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ten on tuesday: whither be dst?

So I didn’t post yesterday due to the fact that my web host was performing some server maintenance. C’est la vie, and the post that I was working on will appear sometime later this week.

But that brings us to Tuesday, November 5. It’s Guy Fawkes Night (or Bonfire Night) in the UK, so listen to John Lennon sing about it – it’s a fine song from his first solo album, Plastic Ono Band.

Given it’s a Tuesday, I checked out Carole’s website to see what her “Ten on Tuesday” topic is. And she asks for views regarding the end of Daylight Saving Time (known by other names in other parts of the world). DST ended over the weekend, shifting everything “back” by an hour. So, without any further ado, here’s my list of ten regarding DST:

  1. I miss having daylight as I leave the office – but only a little.
  2. I appreciate having natural daylight as I wake up.
  3. I really like riding my bike in the dark. Given it’s dark when I leave work, I’m riding a lot in the dark every weekday.
  4. Standard time means that early mornings on the ski slopes have lovely light.
  5. No matter the fact that DST doesn’t save much energy in modern times, I appreciate the late sunsets in the summer. They allow for post-work bike club rides and evening picnics.
  6. As a counter point, it’s nice to have rush hour drivers not have to deal with the sunset after work. The disorientation of driving into the setting sunlight is a danger to other road users – especially cyclists.
  7. No matter what the clocks say, the cats of The Burrow don’t care whether it’s standard time or DST: they still want their food now!
  8. I find it peculiar that some of the United States don’t observe DST.
  9. I find it even more peculiar that there isn’t a standard start or stop time for DST on a global scale. The one-week difference between the end of British Summer Time and U.S. Daylight Saving Time made my online radio listening happen one hour “late” for a week – weird.
  10. As a grammatical note, it rubs me the wrong way when people call it “Daylight Savings Time.” It’s not a bank account.

Do you have any thoughts on DST? Share ’em in the comments!

(This is the fourth installment of NaBloPoMo posts for me. It should be five, but…)

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