closing tag is in template navbar
timefactors watches



TZ-UK Fundraiser
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 50 of 61

Thread: Clocks going back?

  1. #1
    Master
    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    Devon
    Posts
    5,134

    Clocks going back?

    Just been reading a local online Devon newspaper where there are calls to scrap the clocks going back this year to give an extra hour in the evening to help shops and businesses take more money after the tough year they’ve all had.

    They had stats to show a lot more people die in road accidents after the clocks go back than before they go back each year in the evening, though I guess the counter of that means there could be more accidents in the morning.

    Apparently it’s been tried in the past and didn’t work.

    There must have been 200 plus comments and I’d say over 80% we’re in favour of scrapping it.

    I know some people find this hard, but it’s G&D so without pushing any political views, curious as to what people think? Until I read it just now I’d not given it a thought.

  2. #2
    I think it gets discusssd every year yet nothing happens.

  3. #3
    Grand Master Chris_in_the_UK's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Norf Yorks
    Posts
    42,913
    Always thought it was unnecessary.
    When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........

  4. #4
    Master mr noble's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Cambs
    Posts
    4,661
    I think many people who favour scrapping it seem to think that if the clocks stay as they are now, the planet won’t move around the sun any further and we’ll have lighter evenings and lighter mornings.

    The question is, do you prefer getting up and going to work in the dark or having your evenings get dark earlier.

    Having spent time in Germany last winter, I can say 100% I’d rather it was lighter earlier in the morning. It was miserable getting up and walking to an exhibition hall at 8am in the darkness every morning in Cologne.

    We can’t have it both ways!

  5. #5
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Location
    Berkshire, UK
    Posts
    368
    It was looking like 2021 would be the last year that daylight savings time would be observed in the EU, but that's most likely going to get pushed back a year or so because of COVID-19 and other political goings on.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...time-from-2021

    As others have said, this has been a topic of discussion, especially from folk in the North of Scotland where it gets quite a bit darker sooner than Devon for many a year now. As yet, nothing has changed.

    In my line of work, everything runs on UTC anyway, regardless of where it is!

  6. #6
    Master MakeColdplayHistory's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    United Kingdom
    Posts
    5,870
    Time zones and specifically 'daylight saving' regimes that change on different days around the world are a very small part of my job but a significant annoyance.

    If I ruled the world I'd scrap daylight savings regimes worldwide.

  7. #7
    Grand Master Onelasttime's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Everywhere, yet nowhere...
    Posts
    13,708
    Scrap it. It's unecessary.

  8. #8
    Grand Master Wallasey Runner's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    Wirral - North West England
    Posts
    15,264
    I remember them not doing it when I was a kid, around 1968/69 if I remember rightly. All the school kids were issued with Fluorescent arm bands as they had to go to school in the dark. I think at the time it was done to benefit farmers and the like. They only did it the once.

  9. #9
    Master Lampoc's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Lincs. The bit with hills.
    Posts
    6,174
    We need to think "outside the box". Like morse code, mechanical watches and vaccines, the concept of time as a constant is truly an anachronism that belongs in the history books. How about if time wasn't a constant but a variable that matched the seasons? Every day, the sun would rise at 0630 and set again at 1830 - the technology is already there for modern timekeeping devices to adjust themselves to the daily progress of this fourth dimension.
    Why hasn't this happened yet? I'll tell you why - lizards. We're through the looking glass here people...

  10. #10
    Grand Master Mr Curta's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Mainly UK
    Posts
    17,281
    Quote Originally Posted by Lampoc View Post
    We need to think "outside the box". Like morse code, mechanical watches and vaccines, the concept of time as a constant is truly an anachronism that belongs in the history books. How about if time wasn't a constant but a variable that matched the seasons? Every day, the sun would rise at 0630 and set again at 1830 - the technology is already there for modern timekeeping devices to adjust themselves to the daily progress of this fourth dimension.
    Why hasn't this happened yet? I'll tell you why - lizards. We're through the looking glass here people...
    Traditional Japanese timekeeping had variable hours - six of daylight and six of night.

    https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.p...nese-Clock-Kit



    Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH

  11. #11
    In Inverness, by no means the most northerly part of the UK, the sunrise is around 9am at the end of December.

