Postcrossing card from Russia (March 2019)
Desk clock by Fabergé, from the Peterhof Museum
Desk clock by Fabergé, from the Peterhof Museum
Postcrossing card from Poland (June 2018)
A clock from a Museum of History in Prague
Postcrossing card from Germany (September 2018)
Yes, it's that time of year again... As in putting one's body clock out of order, and making sure that one has remembered to change every other clock and device in the house. Some of them take care of themselves nowadays, but that doesn't really make it any easier to remember the ones that don't. There always seems to be at least one I've forgotten. And if I haven't forgotten that I should do it, I've forgotten how to. (I actually thought of the camera this morning, only to discover that I don't remember where to find the date-and-time setting on that. So I'll need to find the manual first...)
My inner body clock is always the hardest to convince, though. (Surely it cannot be lunchtime already? I'm not hungry! Or bedtime when I'm still wide awake... Or time to get out of bed, when I just fell asleep? etc)
A piece of Good News (?) the other day was that the EU has now decided that all this nonsense about changing clocks back and forth really has to stop! Er... Wait a moment... Not immediately, of course... And let's not decide if the clocks should be stopped on winter or summer time; but let each country continue to argue about that for another couple of years... Maybe in 2021 we'll be ready for a whole new confusing European time zone system, with each country choosing its own time... (Or maybe we'll find we aren't, in which case we'll postpone, or decide something else...)
Lots of opinion polls being made at the moment, of course - and probably more to come, until a final decision is reached! I think I'd cast my vote on keeping "normal" time (i.e. "winter" time). But I guess "summer" time all year round would be ok as well. I just wish they'd stop meddling with it back and forth...
Old sun dial at Algutsrum Church, Öland (2018)
(my own photo)
(my own photo)
...
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’
Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'
(full lyrics here)
13 comments:
so true about changing times... we are on high speed into the future and no looking back. I can hardly keep up with all the changes. Florida voted to stop changing times 2 years ago, to leave it on winter time. 2 years later, our congress says they will pass it sometime this year and leave it on summertime. I hate this time change. I will be happy I don't have to change, but I don't like this time. everyone is about evenly split on which time to leave it on, but the majority says Stop Changing it
What a cool post about time facts that I didn't know. Of course my very favorite clock is the cute one with the cat, so funny! I hate the winter time where it gets dark at 4:30. I wish we could have Daylight Saving time all year long.
Yes I've heard talk about the EU changing the daylight savings schedule etc, nothing has been said down under about it though, ours finishes next Sunday.
I'm with you on keeping the time in one zone only. We here in California are trying to change to one time all year around. I do hope it finally passes...The wheels of progress move so slowly...
On a positive note..... I do like the longer evenings in the light, as it's much easier to walk Molly than when it so dark early. My body clock is just beginning to get use to it.
My sister and I lost two hours on Sunday - one by changing to summertime, and another one by travelling from the UK back to Germany, which is one hour "ahead"...
Yes, all that nonsense should have stopped decades ago, when it became clear it wasn't saving any energy at all (which was the original plan). And why not simply leave it at "normal" time (winter time), which would make all the old beautiful sun dials go right!
I think few people want to keep the twice-a-year change here either, but there is disagreement about whether to leave it on summer or winter time.
Wanda, I think you are usually a couple of weeks ahead of us with the time change (ours was this past weekend - the last weekend of March).
I agree with you, Meike! - but hope you're not too jet-lagged from the loss of those two hours!
I too find it hard to understand why it has to be such a slow process (although I suppose they do need perhaps one year from the decision, to get it right with transport time-tables etc)
It is a nuisance but somehow I quite like the ritual of changing the clocks. When they go forward it is a sign that summer is really on its way at last. When it goes back, you know you are going to be hunkering down for winter. The trick might be to have only simple clocks that you can set by moving the hands with your own hands :)
You do have some lovely clock pictures here. What is postcrossing?
Jenny, it's not so much the changing of all my clocks that is the biggest nuisance, but that my inner body clock refuses to change (or at least takes a very long time about it - like weeks, or months). As for the change of seasons, I think nature takes care of that all by itself... and I prefer the slow change to the very sudden! ;)
You can read more about Postcrossing here The basic idea is: sign up as member, ask to send a postcard, and get a random address to another member somewhere in the world (and a special postcrossing ID for the card); and for each postcard you send, you will receive one back from another random postcrosser (which you will have to register when it arrives). It works. The more cards you send yourself, the more you will also receive.
Oops, the link went missing: Postcrossing (https://www.postcrossing.com/about)
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