‘Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight saving(s), daylight savings time, daylight time (United States and Canada), or summer time (United Kingdom, European Union, and others),’ says Wikipedia, so it must be true, ‘is the practice of advancing clocks to make better use of the longer daylight available during summer so that darkness falls at a later clock time.’ Well, dear reader, tonight’s the night and about time, too, but why on Earth do we bother to arse around with the clocks in the first place?
I had wrongly assumed that every country in the world put their clocks back, but it turns out that only 34% actually do it. DST was introduced in 1916 by the German army as a way of conserving energy. Inevitably, the UK followed suit, as did many other European countries, though not all of them. I have always felt it conserved my energy by making it harder to do anything because it’s so fucking dark in the winter months, as well as a large chunk of autumn and a smaller chunk of spring. 109 years on, can’t we just have a debate about whether we should adopt DST permanently and perhaps go even further?
Digging a little deeper, I find this explanation of how the whole putting the clocks back shenanigans began. This is from a website called Learning Resources:
‘In 1784 American inventor and statesman, Benjamin Franklin had the bright idea of a smart way to save on candles. Over 100 years later in 1895 New Zealand astronomer and entomologist George suggested a two-hour shift backwards during summer to give him more time to go bug hunting after work.
‘However, it was in 1907 after British builder William Willett published a pamphlet titled The Waste of Daylight that the UK came around to the idea of daylight savings. Willett had been out horse-riding early one summer’s morning and noticed how many people were still asleep long after the sun was up. He suggested that turning the clocks forward during summer meant everyone could be up bright and early instead of snoozing away the daylight!’
You read that right. Clocks go back in order to save on candles and to enable some Kiwi bloke to go bug hunting. I’ll go with William Willett’s thoughts when he was out horse-riding (and I can see why you would think about such things when carrying out such a boring and pointless exercise as horse-riding).
Between 1968 and 1971, we, the UK, did experiment with having DST all year round. I have a vague recollection of it happening, but, it says here, on the internet, ‘the experiment was discontinued as it was found impossible to assess the advantages and disadvantages of British Summer Time.‘ Well, how about brighter evenings in winter, for one thing? Surely that’s enough in itself? It’s one of the joyous things about going to places like Greece on holidays, sitting outside a taverna or bar late in the evening and it’s still light.
Apparently, the clock shifts are bad for us, too. The affect our circadian rhythms, whatever that means. More people die when we arse around with the clocks, more people have heart attacks, more people crash their cars. If this is all true, why not change and go even further?
If we are going to change the clocks, then let’s have DST in winter and double DST in summer? Okay, it will be darker in the mornings, but who really cares about that? Kids will still be in school, most adults will be at work, pensioners will either be asleep or preparing tea and biscuits as we get angry by all that dreadful wokery we read about in the Daily Mail. It’s win, win. If you don’t like the dark mornings, buy a fucking torch.
The government says “there are no plans to change the current arrangements“, so why not make some? Why not actually go out and consult with the lumpen proletariat? Ask us what we really, really want? Zig-a-zig-ah and all that.
I know I will be much happier when I wake up tomorrow. In the blink of an eye, sort of, it will be light at 8.00 pm. I’ll be able to see the rain and clouds so much clearer.
I don’t care that much if my expenditure on candles increases and it won’t significantly affect my bug hunting activities. The magic of spring, all that new life, is an annual wonder to behold. I can’t see a single negative to ending GMT but so many benefits.
Today the times are a-changin’. Wouldn’t it be nice if in future they didn’t change at all, unless we move to double DST?
