Scotland and the Scottish islands, but to be honest I find these hard to comprehend. After all, nobody loses any daylight - it just moves around a bit. If you live in the Shetlands or Orkneys you won’t have more than four or five hours of daylight in the middlle of winter - does it really matter if it starts an hour later?
We still get our light evenings even if we didnt put the clocks forward. I dont get the arguement about Scotland. Just use the daylight you have got when you have got it as you say Fowllyd.
How many things actually need changing now? Only clock that didn’t change itself was in the car, but we hadn’t changed that last time so it was fine anyway.
