When Do The Clocks Change This Year?

From Simple Wikipedia. Daylight Saving Time.

The Americans have a useful saying to remind us all: Spring forward, fall back. This is a double pun in the USA where Fall means autumn. I looked at again, a single pun or double pun? Spring is a pun, Spring the season, and spring as a verb meaning direction of a moving human or animal or object.

I looked online and read that the clocks move forward on the second Sunday in March. I marked that in my diary. Then I thought, what about the UK and USA being different. It turned out that the second Sunday in March is the American date.  Sunday the 13th. Lucky, if you were born that day, or unlucky, if you are superstitious.

In the UK the clocks change on Sunday March 27th. That date is marked in my 2022 diary, which I bought in the UK. 

In 2004 on Mrch 28th. Back again in October. 

(I am saving this text for safety. More pictures and text shortly. Stay tuned or come back for more useful stuff!)

Useful Websites

Wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time_by_country

Other

Fascinating story about Israel, Jewish New Year, the British, and the Palestinians:

http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/g.html

https://24timezones.com/difference/

https://24timezones.com/difference/uk/singapore

Author

The Author

About the Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Books by Angela Lansbury
How to be the best man. (Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Wedding Speeches and Toasts.(Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Unforgettable British Weekends.
Poetry Workshop Workbook.
The Tailor and the Spy. (Lulu.)
Larry The Talking Labrador. (Lulu.)
Writing Poetry for fun.

Quick Quotations

Who Said What When

 

How to avoid or cope with daylight savings and standard time

Problems
How do I remember which way the clock goes?
How do I prevent myself being late?
How do I prevent others being late?
How many clocks do I have to change?
Who benefits?
Who is harmed?
Who started it and what were the benefits?
Where could I live to avoid these changes?
Who is campaigning to change times?
What different countries are on different times?

Answers
Spring Forward
The helpful American rhyme goes: Spring forward and fall back.
So in springtime you put the clocks forward at 1 am on Sunday. That way when you wake up you see the right time. The alternative is to get up and change all the clocks.

UK
In London, England, we (my family) have a clock which adjusts to the Greenwich Mean Time and we set all other clocks to match it. GMT for short.

In the old days (until about ten years ago), everybody around the world seemed to be adjusted to GMT. So you would read that a certain city or country which is one hour ahead is listed in diaries as GMT+1. To us in England this is still the norm.

In America they refer to Standard Time.

Daylight Saving And Standard Time.

In the countryside and in the old days and in poorer places you organize your days according to the sun, using sundials. (Which nowadays cost a lot from garden centres!)

You get up when it is light and you can see and the sun wakes you. You sleep at night. You don't walk around at night in the dark. Quite apart from nocturnal animals and nutters at night, burglars and robbers, you can stumble over tree roots and fall into holes.

Gaslight, electric lighting in the streets, railway carriages with sleeping carriages, all made a big difference.

The first big difference was trains between cities. You wanted to know what time the train departed  and what time it arrived. (We still have problems with different time zones for departure and arrival nowadays with plane travel. Using a 24 hour clock helps cut confusion.)

 When I first came across the phrase Standard Time instead of GMT I didn't know what it meant. When I found out, I thought it was making a political statement. Now I think that being on GMT is more to do with history and where your planes and newspapers come from.

Americans use standard time. But that refers to the season of the year not the place. The continent is divided into different time zones.

Which is standard time and which is daylight savings time? Winter or summer? When I read through the comments on a newspaper article it all became clear. During summer you would have the light at four a.m and darkness at 8 pm in some areas. Nobody wants the light waking them at 4 am. So shifting the clock means it is dark until 5 am and stays light until 9 pm - in summer. That's daylight saving time. You are saving the daylight for the daytime and eventing when you need it.

Why not just stick to one time all year and cut the confusion? Some places do this. Arizona and Hawaii, apparently.

Before I went to live in the USA, I thought the USA was just a big, united country. But it is a union of states, with different climates, hours of daylight, and personalities and laws. New Yorkers on the East Coast are office workers and time keepers.

Country folk and those who live on or near the beaches in California have a more relaxed attitude to time.

So, now you know. You know which way the clock goes forward and back. If you don't like changing the time zones twice a year, you could move to Arizona or Hawaii.

If you want to know sunrise and sunset, look at a sundial. If you want to co-ordinate with the world, buy a clock which follows different zones.

Variations
This is a simplification of the situation. Clock changes have been proposed, changed in wartime, differ from one part of Europe to another. One hour shift, twenty minute shifts. Read through the wiki article to get the fuller picture for the region you are in and where you might live or do business with or travel to.

TO END ON A BRIGHT LIGHT NOTE:
One newspaper reader commented that she was glad the clocks had gone back because now her car clock told the right time.

On first reading I thought she was making a joke. On second reading I thought she was being serious. I remember when I could not change my car clock. Eventually I found a scientifically minded and methodical relative who sat down with the car manual and found out how to change the car clock.

Useful websites:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Clocks change - spring forward, autumn back.

Mark it in your diary:
https://www.gov.uk/when-do-the-clocks-change.
(See my posts from previous years.)

Clocks go forward	Clocks go back
2017	26 March	29 October
2018	25 March	28 October Clocks change midnight Saturday. Remind people on Sunday and Monday.