Clocks changing - really annoying, IMHO

[Jaded]

Have you noticed that Scotland isn't rectangular?

This is a revelation to me and I shall have to go sit in a darkened room for an hour or so.

[clarion]

A good side effect of the time change was that Butterfly's employer's transatlantic call was an hour earlier than she had expected, meaning Butterfly wasn't late home last night after all

[David Martin]

Have you noticed that Scotland isn't rectangular?

This is a revelation to me and I shall have to go sit in a darkened room for an hour or so.

Just wait till mid afternoon instead..

[David Martin]

Having moved south to Scotland I really appreciate the long winter days..

If you want an example of the time difference, in one of the recent elections they did a round up of the political leaders as the polls closed. Michael Howard was in the dark on the south coast. Tony Blair was in twilight gloom in Sedgefield. Charles Kennedy was being dazzled by the setting sun (and eaten alive by midges) in Fort William.

It just about doesn't get dark enough to need lights at midsummer in the Grampians.

On the other hand, it was dark by 5pm yesterday as I was leaving Edinburgh.

..d

[Pingu]

After the ride home last night, I think I'd prefer to have the light in the evenings. It was getting dark at 1615  

[Exit Stage Left]

In ancient times the length of hours in the day varied, there were always 12 between sunrise and sunset.

Although not punctual in the modern sense, ancient civilizations adjusted daily schedules to the sun more flexibly than modern DST does, often dividing daylight into twelve hours regardless of day length, so that each daylight hour was longer during summer.[12] For example, Roman water clocks had different scales for different months of the year: at Rome's latitude the third hour from sunrise, hora tertia, started by modern standards at 09:02 solar time and lasted 44 minutes at the winter solstice, but at the summer solstice it started at 06:58 and lasted 75 minutes.[13] After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season. Unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some Mount Athos monasteries[14] and all Jewish ceremonies

Daylight saving time - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[David Martin]

After the ride home last night, I think I'd prefer to have the light in the evenings. It was getting dark at 1615  

I'd much rather be going home before or after the 'sun right in the eyes time. If we could adjust daylight saving time to skip that then so much the better.

..d

[Greenbank]

After the ride home last night, I think I'd prefer to have the light in the evenings. It was getting dark at 1615  

I'd much rather be going home before or after the 'sun right in the eyes time. If we could adjust daylight saving time to skip that then so much the better.

For the last few weeks before the clocks changed, the sun was right on the horizon in line with this road:-

clicky for google streetview.

Made me very nervous as it was hard to see far ahead at all. I made sure I was in the middle of the pack of cyclists leaving the lights at the junction with Vauxhall Bridge.

[mattc]

It's probably easier for the few afflicted to switch to roads that aren't "upsun" than to solve that problem by moving the clocks.

(I wonder if there are a few road-users in the UK with N-S commutes who are completely baffled by the sun-in-eyes discussions!)

[Mr Larrington]

The USA has four time zones, I think, without disintegrating; why should Europe have just one?

Six if you include Alaska, Hawaii and the Aleutians.  There are towns in the US which have different times on one side or t'other, which don't  'arf get confusing when the restaurant is on Mountain and the motel on Pacific.

[Butterfly]

My little sister lives in Abu Dhabi which is about 4 hours in front of us by the clock. However, as it gets a might warm there, the school day starts at 7am and the working day likewise. Being a bit further south than us, daylight isn't the issue, but the population use the best part of the day, irrespective of the clock. Makes sense to me.

Also, in the summer, if I want a quiet ride, I'll go out early knowing that most of the population will be tucked up in bed. It's there for all of us to use if we choose to are able to, so moaning that the clocks are wrong, really doesn't cut it as far as I'm concerned

Most people don't have the flexibility in their employment/schooling to unilaterally decide to start and finish earlier or later. Lucky for you if you do. When I worked 11 or 12 hour days regularly, it made less difference to me. If you finish at 7 or 8 pm, an hour or 2 either way makes little difference.

[Morrisette]

After the ride home last night, I think I'd prefer to have the light in the evenings. It was getting dark at 1615  

+1, even though I did get to try out my new light, I still don't like riding in the dark.

I don't get the sun-in-eyes thing either, with my commute being west in the morning and east at night!

[David Martin]

It's probably easier for the few afflicted to switch to roads that aren't "upsun" than to solve that problem by moving the clocks.

(I wonder if there are a few road-users in the UK with N-S commutes who are completely baffled by the sun-in-eyes discussions!)

Bear in mind that switching to alternative commutes here in the wilds of the north may mean a *very* much longer commute.

..d

[itsbruce]

It just about doesn't get dark enough to need lights at midsummer in the Grampians.

A beautiful place and where I was born and grew up.  Was glad, though, to move to Edinburgh as a teenager.

[Euan Uzami]

Inverness is East coast  

But Inverness is West of Edinburgh, and Sunset is 12min before Glasgow.

Have you noticed that Scotland isn't rectangular? And that Stornoway isn't mainland, has a population around 9,000, which puts it outside the top 50 scottish towns?
Should we consider Rockall and the Shetlands in your analysis?

I love internet fora some days ...  

inverness is also further west than aberystwyth - it is therefore much further west than all of england apart from the western end of cornwall.

Another fact that surprises a lot of people is that edinburgh is further west than bristol, because most people consider edinburgh to be on the east coast. but bristol on the west.

[pcolbeck]

That's because they always show the map aligned vertically whereas in reality the UK is canted at about 40 degrees.

[IanDG]

And that Stornoway isn't mainland, has a population around 9,000

12,000  (and it's still f*/%ing dark)

I've been awake since 5am. I usually wake about 6 but haven't adapted to sleeping that extra hour (even tho' I head to bed an hour later)  

What difference does an hour make anyway when it's generally darker at mid-day in midwinter than it is at midnight in mid-summer?

[andygates]

Could be worse.  Could be an Aleut.  Then you get daily overcast fog and rain three days out of four, too. 

Oh, you probably do...   

[Jaded]

No fog - it's too windy! 

[RJ]

After the ride home last night, I think I'd prefer to have the light in the evenings. It was getting dark at 1615  

Personally (and in this city) I prefer riding in complete as opposed to half-darkness.  I find twilight commuting scariest ...

[Adrian]

because most people consider edinburgh to be on the east coast. but bristol on the west.

To be fair to them that is not really that untrue.