Should we change the clocks forward to summer time now

djmc

This is a little bug bear of mine
The clocks are put back an hour the last weekend of October for wintertime that's 51 days before the winter solstice on the 21st of Dec which is the shortest day of the year
Roll on 51 days again after that is the 10th of February next Wednesday when we have the same amount of daylight we had when clocks changed at the end of October
Why then must we have to suffer another 50 days of dark evenings and what fecking idiot picked the date in the end of March.
It was originally done for farmers who preferred daylight early in the morning to get work done and probably were awake anyway with the cold and cock crowing outside the door.
Now that we have flashlights and yard lights and central heating and moved the animals away from the front yard of the house do we even need to put the clocks back for the winter.
I propose we all put our clocks forward next wensday in protest.

epfff

djmc wrote: »

This is a little bug bear of mine
The clocks are put back an hour the last weekend of October for wintertime that's 51 days before the winter solstice on the 21st of Dec which is the shortest day of the year
Roll on 51 days again after that is the 10th of February next Wednesday when we have the same amount of daylight we had when clocks changed at the end of October
Why then must we have to suffer another 50 days of dark evenings and what fecking idiot picked the date in the end of March.
It was originally done for farmers who preferred daylight early in the morning to get work done and probably were awake anyway with the cold and cock crowing outside the door.
Now that we have flashlights and yard lights and central heating and moved the animals away from the front yard of the house do we even need to put the clocks back for the winter.
I propose we all put our clocks forward next wensday in protest.

+1

Bass Reeves

There was a proposal about 5-6 years ago at EU level to change the date of the start of Summer time to either last Saturday/Sunday in February or first Saturday/Sunday in March. The reason for not changing it to earlier than this was for safety issues regarding dark mornings.

The reason that the clocks were changed in the first place had nothing to do with farming. It was to do with factory work and to allow as much of the working day to have daylight as possible.

djmc

That aguement would only make sense if the clocks were changed at equal number of days from the solstice the mornings are no darker now than were in new time at the end of October.
I think it was brought in during war time to ration coal and candles and get people out of bed earlier to work even then people were not too keen on the idea they dubbed it daylight slaving time.
The war is over the candles are only used in church and smoky coal banned and we are stuck boards.ie to pass the dark evenings when we could be out working walking keeping active and healthy.
Safety my arse the factory's have electricity and lights now and so does the cars.
I'd rather have the hour in the evening after work.

X6.430macman

I always though it was for children going go school.

tanko

X6.430macman wrote: »

I always though it was for children going go school.

It is, if I remember correctly it wasn't changed one year and there was more accidents involving children going to school in dark mornings.

djmc

It's bright now around 7.40am and school doesn't start till 9
I'm sticking with Wednesday and dropping kids to school an hour early

patsy_mccabe

Today is 102 minutes longer daylight than the shortest day of the year.

blue5000

Found this on another forum

"When told the reasoning behind Daylight Saving the old Indian said, "Only a white man would think you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket and sew it on the bottom, and end up with a longer blanket"

Username John

Does it make that much odds really?

For me - being brighter in the morning suits me far better...

djmc

The kids had to wait an hour for school to start this morning as all the other lazy feckers slept in and were kept in for an hour extra in the evening but apart from that their was a great stretch this evening bright until 7.20
Happy summer time.

frazzledhome

Wouldn't be in favour of changing for another 30 days as mornings too dark. Not bright till 7.30 or so ATM and with what work is on now is go mad if it was 8am

patsy_mccabe

blue5000 wrote: »

Found this on another forum

"When told the reasoning behind Daylight Saving the old Indian said, "Only a white man would think you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket and sew it on the bottom, and end up with a longer blanket"

Reminds me of a quote I heard on Game Of Thrones last night.
'....if you're a famous smuggler you're not doing it right" :rolleyes:

djmc

I'm a tad lazy as I don't usually start until after I drop the kids to school the downside is I can never seem to finish early in the evening either until it gets dark and I give up.