British Summer Time question

[Hazell B]

Would you rather have the clocks go back now or not? If you live in the UK, of course .... :p :

I honestly don't get what the problem is with them staying as they are now, with a little more darkness in the morning. Remember, I work by the sunlight's clock myself, unlike most, and people like me seem to be the ones mooted as wanting light mornings.

Your opinions?

[Daniel]

I hate daylight savings. Why screw around with time?

[Mark]

There is a big campaign going on at the moment called "Lighter Later" http://www.lighterlater.org/
They are campaigning for the UK to switch to Central European time, which would put our clocks 1 hour forward of where we are all year round, i.e. GMT+1 in winter and GMT+2 in summer.

Their argument is that light is less useful to us in the mornings when all we tend to do is just make our way to work, it has a bigger affect having it light longer into the evening.

I do agree with their premise that having lighter evenings is better than lighter mornings as I'm travelling to work in the dark most of the time anyway. But as it stands the clocks are designed so that it's always light at 8am, if we go to CET that won't be the case.

Plus using CET would be an advantage to be on the same time as most of the rest of Europe I should imagine.

[slorydn1]

There is a big campaign going on at the moment called "Lighter Later" http://www.lighterlater.org/
They are campaigning for the UK to switch to Central European time, which would put our clocks 1 hour forward of where we are all year round, i.e. GMT+1 in winter and GMT+2 in summer.

Their argument is that light is less useful to us in the mornings when all we tend to do is just make our way to work, it has a bigger affect having it light longer into the evening.

I do agree with their premise that having lighter evenings is better than lighter mornings as I'm travelling to work in the dark most of the time anyway. But as it stands the clocks are designed so that it's always light at 8am, if we go to CET that won't be the case.

Plus using CET would be an advantage to be on the same time as most of the rest of Europe I should imagine.

Being as far west as you are as opposed to the rest of Europe does kinda put you in a unique position.

Living about as far east as I can in North Carolina, it really doesn't seem to make much of difference here between EDT and EST, except that when we first switch to EDT in the spring that pretty much has the children waiting for the school bus in the dark for a few weeks; that can be problematical what with the way most of the idiots drive around here, I always worry about the children getting run over by a moron.

Other than that, I really don't notice much of a difference. I work 6-6 (2 weeks of days, 2 weeks of nights) so I pretty much go the whole winter only seeing darkness, and only seeing sunlight during the summer.

Now, when I was a little kid in western Michigan, Daylight Savings was a BIG deal in the summer....It would still be twilight as late as 10pm during the summer, and it would take for ever to get the fireworks started on the 4th of July...

Yet, when we moved to Chicago were it is Central Time, it was more like here in NC....pretty much as far east one could be in the time zone, and the switch from standard time to daylight savings just didn't make much of a difference...

[Daniel]

They also want to make it so BST is gmt+ 2 hours

[Ghostwalker]

There is a big campaign going on at the moment called "Lighter Later" http://www.lighterlater.org/
They are campaigning for the UK to switch to Central European time, which would put our clocks 1 hour forward of where we are all year round, i.e. GMT+1 in winter and GMT+2 in summer.

Their argument is that light is less useful to us in the mornings when all we tend to do is just make our way to work, it has a bigger affect having it light longer into the evening.

I do agree with their premise that having lighter evenings is better than lighter mornings as I'm travelling to work in the dark most of the time anyway. But as it stands the clocks are designed so that it's always light at 8am, if we go to CET that won't be the case.

Plus using CET would be an advantage to be on the same time as most of the rest of Europe I should imagine.

Yeah especially since Spain is about as far west as GB and Ireland and despite that Spain is using CET.

http://www.worldtimezone.com/time-europe12.php

[Dave B]

The argument against having sensible timezones appears to be that Scottish farmers would "have to" work in darkness. But however we choose to measure time, the actual amount of daylight will not change! Let's just get this over and done with, once and for all, then not faff around with clocks twice a year.

[Daniel]

The argument against having sensible timezones appears to be that Scottish farmers would "have to" work in darkness. But however we choose to measure time, the actual amount of daylight will not change! Let's just get this over and done with, once and for all, then not faff around with clocks twice a year.
I've always found daylight savings slightly pointless. In the UK there is already more than enough sun in the winter, if anything more winter sunshine would be better. If they put the clocks forward an hour in the winter that would make much more sense.

[Eki]

Would you rather have the clocks go back now or not? If you live in the UK, of course .... :p :

I honestly don't get what the problem is with them staying as they are now, with a little more darkness in the morning.
You mean that once you go black, you shouldn't go back?

For one reason it's good that mornings are darker is that now my cat let's me sleep easily until 10 o'clock. In the summer she started waking me up already before 5 o'clock.

[fandango]

I prefer having more light in the morning, but I'm a morning person. My feeling is that driving is safer in the morning in daylight, as people are half asleep at the best of times anyway. I have no studies to back that up, it's just a feeling.

I couldn't see the UK changing to be on the same time as central Europe. It just seems like a very un-British thing to do, for better or worse. Portugal is on the same time as Britain, and so are the Canaries, so it's not 100% accurate to say Spain is on CET time.

[GridGirl]

Today was the first day that I used my full lights when driving to work at normal times and the clocks go back tomorrow. I thought that was good timing.

I'm not bothered either way about them changing the clocks. Although I do remember reading somewhere that there are alot of motor vehicle accidents in the week after the clocks change. It was something to do with a combination of the clocks changing and kids going back to school after half term.

[Ghostwalker]

Portugal is on the same time as Britain, and so are the Canaries, so it's not 100% accurate to say Spain is on CET time.

