Changing of the clocks.

[Workingman]

There are rumblings again about keeping BST all year round, with some wanting BST+1 in summer.

Up here in Leeds, with the clocks as they are, from mid November to mid January it is pushing 8 am before sunrise. It would be 9 am if we stayed on BST. I have been at RAF Lossiemouth for that period and with BST in winter it would be near 10 am before daybreak.

I was in my last year at school when we tried the experiment in 1968 and it was a bit "odd". For children my age it was not so bad, but for primary school and early secondary school it must have been a bit of a worry.

However, times have changed. Vehicle lights and street lighting are way more efficient and retroreflectors, as seen on hi-viz clothing, are light years away from the stuff in the 60s-70s. We now also have very high luminescent LEDs of the sort used as bicycle lamps or incorporated into children's shoes.

With our better ability to see and be seen maybe it is time for another BST experiment.

[AliasAggers]

I'm inclined to agree with you, Frank.

Altering all your clocks and watches is a bit of a nuisance, especially putting them back,
which often means putting them forward 23 hours. It seems so unnecessary, as you say.

[TheOstrich]

It's a difficult one, really, I'm not sure long dark mornings are particularly desirable. I take your point about the efficiency of modern vehicle lights and hi-viz, but in my experience, the new LED street lights that are being rolled out leave an awful lot to be desired.

[Workingman]

It's a shame to hear that Ossie, maybe it is not the same in urban areas.Then again, did rural areas ever have decent street lighting? The vast majority of us are now urbanised and, like it or not, we have to go with the flow.

I must admit that I do like the longer evenings with BST. Tomorrow, after the change, the lights will be on come at 4 pm and by Christmas that will be 3 pm or earlier.

[cromwell]

I remember going to school in the dark during that experiment Frank, I enjoyed it! I wouldn't mind sunlight at 11 pm in the summer either.

[Suff]

This whole time zone thing is a real pain when people start playing with it. I keep getting into this discussion with Mrs S as she doesn't seem to understand the East West movement of the sun and the alignment of the time zones with it.

We are in GMT because GMT is the "best fit" for our hours of light and darkness. BST was something we adopted to gain more working daylight without having to get up a 3am to work in the fields and it was kept on after the war as "something good". There are plenty of places in the world who don't have daylight saving time and they get on with it just fine.

Portugal is also on GMT because it aligns with the Greenwich meridian, however the parts of Spain aligned with Portugal are not, they are stuck with Madrid on CET and it isn't all that good for them.

People have been on about this blather for a long time because they see it as EU time and we'll all be on the same time zone. Except it is not EU time it is western Europe time and Eastern Europe, Finland, Greece, etc, are GMT +2 not CET. Now we are leaving the EU we should just get over it, accept that the UK has its own time zone because it sits so much further west and get on with it. If people don't like the changing of the clocks, then let's ditch DST, after all we never used to have it.

As for 11pm sun, Scotland already has it in high summer up in the highlands. If we moved to CET the Farmers in the Hebrides would be completely out of sync with the entire UK. It's bad enough as it it, it does not need to be exacerbated.

[Workingman]

I blame the maps and BBC weather. They make it look as though Scotland is directly north of England, as though the prime meridian runs from London through Edinburgh when there is actually an 8º West/East tilt on the mainland. You need a globe to see it.

[Kaz]

I also remember going to school in the dark, and hated it! I prefer to stick with the present arrangement.

[Suff]

8 degrees only has the same impact on daily time on the same latitude.

Move the latitude north and the impact is trebled both in summer and winter.