Sunday 27 October 2013

Greenwich Mean Time

By the time you are reading this, the clocks have already been back and I hope you have all had the luxury of spending the extra hour in bed. I for sure spent every single second that I could in bed because I never get to on a normal weekday and so it feels like Christmas... The clocks changed back one hour at 2AM. Hopefully all your clocks automatically changed or this whole day could be very confusing for you!

The history of us changing our clocks back and forth during the year dates back to 1916 by a man called William Willett that proposed the idea in order for people in the summer to make the most of the sunlight during the morning. It does make sense because in the summer, the sun rises awfully early; if we didn't put our clocks forward, we would still be asleep at 8 when the sun had rose at 6:30. 
There has been a great debate recently about the abolishment of this old tradition given the fact that the nights are getting dark so early that it could save lives and reduce accidents if we stop changing our clocks back and forth. I don't know why but if we stopped this tradition, I think it would made me a little sad. For as long as I've known, I've always judged when spring/summer and autumn/winter starts by when the clocks go back and forth. It's a tradition that is so far rooted in society that I think if it was gone, it would be a loss. I understand all the arguments about saving lives and making it safer but it's one of those things that adds to our history.

Although, having said that, I don't think I'm going to enjoy it being dark by 4:30PM every afternoon. That's not late at all and it will already feel like it's bedtime! Especially for most people that get up in the dark and come home in the dark.

If your phone hasn't done it already, make sure that you check your clocks with the times on the TV- they always change automatically.
And welcome to Autumn! :)

xxx

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