Time to spring our clocks forward
Daylight-saving time arrives this weekend and, with winter clinging on for dear life (witness yesterday’s persistent snowfall), it should be appreciated and anticipated by most.
Turn your clocks ahead this Saturday night (March 9) before retiring for the evening, as 2 a.m. is the official time clocks jump ahead by an hour.
The idea, as envisioned by New Zealander George Vernon Hudson in 1895, is to make the world a brighter (or at least, sunnier) place as spring succeeds winter.
That’s the case for most of North America, where daylight-saving time always takes place on the second Sunday in March.
Daylight-saving time is not, however, observed uniformly around the world, or in Canada — or even in B.C.
A couple of countries in South America do.
In most of Asia and Africa, they don’t.
In places like the UK and Europe, the switch doesn’t happen until March 31.
Even in Canada, time has been skewed.
Like Saskatchewan, there are many standard-time stalwarts in Canada.
In B.C., daylight-saving deniers include Fort St. John, Charlie Lake, Taylor, Dawson Creek and Creston
In the winter, these towns share the clock with Edmonton (perhaps to mesh with the bleakness of a season of Oilers hockey).
In the summer, these towns are on the clock with Vancouver (obviously exalting in the annual optimism of Lions football).
Yes, you lose an hour of sleep (to be fair, you were enjoying a bonus 60 minutes since the fall), but you gain a whole lot of light. Enjoy.
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