One Question

The clocks change on the last Sunday in March and October.

In 2011 you’ll get an extra hour in bed on Sunday 30th October as the clocks fall back.

In 2012 you’ll lose an hour on Sunday 28th March as the clocks spring forward.

And you can be sure that the papers and news stories over the few weeks surrounding the change will have various features on different ideas to scrap this system that has been around since the first world war when the Germans and their allies introduced the practice.

Daylight saving, as changing the clocks is referred to, was introduced to conserve power and give more active hours outdoors. It was first proposed by a New Zealander in the late 19th century.

It is still used in most of North America, Europe and the Middle East, but has been discontinued across Russia, China, India and much of South America.

Central Africa never used daylight saving – this makes sense as the areas near the equator have little variation in the length of their daylight hours.

Once you’ve remembered this simple little line that my gran taught me you shouldn’t be confused any more!

I’m keen on English English rather than American English, but I’ll let my standards slip for the purpose of getting this right.

Just remember: spring forward, fall back.

In spring the clocks spring forward an hour.

In the fall (autumn) the clocks fall back an hour.

The nice thing about the way it works is that you get compensation on the first day of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), that compensation is an extra hour in bed. Unfortunately in my mind that isn’t sufficient to make up for all the long dark nights to come.