    Making that 10 seems a bit daft, no?

  12. #12
    Master Lampoc's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Lincs. The bit with hills.
    Posts
    6,174
    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Curta View Post
    Traditional Japanese timekeeping had variable hours - six of daylight and six of night.
    Thanks for the links - that is all very new to me and pretty interesting reading indeed! Such a shame that this excellent ancient Japanese technology has obviously been suppressed over the years by the illuminati. Or lizards (sponsored by Rolex).

  13. #13
    Master jukeboxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Scotland
    Posts
    5,448
    I would find longer evenings more useful. As for the lizard theory, I grew up on "V", so I'm in.

  14. #14
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Wiltshire
    Posts
    505
    Quote Originally Posted by guinea View Post
    In Inverness, by no means the most northerly part of the UK, the sunrise is around 9am at the end of December.

    Making that 10 seems a bit daft, no?
    And sunset is 3.30 currently, so if we stayed on GMT + 1 the school kids would stand a chance of getting home in daylight. Either way they're getting to school in the dark.

  15. #15
    Grand Master thieuster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    GMT+1
    Posts
    11,749
    Blog Entries
    8
    Quote Originally Posted by plw View Post
    And sunset is 3.30 currently, so if we stayed on GMT + 1 the school kids would stand a chance of getting home in daylight. Either way they're getting to school in the dark.
    Abolish schools!

    One way or the other, how do Scandinavian kids cope with this when it's dark all day (and have a superior education system at the same time!?)*

    Menno

    * Schools in Finland don't start before 9AM and close at 2:45PM.
    Last edited by thieuster; 20th October 2020 at 22:28.

  16. #16
    Master Alansmithee's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    Burscough, UK
    Posts
    9,573
    We should all adopt swatch internet time...

  17. #17
    Master
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Location
    London
    Posts
    8,540
    Blog Entries
    6
    If they could wind them forward about 6 months, that’d be great...

  18. #18
    Grand Master thieuster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    GMT+1
    Posts
    11,749
    Blog Entries
    8
    My Canadian wife learned a rhyme at school in Toronto with all sorts of easy to remember phrases/memory tricks (mnemonic it's called in English I think). Part of the rhyme was: In Spring the clock springs forward and in Fall it falls back.

    In Dutch we don't have a memory trick for summertime/wintertime. My kids, partly raised in English, never had the 'what happens with the clock this weekend?' question.

    M

  19. #19
    Craftsman Kevin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
    Location
    East Sussex
    Posts
    607
    Quote Originally Posted by thieuster View Post
    Abolish schools!
    Keep them in the dark!

  20. #20
    Grand Master AlphaOmega's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Trinovantum
    Posts
    11,313
    Variable hours?

    Interesting idea.

    That would be fine if we all tilled the fields I suppose.

    As we spend much of our time inside using tech, variable hours would require an amazing increase in complexity. Just think of everything that is charged by the hour for a start.

    Tut. Don't be disgusting.

  21. #21
    Master
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    North Wales
    Posts
    4,072
    Quote Originally Posted by Wallasey Runner View Post
    I remember them not doing it when I was a kid, around 1968/69 if I remember rightly. All the school kids were issued with Fluorescent arm bands as they had to go to school in the dark. I think at the time it was done to benefit farmers and the like. They only did it the once.
    I remember that Ken, I think they blamed accidents in the morning for the reason to revert

    Steve

  22. #22
    Grand Master Chinnock's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Essex
    Posts
    10,226
    Much prefer lighter mornings as I get up early.

  23. #23
    Grand Master JasonM's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Cambridgeshire
    Posts
    16,144
    If we are going to change it, it might as well be now, it will be a relatively minor disruption at the moment.
    Cheers..
    Jase

  24. #24
    Much prefer lighter mornings, the thing is most people down south want BST while those up north want GMT, I do feel sorry for the Scots as if we do stick with BST then the sunset in winter will be before 3pm.