Fandongo true that the Canary islands doesnt use CET.
but claiming that Spain is not using CET becasue of the Canries that is the same thing as saying that Britain not uses GMT/BST to a 100%
because the Falkland islands uses another time zone or?

And Portugal is not Spain ;)

[fandango]

Fandongo true that the Canary islands doesnt use CET.
but claiming that Spain is not using CET becasue of the Canries that is the same thing as saying that Britain not uses GMT/BST to a 100%
because the Falkland islands uses another time zone or?

And Portugal is not Spain ;)

Not really, I just said it's not 100% accurate. When I get up in the morning and turn on Radio Nacional de España to hear the Spanish national news, they always say the peninsula time and the time in the Canaries. I don't think they give the time in the Falklands on the BBC in Britain.

It's a question of distance. And yes, I'm aware that Portugal isn't part of Spain. King Somebody or other in Madrid was fighting on two fronts and chose to let Portugal go so that he could hang onto Catalonia and connection it gave him with Europe, a while back... (or so I've been told...)

:)

[schmenke]

... Why screw around with time?

Bah, it's all relative.

[Mark]

Ah but Gibraltar isn't part of the United Kingdom! In fact the only territories that are are Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Not even the channel islands or Isle of Man are officially part of the UK.

It would be more useful I think if the whole world just agreed it was going to scrap daylight savings time completely and keep the clocks the same year round. Although admittedly clock change time is the only time I reset my clocks at home; some of which can be up to 10 minutes out by the time the 6 months has elapsed!

[Eki]

I hate daylight savings. Why screw around with time?
Back to the future! Well, actually this time it's back to the past.

[donKey jote]

It's now dark for the kids in the morning (school starts at 7:45 and they'd be waiting for the bus in pitch black at 6:55 if I didn't drive them to school most of the time :p ), so yes, now is the right time to put the clocks back to English time. In Germany, kids as young as 6 are expected to either walk or take public transport to school, on their own.

Anyway I quite like the ritual. A bit like the geese flying over, it marks the beginning of Winter.

I'll be putting my body clock back 2 hours on Sunday though... me's off to Portugal again :s

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I hate dark mornings.

[Captain VXR]

I hate dark mornings.

I hate dark evenings even more...

[Hazell B]

.... I do remember reading somewhere that there are alot of motor vehicle accidents in the week after the clocks change. It was something to do with a combination of the clocks changing and kids going back to school after half term.

Funnily enough, a guy on TV the other morning said overall, both in winter and summer time, there are far more serious/fatal accidents in the early evening each and every day. The second most dangerous time to drive is in the early hours (when it's dark anyway and the roads are quiet). I guess people rush more on the way home, adding to that the school and shopping runs, and the roads are just more dangerous.

The point somebody made about farmers wanting to stay as we are is right - land and animals have no idea what the time is! Chicken farmers seem to be the worst for moaning about us going to one set of time all year .... but I keep chickens and they have no watches. They just do their chicken thing whatever the weather. Farmers add lights to chicken houses to make them lay in winter anyhow, so why can't they add light at different times? Cows are milked in the dark either morning or evening anyway, so again they have no valid argument to alter time for lighter mornings.

[555-04Q2]

I hate daylight savings. Why screw around with time?

Totally agree :up: Never understood the whole "daylight saving" idea :crazy:

[Daniel]

I hate dark mornings.

Sadly your opinion doesn't count because people seem to have the misguided idea that people are going to go out and do stuff outside in the evenings when it's frigging cold.

[ShiftingGears]

Daylight savings is excellent.

[Mark]

Don't like the dark evenings!

Did exactly the same trip to the garden centre at the same time last night as I did the previous week, last week was in the light and it felt like the afternoon, this week it was pitch black and I was subconsciously rushing because it felt much later!

Plus the traffic was much much worse, but I guess that was because the previous week was half term!

[GridGirl]

Mark, did you check out ther weird white Santa? That slightly freaked me out.

I don't know if its a psychological thing but my jorney's home from work just seem to take much longer now its dark. I know it was half term last week but my journey feels like its more than doubled in time when in reality it hasn't changed at all.

[Mark]

Mark, did you check out ther weird white Santa? That slightly freaked me out.

No, didn't see it! Although I'll be going back pretty soon to take back this stupidly noisy air pump, so I'll take a look!



I don't know if its a psychological thing but my jorney's home from work just seem to take much longer now its dark. I know it was half term last week but my journey feels like its more than doubled in time when in reality it hasn't changed at all.

Didn't help that last night it was lashing it down with rain too. Driving along at 70mph unable to see too far in front of me!

If going over to CET means that there's even a little light before I leave work, then it's worth doing IMO! I don't really care about travelling to work in the dark, I tend to be tired in the evening, after a day at work, I can cope with darkness better in the morning.

[Daniel]

No, didn't see it! Although I'll be going back pretty soon to take back this stupidly noisy air pump, so I'll take a look!



Didn't help that last night it was lashing it down with rain too. Driving along at 70mph unable to see too far in front of me!

If going over to CET means that there's even a little light before I leave work, then it's worth doing IMO! I don't really care about travelling to work in the dark, I tend to be tired in the evening, after a day at work, I can cope with darkness better in the morning.

But it's suddenly being dropped into darkness on your commute that's the problem. If we didn't have DST or it ended earlier then this wouldn't be as much of an issue because the transition would be gradual and people would get used to it. The last time I drove when it was properly dark was back in August when we drove down after work to get the ferry down in Dover which was back in August. Of course if people get dropped into pitch black darkness at a time of the year where there's often rain (it's rained the last 3 nights on my commute) then there's going to be trouble.

[Mark]

I saw the white santa! Not only did he look strange, but he smelled too!