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General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: jonclox on March 24, 2012, 11:00:50 AM

Title: BST rushes along the tracks
Post by: jonclox on March 24, 2012, 11:00:50 AM
Time to recalibrate all your timekeeping toys to British Summer Time tonight because its the last Saturday full weekend in March.
Forward they gallop by one hour so we wake up extra  ???  :sleep: :sleep: Tomorrow.

edit..... Those in our colonies and dependants just carry on regardless as always  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: BST rushes along the tracks
Post by: tim-pelican on March 24, 2012, 11:51:08 AM
Err... it's *not* the last Saturday in March.  That would be the 31st, which is next week.  It *is* the last Sunday in March tomorrow, which means the clocks change at 01:00 tomorrow - or before you go to bed tonight, for those of us no longer young enough to stay up half the night ;)
Title: Re: BST rushes along the tracks
Post by: jonclox on March 24, 2012, 02:47:59 PM
Quote from: tim-pelican on March 24, 2012, 11:51:08 AM
Err... it's *not* the last Saturday in March.  That would be the 31st, which is next week.  It *is* the last Sunday in March tomorrow, which means the clocks change at 01:00 tomorrow - or before you go to bed tonight, for those of us no longer young enough to stay up half the night ;)
Yups sowwie a typing hiccup on my part I stand corrected
Title: Re: BST rushes along the tracks
Post by: scotsoft on March 24, 2012, 03:16:37 PM
I am lucky, my bedside clock does it for me, so I wake up, look at the clock and know it is the "new" time which takes me over a week to get used to.  It will even reset itself to the correct time if there is a powercut  ???  :thumbsup:

I do the rest of the clocks/ watches after a couple of pints of strong coffee  :evil:

I detest these time shifts with a vengence  >:(  :thumbsdown:  :computerangry:
Title: Re: BST rushes along the tracks
Post by: jonclox on March 24, 2012, 04:02:59 PM
For the 40+ years that I was doing clock repairs we used to hate the clocks going back in the Autumn because so many customers would 'wind the hands back' and damage any striking work as they did so. We were swamped with repairing their *oc*ups out for weeks every year.
Made some money doing it tho..just right for Christmas  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: BST rushes along the tracks
Post by: Mustermark on March 24, 2012, 04:28:32 PM
Quote from: scotsoft on March 24, 2012, 03:16:37 PM
I detest these time shifts with a vengence  >:(  :thumbsdown:  :computerangry:

But what would we do without all that daylight we save? ;D  Hmmm, but the sun shines for the same amount of time so I'm not sure who is saving it or where it all goes... maybe it's what they use in Sweden to have sun all night in summer. ???

I was told that it saves lives by making rush hour traffic change from light to dark 'overnight', and rush hour is therefore never during twilight when people may not put their lights on and visibility is poor.  Not sure how true that is or how many accidents it prevents, but it's the only good reason I ever heard for such a universal inconvenience.
Title: Re: BST rushes along the tracks
Post by: edwin_m on March 24, 2012, 04:41:52 PM
I agree it is totally counter-productive.  There was a progamme on Radio 4 a year or so back on the subject of going to BST all the year round (or possibly keeping the time change but running an hour ahead all year, it couldn't make up its mind which).  They had several farmer types who complained that they'd have to stay up to milk the cows (or whatever) when it got dark at 11pm, but then they had to be up at 4am.  Surely the dawn would then be an hour later so they could stay in bed later too? 

I know the Scots are unhappy about going to a different time zone because it wouldn't get light until about 1000 in winter.  But surely as a devolved nation (possibly soon to be independent) they could stay on their own time zone if they wanted to? 

On Monday I have a morning flight to Dubai for an 0800 meeting on Tuesday (that's 0500 BST) then check in about 0600 (that's 0300) on Wednesday for a flight back, after which someone said we need a meeting in the office when we get there about 1400.  I think that will knock me out for about a week afterwards. 
Title: Re: BST rushes along the tracks
Post by: Newportnobby on March 24, 2012, 05:37:46 PM
Quote from: edwin_m on March 24, 2012, 04:41:52 PM


I know the Scots are unhappy about going to a different time zone because it wouldn't get light until about 1000 in winter.  But surely as a devolved nation (possibly soon to be independent) they could stay on their own time zone if they wanted to? 



Er - surely it took us long enough to have a standard time throughout the country so that railway timetables made sense ??? :smiley-laughing:
Title: Re: BST rushes along the tracks
Post by: Jack on March 24, 2012, 06:24:21 PM
Quote from: newportnobby on March 24, 2012, 05:37:46 PM
Quote from: edwin_m on March 24, 2012, 04:41:52 PM


I know the Scots are unhappy about going to a different time zone because it wouldn't get light until about 1000 in winter.  But surely as a devolved nation (possibly soon to be independent) they could stay on their own time zone if they wanted to? 



Er - surely it took us long enough to have a standard time throughout the country so that railway timetables made sense ??? :smiley-laughing:

Its been a few years since train timetables made any sense; they very rarely run on time if ever in my neck of the woods and then there is engineering works, oh and soon there be the 'extras' for the holiday session. ::)  :smiley-laughing:
Title: Re: BST rushes along the tracks
Post by: EtchedPixels on March 24, 2012, 06:49:41 PM
The sleeper is confusing either way on that night..
Title: Re: BST rushes along the tracks
Post by: edwin_m on March 24, 2012, 09:33:04 PM
The Anglo-Scottish (day) trains are now pretty close to a clockface timetable, so if one side changed the clocks and the other didn't then a lot of the trains would just drop into the path an hour earlier/later.  Or we could adopt the policy of Amtrak in the US, where most states observe daylight saving but a couple don't, and make the timetable change date the same as the clock change date! 
Title: Re: BST rushes along the tracks
Post by: Mustermark on March 24, 2012, 11:37:33 PM
Quote from: newportnobby on March 24, 2012, 05:37:46 PM
Quote from: edwin_m on March 24, 2012, 04:41:52 PM
I know the Scots are unhappy about going to a different time zone because it wouldn't get light until about 1000 in winter.  But surely as a devolved nation (possibly soon to be independent) they could stay on their own time zone if they wanted to? 

Er - surely it took us long enough to have a standard time throughout the country so that railway timetables made sense ??? :smiley-laughing:

They must have to manage that on Eurostar and when trains cross from Spain into Portugal.

Title: Re: BST rushes along the tracks
Post by: OwL on March 24, 2012, 11:45:39 PM
I don't know why they don't just go forward by half an hour then just leave them alone for good. That way everyone gets more daylight in morning and night and no one has to get messed around anymore.
Title: Re: BST rushes along the tracks
Post by: jonclox on March 25, 2012, 04:14:19 PM
So how many of you overslept? :smiley-laughing: