Scribblings

A million clocks

This morning the UK, and the whole of the EU I think, switched their clocks to Daylight Saving Time so I had to run around the flat changing the time on what seemed like a million devices, only a small number of which were actually clocks. The only things keeping track of the time which took care of it all by themselves were the computers. Apart from clocks I had to change the time on the central heating controller, two phones, the microwave oven, a camera, a video recorder, an iPod, two organisers and numerous other items.

Quite why we go through this rigmarole twice in every year has me completely baffled. Why can’t we abandon it as at least one country (New Zealand) has already done? The whole thing is an illusion designed to convince us to get out of bed an hour earlier or later. If it’s so important that we do that why can’t we simply agree to leave the clocks alone and get up at a different time? Changing the clocks might have been acceptable 30 years ago when all most of us had in the house were a few analogue clocks but these days there are clocks in everything, all of which use different systems to change them and for most of which we’ve lost the instruction book.

Besides all this it confuses the hell out of the cat. He’s used to having his meals at regular times. If I feed him early he always turns up asking for food when the proper time comes around. At the moment he reckons I’m feeding him an hour early. He then looks really hurt when I refuse to give him more at what he thinks is the correct time (which of course he’s right about). It’s even worse in autumn when he seems to reckon I’ve embarked on a campaign to starve him to death.

Posted 27 March 2005, 23:28
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