Re: Time zones (was: Send out the Gunboats!)

On Thu, 16 Oct 2008, Anne Burgess wrote
Whenever this topic comes up - usually for an hour or two
around the two
annual shifts, add some Scottish moaning to taste - I wonder:
just what
is this obsession with moving the clocks, timezones, and so
on?
I am a Scot and live in Scotland, quite far north. While I was
in employment I hated it when the clocks went back to GMT,
because for five months, to fit in with prescribed office hours,
I had to get up and go to work in the dark, spend all the
daylight hours indoors, and then go home in the dark. I never
saw daylight from Sunday afternoon to Saturday morning. Now that
I am retired at least I can make use of the daylight when it
suits me.

I loved it when we had British Standard Time. Bring on CET! Or
even better, bring back double summer time and keep it all year
round.

To clarify: I'm not saying we should all get up and go to bed
(or
whatever) at the same time: while we live on the outside of a
planet,
that just isn't practical. However, if, in a certain area, it
would be
more convenient to work 8 to 4, or 10 to 6, instead of 9 to 5,
why not
do so - why mess about with the clocks? (I've used the nominal
office
work day; amend to suit your activities.)
I agree entirely. Clock time is purely arbitrary, so there is no
need to have time zones. It's only a convention that says that
the clock hands should point upwards when the sun is at the
zenith. Why not have all clock hands all over the planet
pointing the same way at the same time, and adjust people's
times of coming and going to suit local daylight?

However I am sure that that battle is lost before it even
begins.

It would be every bit as arbitrary, of course, and can you
imagine the international squabbles about whose clock hands
should be pointing upwards when the sun is at its local zenith?

Totally agree. I can understand the need for timezones
I don't - see above.


I agree with JPG about altering the alarm clock rather than the statutory time. But surely, particularly that far north, there are so few daylight hours between, say November and February that no amount of tinkering is going to give anybody daylight at one end of the working day unless it's something huge like two or three hours askew from sun-time. I too have lived and worked in the north and I do understand how depressing it is, but surely that's an inevitable product of latitude.

I have to say, I also spend a lot of time in western France, and find double summer time incredibly difficult to get used to - in April and September the sun doesn't rise until well after eight o'clock, and I am completely disorientated - I never wake up. I worked in Spain too one April and it was horrible - I find it really unnatural that from Berlin to Madrid people have to stay on the same time. I'd much rather stick to GMT/sun-time all year, when at least the available light is distributed evenly either side of midday, and shift my working hours to suit.

--
Kate B

PS 'elvira' is spamtrapped - please reply to 'elviraspam' at cockaigne dot org dot uk if you
want to reply personally
.

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