Today I’m answering questions from PCGuy of Thoughts & Theories who wants to know what we think about Daylight Saving Time.

I decided to write to this subject because for many years DST was a sore point with me. It was first introduced when I was a young teenager. I remember my mum explaining how Britain had used it during WWII. I think she said it was a power saving measure and perhaps it helped people get around during the Blackout. In any case I was disgruntled. “Why must we mess with the sun? Why can’t people just get up earlier and start work and school earlier? ” was my constant complaint. To prove this was feasible I refused to alter my watch and in fact kept this up for several years just mentally adjusting to my own personal summer time. I can be stubborn you see.

As the summers grew hotter I hated DST even more because the heat was exhausting and you had to wait even longer for evening and a cool breeze while even summer mornings were hot.

I only really became reconciled to DST when we moved to Tasmania. Tasmania has a milder climate and, at least in the Huon Valley, there are fewer of those relentlessly hot days. I’ve only had one summer here on the northwest coast and that seemed hotter but not unbearable except when the air conditioner broke down. Finally I could enjoy the long twilights that we get here as we are further south and I no longer work at a job that means I have to be out of the house before the sun is up.

The Questions

There’s an old story about a Native American who, when told the reason for Daylight Saving Time, quipped, “Only the government would believe that you could cut a foot off of one end of a blanket and sew it to the other and end up with a longer blanket.” With that bit of information in your head, here are this week’s questions:

• Do you live in an area that participates in Daylight Saving Time?

Yes I do.

• In relation to your previous answer, are you glad to live where you do, or do you wish you lived somewhere that does the opposite in regards to DST?

I am delighted to live where I do and I didn’t choose to come here because of DST as I had it where I lived before. If I wanted to avoid it I’d have to move to Queensland, Western Australia or the Northern Territory. Those places are all hot and I would hate them.

• Assuming you live in an area that does participate in DST, if it were to be abolished, would you rather your area decide to stick with Standard Time (Autumn and Winter), or leave Daylight Saving Time (Spring and Summer) in place all year? Please explain. If you don’t live in an area that participates with DST, would you be okay if the decision was made to start participating?

If DST was abolished I’d rather just stick to Standard Time. I never really liked the concept of messing with the clock and I certainly would not want to have it dark until after 7am on a winters morning. Short winter evenings are fine with me.