Springing forward and losing time

Time shifting around

I seem to be better adjusted to the concept and the reality of daylight saving, and while I cannot fully explain the benefits of it, nor do I intend to research it for this blog, the phenomenon has a way of catching up with me.

I have adopted an American aide memoire in understanding how we change our clocks in October and March, usually on the last Sunday of the month. We Spring Forward and Fall Backward. Fall is the American version of our English Autumn.

As most clocks in the home are electronic, especially on computers and watches, whether you gain or lose an hour whilst asleep at 2:00 AM can go without notice, the alarm clock will still go off at the set time.

A wind-up situation

When it comes to clocks on devices and appliances like microwaves or standard ovens, especially if you are a time obsessive, you notice you have lost an hour in the spring or gained one in the autumn.

When I used to have mechanical clocks around the home, I changed the time before I went to bed; it made the change in time more manageable.

For Brian, in the spring we enter a time of just having an hour’s difference between us, rather than two hours. It represents some closeness, but not close enough in distance.

A circadian disruption

In my case, the apparent coping mechanism for British Summer Time has not kicked in; my body clock is yearning for something that suggests an unnatural event has occurred; adjustments governed by the reading of the time are not compensated for in my biorhythms.

My circadian rhythm is out of whack, and that is not helped by my early mornings feeling like a winter that has refused to depart. The sun offers a glowing spectacle during the day, but we cannot expect more than 18° Celsius for the rest of the week.

It is a struggle to keep alert without stimulation of vigorous activity or the exhilaration of caffeine intake. I have, in times past, pinched myself or given my ankle tendon a kick, inflicting just enough pain to jolt myself back to life. Then, maybe it is still the residual side effects of radiotherapy, who really knows?

We break the codes of time for pecuniary advantage, more light in the evening for spring and summer, and the greater benefit for farmers in the autumn and winter. What you cannot fail to notice is that when the sun shines, we make the best of it, getting the warmth and a bit of a tan too, in Manchester, of all places.

Spring forward, fall backward

No tick-tock clocks here

All my clocks and none with a tick-tick sound have been touched, once again we become the masters of time with those in night clubs being short-changed an hour and sleepy I finding out that I am waking up early.

It is Summer and time too – we’ve had too long a winter, too cold a season; now is the time of the sun and hopefully some warmth too.

Much as I have never really grown used to this phenomenon of shifting times by reason of my body not agreeing with this aberration of the numbered hour, I have tried to deal with it as best I can.

Bizarre adjustments

My clocks change somewhere in the afternoon on Saturday and from then on I try to believe the time is steady and no abrupt things have happened, most importantly, my microwave oven tells the time – she has been in service for 15 years and she still does my TV dinners in the statutory 5 minutes or 4 since she produces thousand watt waves – Sharp she is and a triple-act pony to boot.

The computers will do themselves and for saving almost 1,500 Euros, I have to adjust my watch manually, else it would also manage the days and dates aligned to their respective months with a leap into the longer year.

Spring leaps into Autumnal falls

The mnemonic to remember of daylight saving is so American I would really like not to remember but it is still the best way to know what to do – like a gazelle, I spring forward and like a log I fall back – more appropriately, it is, Spring forward : Fall backward.

What goes forwards and backwards is the hour, spring we all know above and below the tropics, the fall is traditionally what we know as autumn, we referring to those of us who speak English as opposed to that which needs to be qualified for differentiation.

The computers and my mobile phone automatically spring forward and you can guess, a good few people are going to be late to church with their sleepy excuses.

Meanwhile, I should exhaust my last hour of hibernation because it is really now – Summer Time.