  25. #25
    Craftsman jonasy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    London
    Posts
    756
    Wfh and getting up at 8 I prefer longer evenings.

  26. #26
    Master
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    Ascot, Berkshire, U.K.
    Posts
    1,014
    Why not just move it 30 mins instead of an hour and then leave it.

  27. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by Steve27752 View Post
    Why not just move it 30 mins instead of an hour and then leave it.
    Or even 15 minutes, as proposed by Jacob Rees-Mogg when it was last debated in Parliament.

    R
    Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.

  28. #28
    Master
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Edinburgh
    Posts
    3,476
    Quote Originally Posted by thieuster View Post
    Abolish schools!

    One way or the other, how do Scandinavian kids cope with this when it's dark all day (and have a superior education system at the same time!?)*

    Menno

    * Schools in Finland don't start before 9AM and close at 2:45PM.
    Finland isn't Scandinavia. Scandinavian schools ain't that good and when we lived in Stavanger it was a full hour less daylight than Edinburgh during winter. It was truly awful!

    Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk

  29. #29
    Master
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Mid Glamorgan
    Posts
    5,472

    Clocks going back?

    Quote Originally Posted by 33JS View Post
    Finland isn't Scandinavia.
    Rea
    Isn’t it? I thought Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway were all classed as Scandinavia.

    Edit: just looked and indeed, Finland is not part of Scandinavia.
    Every day is a school day.
    Last edited by jaytip; 21st October 2020 at 09:12.

  30. #30
    Grand Master Seamaster73's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    55°N
    Posts
    16,139
    Quote Originally Posted by eldrich View Post
    Much prefer lighter mornings, the thing is most people down south want BST while those up north want GMT, I do feel sorry for the Scots as if we do stick with BST then the sunset in winter will be before 3pm.
    Nothing to stop the Scots having their own time zone, of course. Nic Surge-Un should be all for it.

    I live in that part of Scotland that’s south of Newcastle, so I’m somewhat conflicted about it.

  31. #31
    Master Maysie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Middle of Nowhere (UK)
    Posts
    2,555
    When this debate takes place (on an annual basis) I am always surprised how many people genuinely seem to believe that they actually 'gain' an extra hour.

    It was suggested on the radio yesterday that the clocks could still change in Scotland if that is what they wanted to do up there, but then we should/could leave England as it was.

  32. #32
    Master
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Petersfield, Hampshire
    Posts
    6,308
    Lighter mornings for me. I can function in the evening in the dark but the light helps the body full wake and get going.

    But there are always people who want to fiddle with the status quo. I bet there is a high correlation between clock changers, PR advocates and republicans.

    And the suggestion it will help shops is risible. I'll go to shops and bars in the pitch black thanks but only when we are not in the middle of a pandemic.

  33. #33
    Master
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    NW Leics
    Posts
    8,153

  34. #34
    Master steptoe's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Putney
    Posts
    1,867
    I remember the last time they abandoned putting the clocks back, in 1971.
    I was going to secondary school at the time, which involved catching two buses to get to school.
    I remember the dark mornings, they were awful, no one really noticed the bit of extra light in the late afternoons.

    Having experienced both i'd be happier keeping it as it is.

  35. #35
    Grand Master Neil.C's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    SE England
    Posts
    27,035
    I much prefer lighter mornings.

    Early afternoon darkness doesn't seem so onerous to me.
    Cheers,
    Neil.

    My Speedmaster website:

    http://www.freewebs.com/neil271052

  36. #36
    Grand Master magirus's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Up North hinny
    Posts
    39,473
    Quote Originally Posted by Neil.C View Post
    I much prefer lighter mornings.

    Early afternoon darkness doesn't seem so onerous to me.

    Hear hear.
    F.T.F.A.

  37. #37
    Journeyman
    Join Date
    Jun 2018
    Location
    London
    Posts
    232
    I think its a complete anachronism - stopping moving he clocks it seems completely pointless

  38. #38
    Grand Master snowman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Hampshire
    Posts
    14,534
    Quote Originally Posted by monogroover View Post
    As opposed to now, when most just talk it...

