The Clocks Go Back...

[Joseph K]

... so how are you going to spend this extra hour we're given? In bed, listening to music, or something productive?

I shall probably give myself an extra hour of guitar practice.

[teamsaint]

... so how are you going to spend this extra hour we're given? In bed, listening to music, or something productive?

I shall probably give myself an extra hour of guitar practice.

I'm sure you don't need the extra hour of practice, JK.

I'll get an extra hour in bed before heading to Leicestershire for a days work, doing a trade conference. Its the one Sunday a year I routinely work, so can't really grumble.

I got an extra hour today as well, travelling back from France, though a 5.30 AM alarm didn't make for an easy start.
Nice ferry ride home though.

[Joseph K]

I'm sure you don't need the extra hour of practice, JK.

I'll get an extra hour in bed before heading to Leicestershire for a days work, doing a trade conference. Its the one Sunday a year I routinely work, so can't really grumble.

I got an extra hour today as well, travelling back from France, though a 5.30 AM alarm didn't make for an easy start.
Nice ferry ride home though.

You're probably right about the guitar practice - I tend not to practice more than at most about 40 minutes at a time anyway. Actually I'll probably do more reading, since I acquired the first volume of J.G. Ballard's Collected Short Stories as well as his The Day of Creation the other week. Got a few other books on the go too, such as Anthony Storr's Music and the Mind. It's settled, then.

I am sorry to hear you are having to work tomorrow!

[Petrushka]

i used to find that the extra hour if spent in bed made me feel a little disorientated throughout the Sunday. What I have therefore been doing for the past few years is to go to bed half an hour later than usual on Saturday night and getting up at my usual time on Sunday morning. I also used to find that it disturbed my body clock regarding eating habits as well.

Of course, time is a human construct anyway and I remember reading many years ago of someone who decided to put their clocks back on Sunday night/Monday morning therefore giving themselves an extra hour in bed before work! Easy enough if you can keep track of what the time really is during Sunday if needed.

[smittims]

I'd much rather be on GMT all year round, and I've toyed with the idea of doing just that, i.e. doing everything an hour later during BST.

I used to listen to a particular favourite piece of music each October Sunday to amke sure I enjoyed the extra hour. 'Sappho' by Granville Bantock, takes just an hour in its complete version, and there's the Schubert Octet or the original 1913 version of 'A London Symphony'.

[cat]

I'd much rather be on GMT all year round, and I've toyed with the idea of doing just that, i.e. doing everything an hour later during BST.

An hour earlier surely? Without the clocks going forward in the spring, sunrise on the June solstice would be at 3:30am

[smittims]

What I mean is this. On the Saturday , still on GMT, I'd get up at 4 am GMT and have my breakfast, lunch at 10, dinner at 4. On the Sunday, disregarding the artificial change tothe clock, I'd get up at 4 am GMT etc which would be 5 am BST, lunch at 11, dinner at 5, an hour later.

As Sir John Reith was fond of saying, do yoou see? is that clear?

[eighthobstruction]

....Why was the COOP shut this morning?....Ah apparently.....

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

As a difficult teenager in the 1960s, I refused to change my watch back to GMT, and lived the whole winter period compensating for the difference. Then during the following period of BST, my cheap mechanical watch developed a fault. The hour hand became displaced more or less halfway between the hours, so I had to compensate anyway.

[french frank]

....Why was the COOP shut this morning?....Ah apparently.....

I'm sitting here thinking: "The Coop STILL isn't open". (Ten minutes to go. I can put my coat on.)

Booh! Raincoat, that is.

[ahinton]

I'd much rather be on GMT all year round, and I've toyed with the idea of doing just that, i.e. doing everything an hour later during BST.

I used to listen to a particular favourite piece of music each October Sunday to amke sure I enjoyed the extra hour. 'Sappho' by Granville Bantock, takes just an hour in its complete version, and there's the Schubert Octet or the original 1913 version of 'A London Symphony'.

I'd rather be on EST all year round, so let's hope that, next spring, the government (assuming that UK still has one by then), elects to make that change and stick with it.

[Pulcinella]

I'd rather be on EST all year round, so let's hope that, next spring, the government (assuming that UK still has one by then), elects to make that change and stick with it.

Can you imagine the outcry if we fell in with 'Europe'?
No: we'll be different and maintain our sovereignty and our time zone, even at the risk of there being a difference between Northern Ireland and Eire.

[richardfinegold]

We don’t wind the back until next weekend

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'd rather be on EST all year round, so let's hope that, next spring, the government (assuming that UK still has one by then), elects to make that change and stick with it.

Not all of Europe is on CET. Portugal is the same as us, though Spain isn’t (and noon there is around 2.30 pm in summer) in parts of that country.
And of course in Eastern Europe there’s a 2 hour difference.

[Pulcinella]

There's a good letter in today's Times pointing out something that I've always noticed: that the change is not symmetric about the winter solstice (7 weeks before but 13 weeks after). The writer advocates starting BST at the end of February (half term for many), which I'd certainly favour.