I’m so done with it, and it seems I’m not
alone. News reports would have us believe our province came close to doing away
with daylight savings time. But for whatever reasons, we’re still changing our
clocks despite all the stats revealing the rise in accidents and illness
associated with this disruption to our biological rhythms.
When my news-feed was all about Manitoba
following Saskatchewan’s example and cancelling the time change, the big
question was, “which way should it go? Should we stay on standard time all year
or on daylight savings?”
Personally, I wouldn’t really care. Just
make it stop. But if I had to pick, I’d say stick with standard. People say
they like the long summer evenings. Really? I like to think that on Canada Day,
we could start the fireworks by ten o’clock instead of waiting on the banks of
Crescent Lake, swatting mosquitoes until nearly eleven when the show finally
starts. I hope I don’t get hate mail telling me to move to Saskatchewan.
Speaking of time zones. I visited Florida
last month, but I was in the same time zone as home. Did you know that was
possible? I sure didn’t. With Florida on the east coast, I initially had
Atlantic time in my mind—two hours difference. Then I remembered the way the
continent narrows as you move south, and I thought it would be only one hour
different. And for most of Florida, that’s true. But if you study the map,
you’ll see that Florida’s pan handle runs to the west, along the north shore of
the Gulf of Mexico (just south of Alabama), and it’s in the central time zone,
same as home. Although I crossed over into Eastern time when I landed in
Atlanta, I crossed back again en route to Destin. (Which, by the way, was named
after its founder. But what a great “Destin”ation!)
I found it strange how it felt like
summer, but it was dark by six. Now I’m home and as soon as we turn our clocks ahead
this weekend, it’ll still be light at seven even though there’s still three
feet of snow on the ground. It just doesn’t compute with my time-warped foggy
brain.
If I were in charge, I’d change the whole
darn calendar. For example, I think they should have made January twenty-eight
days long and February thirty-one. It might not change the weather, but at
least it would feel like progress.
Better yet—if we can skip or add an hour
simply by turning the clocks backward and forward, why not skip or add an
entire month? At midnight on December 31, we could turn our calendars ahead to
February 1. Then, to make it up, we could turn them back a month on July 31 and
repeat July. That would suit me just fine. I love July. January, I could do
without. Guess it’s good I’m not in charge.
Don’t forget to set your clocks ahead tonight
or you’ll be late for church.
“But do not forget this one
thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a
thousand years are like a day.” II Peter 3:8.