    M

    Sent from my ASUS_X00PD using Tapatalk
    Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?

  39. #39
    Master
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    NW Leics
    Posts
    8,153
    Quote Originally Posted by snowman View Post
    As opposed to now, when most just talk it...
    Sadly, very true. But I don't actually endorse the sentiment in the image, I just thought it was funny.

  40. #40
    Grand Master snowman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Hampshire
    Posts
    14,534
    Quote Originally Posted by monogroover View Post
    Sadly, very true. But I don't actually endorse the sentiment in the image, I just thought it was funny.
    Well, it's a pretty good sentiment, although hijacked too often now by the kind of people who would have welcomed Hitler in with open arms, but I'm probably getting too serious.

    I'd settle for 1995, not sure I fancy risking being killed by the Luftwaffe!

    M

    Sent from my ASUS_X00PD using Tapatalk
    Last edited by snowman; 22nd October 2020 at 10:08.
    Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?

  41. #41
    Master
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Never Everland
    Posts
    3,081
    Now that I am retired, I live on "God's Time" and often never look at my watch! I only wear it to keep it running (auto) for when I do need it! Retirement is a "Free" state!

  42. #42
    Scrap it. Bloody useless as far as I'm concerned and can play havoc with people's body clocks.

    Now, where did I put that SAD lamp I bought the other year...
    It's just a matter of time...

  43. #43
    Master
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Location
    Down south jukin
    Posts
    5,257
    Blog Entries
    1
    I got very confused in Portugal last year when I came in from Spain as I didn't realise they also use the same times as us.

    I kept arriving at the wrong time until I found out,they told me they have the exact same arguments and debates about it as we do.

  44. #44
    Grand Master Seamaster73's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    55°N
    Posts
    16,139
    Spain has been considering leaving its “nazi time zone” and rejoining GMT:

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...time-zone-gmt/

  45. #45
    The annual debate WRT 'summer time' always reminds me of the times I've visited Kiruna in Sweden, a country that also adheres to daylight saving time. However the difference is rather academic when you're that far north in Sweden, where the sun never sets in June and there is darkness around the clock in January. It is a surreal experience and one that completely messes up your body clock.

    02:00...




    13:00...



    R
    Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.

  46. #46
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Location
    London
    Posts
    817
    I’d prefer to scrap it, but it would be odd if the UK was never on GMT


    Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app

  47. #47
    Grand Master PickleB's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    M25 J6 UK
    Posts
    18,257
    Quote Originally Posted by ralphy View Post
    The annual debate WRT 'summer time' always reminds me of the times I've visited Kiruna in Sweden, a country that also adheres to daylight saving time. However the difference is rather academic when you're that far north in Sweden, where the sun never sets in June and there is darkness around the clock in January. It is a surreal experience and one that completely messes up your body clock.

    ...images...
    Somewhat off topic, Troll Station changes between Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and Central European Summer Time (CEST), which are 2 hours apart. I suppose that the Norwegians have some reason for that idiosyncrasy but as it's in the Antarctic not too many people are affected.

  48. #48
    Quote Originally Posted by PickleB View Post
    Somewhat off topic, Troll Station changes between Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and Central European Summer Time (CEST), which are 2 hours apart. I suppose that the Norwegians have some reason for that idiosyncrasy but as it's in the Antarctic not too many people are affected.
    That website https://www.timeanddate.com is a such a fascinating resource of so many things 'time' related.

    R
    Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.

  49. #49
    Grand Master oldoakknives's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    United Kingdom
    Posts
    20,041
    Blog Entries
    1
    Quote Originally Posted by Seamaster73 View Post
    Spain has been considering leaving its “nazi time zone” and rejoining GMT:

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...time-zone-gmt/
    Paywall
    Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.

  50. #50
    Grand Master oldoakknives's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    United Kingdom
    Posts
    20,041
    Blog Entries
    1
    Quote Originally Posted by monogroover View Post
    Made me smile.
    Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

Do Not Sell My Personal Information