Last week - up until Saturday night in fact I was starting to ease into Spring mode - waking up when it is light outside was making my mood as sunny as the skies and then - forward go the clocks and now getting up is a chore again, because I can't see where I'm going and stubbornly refuse to flick on any lights, I run the risk of stubbed toe or a cat/foot connection.
Daylight Savings Time or DST as they call it over here is something my generation grew up with but it wasn't always like this. If you look back far enough you find that DST was introduced as a cost cutting measure during WW1 and dropped not long after the war ended. If you ask most people they'll tell you that it's good for the farmers (actually they hate DST) Some will quote safety reasons but whereas the kids at the school two blocks over could see where they were going last week, this week you could argue they are less visible to our crazy Utah drivers and therefore far less safe. At the other end of the scale we are supposed to be able to stay out later in the evening. At the moment it's too cold and gloomy to do that.
Oh and that extra hour of daylight plays havoc with your natural circadian cycle. Your body is programmed to wake when it's light and go to sleep when it's dark. I'm tempted to just say screw it and leave my clocks the way they are but like the rest of the sheep I did what I was told and changed them all - except the one in my car.
So again I ask myself who benefits from this?
Your local electricity company - that's who.
http://www.energy.ca.gov/daylightsaving.html
http://www.standardtime.com/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/11/110313-daylight-savings-time-2011-what-time-is-it-spring-forward-nation/
http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/info/daylightsaving.htm
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