Or do you just think Daylight Saving (called Summer Time in the UK) is a nuisance and should be done away with?
Did you know that "Daylight Saving" was instituted by the federal government in 1918, in an effort to conserve energy producing materials that were needed in the war effort? The theory being that with an extra hour of natural light in the evenings, less artificial light would be needed. After the war the idea was dropped until WWII, when it was once again mandated, now as "War Time." After the war, "Peace Time" was back in effect and the issue of daylight saving time was handled on a local level. This led to a great deal of confusion as different locations were constantly operating at different times. The Uniform Time Act was passed in 1966 to solve the problem. States were given the option to opt out of daylight saving time if they passed proper ordinances.
I don't think there there is much evidence that Daylight Saving actually saves energy. So why don't we just do away with it?
REDS, what do you think? Hate it? Love it? Want that extra hour of sleep tomorrow? Let's have a REDS poll!
LUCY BURDETTE: Wait, we're springing ahead right? I don't like the changing in general--just about the time we figure out how to change the car clocks, it's time to change again. And here in Key West, we have a very civilized sunset celebration: have a drink, watch the sun go down and look for the green flash, and then eat. The change messes up the whole order of things. On the bright side, we're hoping this switch will dupe the cat into letting us sleep in. 7 am instead of 6 would be such an improvement!!
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: This is a CONSTANT frustration. I hardly know what time it is on a daily basis anyway, so when it gets changed, it's huge mess. And then there was the year that I changed all the clocks, and then...Jonathan did, too So we were SO off. Now of course, some clocks change by themselves, yeesh, and that's even worse because I'm always tempted to change the already-changed ones. And we wind up with less sleep. right? which is further confusing..
What was the question again?
DEBS: Hank, you crack me up. And, Lucy, I'm always ready to do that sunset celebration an hour earlier...
Although not, actually, when I was in London in January and it was dark by 4:30... That's teatime, not sunset!
As for daylight saving, I could live with the time either way. I just wish we didn't have to change it twice a year. Did you know that there's an uptick of heart attacks, illnesses, and accidents when we spring forward every year? Messing with people's body clocks is not nice, especially when it means losing a hour's sleep...
However, apparently it's unlikely we will do away with daylight saving anytime soon. Retailers are convinced that the extra hour of daylight is good for business, and that's a powerful lobby. (A lot more powerful than the poor farmers, who hate it.)
It's more likely that we would just stay on summer time--after all, we are already at eight months out of the year, so why bother changing for the other four?
READERS, what do you think? Would you do away with daylight saving, or keep it full time?
Or just keep changing those clocks?
PS REDS Alert! The winner of Marla Cooper's Terror in Taffeta is Kim Davis.
And the winner of Glen Erik Hamilton's Hard Cold Winter is Mary Sutton.
Send me your addresses at deb at deborahcrombie dot com and we'll get you fixed up!
